Aarogya Setu COVID-19 Tracker App Launched By Government On Android, iOS

Aarogya Setu COVID-19 Tracker App Launched By Government On Android, iOS

New Delhi: The Indian government officially launched its COVID-19 or coronavirus tracking app which is named Aarogya Setu and is available for Android and iOS users. This app has been developed by the National Informatics Centre that comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

According to the app's description, it is aimed at "augmenting" efforts to "proactively" inform the citizens about the "best practices and relevant advisories pertaining to the containment of COVID-19." Both union and state governments have launched a host of coronavirus-related apps over the last few weeks to combat the spread of COVID-19 or highly contagious coronavirus.

Aarogya Setu, which translates from Sanskrit to ‘A bridge of health', the app helps its users in identifying whether they are at risk of coronavirus, by checking if they have been in contact with a novel coronavirus infected individual, even unknowingly.

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According to The Next Web, which first spotted the app, Aarogya Setu is using government database of infected people to function. There is, however, no clarity from the government around this.

The COVID-19 virus tracker app currently is supporting 11 languages, including Hindi and English and requires Bluetooth and Location access to function. To use the Aarogya Setu app, its users would first need to register with their mobile number. After completing the first step, the app asks users for their credentials which comes as optional.

People concerned regarding the Privacy Policy of the app, the government claims that the stored data is "encrypted" and it will not be shared with any third party vendors. 

After reaching the home screen of the app, it based on the users' location, tells them whether they are in a safe location or not. Android users of the app, however, can also see live tweets from the Ministry of Health. The Android and Apple version of the app offers the same features, including access to best practices and advisories around COVID-19 in India.

Last week, it was reported that the NITI Aayog is also working on a coronavirus-tracker app which was named CoWin-20. The Next Web claims that Aarogya Setu is the final version of CoWin-20. Several state governments have also launched their respective coronavirus tracking apps to fight against the spread of the pandemic across the country.

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