Hawaii鈥檚 COVID-19 Tracking App Picks Up Speed
About 87,000 people have signed up in less than a week.
After another push, many more Hawaii residents have adopted smartphone technology that will notify them if they were exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
As of Feb. 11, the has been downloaded 187,000 times — up from 100,000 downloads as of Feb. 5, developers and officials with the Hawaii Department of Health said Thursday.
Developers had aimed to reach at least 150,000 downloads, representing 15% of smartphone users in Hawaii.
The app was first piloted in November but launched statewide in January. It sends alerts — like a weather notification — to the phones of users who came into close contact with someone confirmed to be infected.
The app does not track location data and of all users.
The uptick stems from a recent software update that enables older iPhones to run the a notification system without downloading the app. That software was developed by Google and Apple and has been customized by jurisdictions across the country.
Hawaii’s AlohaSafe Alert app was developed through a public-private partnership with the Hawaii Department of Health, aio Digital and the Hawaii Executive Collaborative with funding from DOH and the private sector.
Support from local musicians including Anuhea, J Boog, Fia and The Green, who encouraged participation on social media, has also helped boost participation, developers said.
