Contact Tracing apps are acceptable from Google

Hadron said:

Have you tried asking Google?

I don't know how many people would download a contact tracing app from an random developer: I'd certainly need to know who was behind it and what they were doing with the data before I'd even consider it. And unless you have a very specific target population you need very widespread uptake for it to be useful. So do you have a contract to develop this for a government or similar? Because without that sort of backing I'm not sure how you'll get enough people to use it to be useful.

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Hadron said:

Well there are contact tracing apps in the Play Store, so there isn't a blanket ban. Google and Apple famously have added an API for building such apps in a way that doesn't involve a central store of user's personal data, and some countries developed apps of their own which were less respectful of privacy but still made it into the Play Store (albeit in the UK's case only on a trial basis before being withdrawn, but that wasn't because Google forced them to). So as a general principle Google do allow such apps. But I don't know whether there are other specific restrictions that might limit who can do this. This is why I asked whether you'd tried asking Google (albeit with the warning Google aren't famous for being the most responsive and communicative company).

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mikedt said:

AFAIK Google only allows approved govt health organisations to have Covid contact tracking and tracing apps in the Play Store, like the NHS in the UK, etc.

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