In the United States, Virginia has enabled app-less Covid-19 exposure notification services for iPhone users, joining California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. This means iPhone users in those US states will not need to install exposure notification apps and can instead turn on notifications in the phone’s settings.
The services use the coronavirus exposure notification system built jointly by Apple and Google for their smartphone operating systems, iOS and Android, which the companies updated to work without apps. The system uses the ubiquitous Bluetooth short-range wireless communication technology.
As of January, 20 US states and the District of Columbia were using the system for exposure notification apps and app-less services. All of the apps and services are voluntary; however, the island of Maui in Hawaii now requires visitors to use one.
Dozens of apps are being used around the world…