Report: 10% of state has opted in to coronavirus exposure alerts
–CNBC Reports–
This week, California residents started receiving push notifications on their smartphones prompting them to opt-in to CA Notify, a system that can anonymously alert users that they may have been exposed to the Covid-19 coronavirus.
CA Notify, which officially launched on Thursday, is based on technology built by Apple and Google earlier this year called exposure notifications that uses Bluetooth to measure when people have been close to each other for extended periods of time, suggesting possible coronavirus transmission, without collecting personal information.
The app is designed to alert users that they may have been exposed to the coronavirus early in a potential infection, so that they can get tested or quarantine before they spread the virus.
How to get it and how it works
CA Notify works with both iPhones and Android phones, although it requires a device that can run up-to-date software. On iPhones made starting in 2015 with up-to-date software, CA Notify can be turned on in the Exposure Notifications section in the Settings app. People with eligible Android phones can download an app from the Google Play store.
