covid tracking app

[john m]

Listening to Aidrien Weckler the RTE teck expert .The app seems to be a right load of bollox designed to fail .It works if it works but it fails because its designed to fail .We Taxi drivers already have tracking on our phones through Me taxi,Uber ,Sum Up ,or any other app we use for work but as he says for it to work it needs about 70% of people to down load it then it needs people to input the info if they are infected to alert others who come into contact with them that they have possibly been exposed .Big Dommos mates kids will be inputting that they have the fever when they are sitting in Mc Donalds so everybody else in the Mackers drive through will get a notice that somebody near them has the Poison and will fuck off leaving Dommos mates kids free to order 4 Mc Breakfasts and a milkshake .How the fuck did they bother spending money on an app that is designed to fail.

[Theoneandonly]

You are a Dangerous fool, there is not one true fact in that entire paragraph of pure crap.

The App has been designed by Google to work and is brilliant.
It doesn't track like FN or Uber it uses bluetooth and only knows if you've been within 1.5 meters of an infected person for 15 mins or more, it doesn't know where you've been.
The more people that download it the better, gobshites like you spewing crap are it's only concern in that regard.
You don't input your diagnosis yourself, if you get a positive result you are then asked if you have the app, and then if you allow those you have been in close contact with for more than 15 mins are informed, they are not told who you are or where you met.
At least get one fucking fact right before you do your usual put down.

[Rat Catcher]

You are a Dangerous fool, there is not one true fact in that entire paragraph of pure crap.

You read the whole paragraph, fair play... saves the rest of us at least 4 seconds that we won't get back.

[Pugwat]

That's the same Adrian Weckler that wrote an article calling for uber rideshare in Dublin like they have in London.  I had to tell him uber in London used licenced mini cabs and not random drivers.

[Rat Catcher]

There's probably a good case for car sharing as we move to the new normal. Rideshare could feature provided fares were organised though a licensed dispatch firm with appropriate contact tracking systems in place.

[taxi1990]

There's probably a good case for car sharing as we move to the new normal. Rideshare could feature provided fares were organised though a licensed dispatch firm with appropriate contact tracking systems in place.

or you could get everyone who gets into your taxi to leave their number? might be better than putting every taxi driver in the country on the dole.

[john m]

After weeks of testing and an €850,000 bill, the HSE’s contact tracing app is finally live. Available from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, it is intended to be another weapon in the fight against the spread of Covid-19 in Ireland.

What is it?
The HSE’s contact tracing app, developed by Waterford company Nearform, uses your phone’s bluetooth connection to keep a log of any close contacts. That list is compiled using beacons that are identified by a string of numbers that change every 10 to 20 minutes. If two phones are in close contact, they exchange their active ID, and that list is stored on phones for 14 days. To help protect privacy, the beacons are random and are not tied to a user’s identity.

What does it do?
The app is primarily used for three things; contact tracing, checking in on symptoms daily, and providing updates on Covid-19 in Ireland. You can use as many or as little of these as you like. The app asks you for a series of permissions that you can accept or reject as you see fit.

First up: contact tracing, the main purpose of the app. According to the terms and conditions, it determines contact as anyone who has been closer than two metres for more than 15 minutes.

As part of the app set-up, it asks you to enable your phone’s Exposure Notification Service - the technology that Apple and Google have been working together on to bring to iOS and Android users. It allows the official HSE app to access bluetooth in the background.

All official information says it shouldn’t have too much of an impact on battery life for your phone, but that remains to be seen. To use the app for contact tracing, you will have to give permission for it to use the Exposure Notification function on your phone.

     Learn more
If you test positive for Covid-19 and are using the app, the HSE will ask you to upload that previously mentioned list of random IDs stored on your phone. To do that, you will need a six-digit code supplied by the HSE via text message, an attempt to stop people falsely claiming to have a positive diagnosis. It also means you retain full control over the data on your phone, and it is not automatically uploaded without your knowledge.

Once you upload that data, the IDs are then added to a list that is downloaded daily to the phones of those using the app, and potential matches are processed on an individual’s phone. If there is a match found,users are alerted through the app that they may have been in contact with coronavirus, and can then arrange a test.

During the set-up, the Covid Tracker app also asks if you want to share your phone number but it’s not mandatory. If you give the app your phone number, it will only be used by the HSE to contact you if you are in close contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus. The apps only share your number with the HSE if or when you have a confirmed contact. It is strictly opt-in and you can skip that if you don’t feel comfortable; it can always be changed later on through the in-app settings.

The second function is the symptom tracker. The Covid check-in asks for some data – age group, location and so on, all of which are optional – and how you are feeling. Select the “I’m not feeling well today” option and the app will walk you through a few questions, asking if you have a fever of more than 38 degrees, any type of cough, difficulty in breathing or loss of sense of taste or smell. If you have symptoms like a runny nose or sore throat, the app advises you to behave as if you have coronavirus and to self isolate for 14 days.


By 11.15pm on Monday evening, the app was already showing almost 8,000 check-ins, the majority of them from people feeling well. Some 15 minutes later, that number was close to 13,000.

The third main function of the app is to provide information on the current level of coronavirus in Ireland. You can get a county-by-county breakdown, plus hospitalisation figures and how Covid-19 is spreading in Ireland. It’s not quite as detailed as the Covid-19 Hub, but it shows the essentials.

What does the app need?
On the most basic level, the app requires the latest versions of both Apple and Google’s software, which include the exposure notification tool upon which the app is built.

If you are going to use contact tracing, you will need to enable bluetooth; location services are not essential, and both Apple and Google previously said there would be no sharing of location data with the Covid tracker software. After installing it on both iOS and Android, neither required access to my location data, nor did they appear on the list of apps that had used location services in recent days. You will also be asked to allow the app to send you notifications.

