Covid App: Yay or Nay

[Reynard]

Nay from me too.

Simply because apart from a trip to the supermarket every 10 days or so, and the very irregular trip into town to the LBS or the art shop, I simply don't go where people tend to congregate.

I'm teetotal, and cook restaurant quality food at home, so pubs and eating emporia are places I don't visit. Plus the GCCF has cancelled all cat shows for the foreseeable future.

 

[dodgy]

I installed it. I don't have a good reason not to. Neither does anyone else really, your choice. I'm sure you can reconcile it some how.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

No, and it's not through paranoia that the Government will follow me or anything. It's just because it's run by Harding and co, and because of that it'll have been bodged by the cheapest bidder, (probably a mate of a minister), probably be corrupted, and will likely fark my phone up.
Anyway I don't need it, I don't go mixing with others.

 

[Julia9054]

Yey but keeping the tracking bit off for now. It's not much benefit to me as I am most likely to get it from work where my phone is not on my person. I am going to the pub with a friend on Sunday so will probably switch it on for that.

 

[ColinJ]

Very nay!

I have been going out on my bike (solo!) since February, or making 3 twenty minute trips to the shops a week. Most of the rest of the time I have been home alone. When I go to the shops, I choose non-busy times, keep my distance, wear a face covering and use hand sanitiser. There isn't much chance of me picking up the bug, and ...

... I usually don't carry my phone when I go to the shops anyway!

 

[Over the Ord]

It don’t work.
Advised buy a new phone!

 

[PaulSB]

A depressing thread.

Yay.

 

[Dirk]

Nay from me.
I'm not walking around with Bluetooth switched on all the time.
Just like I only switch Location and WiFi on when I need to.
Doubtful that it works accurately anyway.
Talking to my neighbour earlier and she said that the app was telling her that we are in a 'medium risk' area.
Govt stats put us in the bottom 5 areas in the whole country last week.

 

[RussellZero]

I installed it last night, despite not going anywhere the battery has drained twice as fast, I uninstalled it, then I turned off Bluetooth, at which point it advised me that the tracking was no longer available without Bluetooth being on, so it looks like it's not actually uninstalled.

The tracking part is actually part of the phone's OS, and I don't think you can uninstall it - you can turn it off though. The app just makes use of the phone's feature. Ive been using the app since it came out, hasn't affected battery life at all on mine. Did you check that it was the app that drained your battery twice as fast?

I don't see how any society can beat this virus. People say they want a track and trace system, then we find that when its there, people won't cooperate by installing it, and there's evidence so far that less than 40% of people who have been traced (pre-app) and asked to isolate have actually adhered to it. Then there's all the rubbish about people thinking the government are using this app to monitor your every movement big brother style, even when they've published the source code to prove otherwise. (Why would they be interested!??) To all the conspiracy theorists - seriously, you think any UK government you've ever seen has had the foresight and capability to do anything that requires that level of planning and execution? If the responses from this thread are anything to go by, we as a society have encouraged our government to throw lots more money down the drain developing a tool and put infrastructure in place for something we never intended to use.

 

[lazybloke]

Despite reservations that any alerts might be inaccurate/misleading, i have installed the app. Will be interested to see if it gives an indication when other devices are in range - could then assess accuracy.

However my big concern is how battery has dropped 20% in only 40 mins!
Work are dishing out new phones next week, which might give a better battery life.

 

[PaulSB]

5M downloads so far. Hopefully the majority will be more positive than those posting in here. In real life I've yet to meet anyone who has a problem with the app.

The friends I've discussed it with simply see this as another very small contribution we can make to the effort to beat this virus.

 

[classic33]

Let's hope the location tracking is a bit better than this. Current location as given by the network.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Let's hope the location tracking is a bit better than this. Current location as given by the network.
View attachment 549906

It doesn’t do location tracking. That’s not how it works. Suggest you read up on how it works again.

 

[classic33]

It doesn’t do location tracking. That’s not how it works. Suggest you read up on how it works again.

With the Bluetooth on, it signals to any handset, Bluetooth enabled, that they have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive. Last two tests were returned as negative.

Walk through a town centre giving a false/misleading location being given out.

I'm old fashioned, when it comes to mobiles anyway, always turn mine off before entering or on hospital grounds

 

[stoatsngroats]

Yes, with joy, as I’ve not been able to isolate myself since March 23rd, and have many reasons to continue to live my life, albeit with serious consideration towards keeping myself safe.
The concern I have is not really over me becoming infected with COVID, and the initial illness, as I feel fit enough to cope with it, it’s more about any long term effects, ‘long COVID’ as it’s referred to.