![]() ![]() Several works have studied app reviews in the past to identify user experiences along with bug reports and feature requests for different mobile apps. The focus of this study is on the motivation and experience of people who downloaded ENS apps, with data taken from reviews for each of the individual state apps. While downloads of the app are likely to remain a large barrier, another challenge is the successful maintenance of the population who have downloaded COVID tracking apps. Efforts to increase downloads such as informational campaigns appear to have little impact while financial incentives appear to produce a large increase in downloads in study populations, states have not provided this as a path to increase downloads. Much research and commentary have focused on why people would not download these apps or why they would not be useful, citing privacy concerns and likely low uptake, as well as higher download rates by risk-averse populations already engaging in protective action. ![]() ![]() The uptake of these apps has remained low throughout the COVID-19 pandemic while numbers of downloads are not typically publicly available, an analysis by the Associated Press released in December 2020 estimated approximately 1 in 14 people had downloaded apps in states an app was available. Over the course of the pandemic, several states launched Exposure Notification Apps, with the vast majority engaging with the ENS technology created by Google and Apple. ![]() Individual states determined what their apps looked like and what functions they included, as well as the parameters for what was considered a close contact (e.g., 15 minutes of exposure at 6 feet or less). This API was provided to state departments of health, who could then develop apps for the citizens of their state. This was meant both to alleviate the pressure on traditional contact tracing efforts, as well as counteract situations traditional contact tracing cannot work, i.e., when contacts are unknown to a case. The API was structured so keys would be exchanged when phones, each with the app installed, were in close contact the goal was to be able to provide exposure notifications if a close contact later tested positive for COVID-19. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Google and Apple collaborated to launch an Exposure Notification System (ENS), which utilized an Application Programming Interface (API) allowing smartphones to share encrypted, anonymous keys between devices using Bluetooth technology. ![]()
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