For the app to be effective as a way of tracing contacts, it requires other people to also download and use it, which is why the HSE is keen to have as many people as possible share the app. The HSE has even included a “share app” option to make it as easy as possible for you to spread the word.

What else does it look for?
The app also asks for permission to collect app metrics, or data on how the app is being used. According to the terms and conditions, that includes if the app on your phone is being used, if exposure notification services have been turned on, if the app has received any exposure notifications, if it has uploaded diagnosis keys, the number of diagnosis key matches per exposure notification, the number of days between app triggering notification and upload of keys, and the ratio of exposure notification to positive cases. Absolutely none of this is essential to the working of the app, so you can refuse consent in the first instance, or if you skipped through the menus quickly and didn’t realise what you were signing up for, you can go back and disable that in the in-app settings.


What if I change my mind about using the app?
If you want to get rid of the app, it should take your data with it. However, you can choose to wipe the app of your data first. Under Settings, there is a “leave” option. If you select “I want to leave” and confirm that choice, it will delete your information, and the app is reset. You can then delete the app.

Apple also allows you to delete the exposure log through Settings>Privacy>Health>Covid Exposure Logging> Delete Exposure Log.

[john m]

If you test positive for Covid-19 and are using the app, the HSE will ask you to upload that previously mentioned list of random IDs stored on your phone. To do that, you will need a six-digit code supplied by the HSE via text message, an attempt to stop people falsely claiming to have a positive diagnosis. It also means you retain full control over the data on your phone, and it is not automatically uploaded without your knowledge.


Again Roy your wrong but thats nothing new .

[Shallowhal]

But will Big Dommos whatever still be able to clear a Mackers drive thru in 15 seconds?

[john m]

For those of you who realize there are some arseholes on here, Lads who suggest looking after your health is wrong but offering a taxi service at discount rates is smart .Talk to your granny If you had TB in the far far long ago it was looked upon a bit like leopracy you never told anybody same if you had the Pox you wouldnt go around advertising it .This app Fails simply because it relies on infected people to input the fact they are or were diseased .That simply wont work .Its more window dressing just like self isolating when you enter the country its not a legal requirement only a consideration .But some fools lacking in intellect or intelligence are falling for the crap as its designed exactly for their low lever of education or intelligence .

[stonethecrows]

For those of you who realize there are some arseholes on here, Lads who suggest looking after your health is wrong but offering a taxi service at discount rates is smart .Talk to your granny If you had TB in the far far long ago it was looked upon a bit like leopracy you never told anybody same if you had the Pox you wouldnt go around advertising it .This app Fails simply because it relies on infected people to input the fact they are or were diseased .That simply wont work .Its more window dressing just like self isolating when you enter the country its not a legal requirement only a consideration .But some fools lacking in intellect or intelligence are falling for the crap as its designed exactly for their low lever of education or intelligence .

+1 , They be better off sticking a chip up everyone's rear end

[Theoneandonly]

For those of you who realize there are some arseholes on here, Lads who suggest looking after your health is wrong but offering a taxi service at discount rates is smart .Talk to your granny If you had TB in the far far long ago it was looked upon a bit like leopracy you never told anybody same if you had the Pox you wouldnt go around advertising it .This app Fails simply because it relies on infected people to input the fact they are or were diseased .That simply wont work .Its more window dressing just like self isolating when you enter the country its not a legal requirement only a consideration .But some fools lacking in intellect or intelligence are falling for the crap as its designed exactly for their low lever of education or intelligence .

You really are an idiot, The APP doesn't tell anyone you are ill. you are contacted WHEN you test positive, YOU decide whether to inform those you have been in close contact with, those informed are NOT told who they were in contact with or where, the APP doesn't know where you where, all it "knows is the id number of the phone you were near for 15 minutes or more.

By the way, you were very happy doing discount work for a long time, unlike you I really don't give a fuck what other taxi drivers think of me, they are totally unimportant in my life, I will however unlike you happily admit if I'm mistaken howeverI need to be told where I made the mistake,

the APP records the ID of phones that you've been close to for 15 minutes or more NOTHING else.

It's fucking ridiculous that those cocooning themselves at home because their afraid of the illness are the same ones not downloading the app, not fitting screens, refusing to wear masks, absolute fucking morons

[john m]

I can see the merit of the app but if its not compulsory that you input if you have contracted the disease how does the app work ?Its supposed to be anonymous so why dont the HSE upload the status of infected people before they release them into the community .If you are infected and refuse to have your data uploaded you should be detained in Isolation .In the expensive isolation unit in City West .

[Theoneandonly]

I can see the merit of the app but if its not compulsory that you input if you have contracted the disease how does the app work ?Its supposed to be anonymous so why dont the HSE upload the status of infected people before they release them into the community .If you are infected and refuse to have your data uploaded you should be detained in Isolation .In the expensive isolation unit in City West .

If you get the disease, you are asked if you have the APP, then you are asked if you want to share upload the IDs.
It's very simple really and at the same time brilliant because it answers all the questions asked by the tin hat brigade

[john m]

You are a Dangerous fool, there is not one true fact in that entire paragraph of pure crap.

The App has been designed by Google to work and is brilliant.
It doesn't track like FN or Uber it uses bluetooth and only knows if you've been within 1.5 meters of an infected person for 15 mins or more, it doesn't know where you've been.
The more people that download it the better, gobshites like you spewing crap are it's only concern in that regard.
((((((((((You don't input your diagnosis yourself, ))))))))))))if you get a positive result you are then asked if you have the app, and then if you allow those you have been in close contact with for more than 15 mins are informed, they are not told who you are or where you met.
At least get one fucking fact right before you do your usual put down.

YOU decide  Make your mind up will ya its not beyond lyour level of  education to understand you idiot .