Android COVID 19 exposure notificaation already on your phone

[Toany]

I think there has been a setting put on all Android phones for COVID 19 exposure notifications.

 

Check your phon emy going to settings - Google Services and you wil se the first eentry "COVID 19 exposure notification"

 

Can a techie please explain why this is on my phone?  I have not installed any program or even logged into THAICHANA.

 

maybe we are already being tracked by Google!

[Crossy]

Google keeps tabs on where your phone is, and has done for a long time (unless you turn the facility off).

 

Please can you post a screenshot of what you're seeing that's covid related?

[stouricks]

Just checked mine........................nothing about COVID exposure even with location turned on.

[Yorkshire Tea]

Says "to turn on covid-19 exposure notifications, open an available app"

[blackcab]

Just checked. I have this on my Samsung Galaxy as well. Here is a screenshot:

 

 

 

[Halfaboy]

How did you get there ?

 

Thanks....

[blackcab]

I pressed the system icon then searched for "covid".

[ukrules]

It's on mine as well. This explains a few things about data usage when my phone wasn't connected to the internet at all for months.

 

I knew it, there's been a forced update.

[Swiss1960]

I have posted information about this Covid option on the phones, where it comes from and what it means for you. It is also on all iPhones, not only Androids, see here please

 

[dave s]

On 6/6/2020 at 4:21 PM, Crossy said:

Google keeps tabs on where your phone is, and has done for a long time (unless you turn the facility off).

 

Please can you post a screenshot of what you're seeing that's covid related?

I have a brand new Samsung phone that I bought on June 2 to replace my old one that the morons at  Thai "repair" shop destroyed. I have been setting it up and playing with it. Automatic updating of apps and of the system is turned off. The first picture is a screenshot of the Settings icon on the home screen. On that screen is a rectangle with

    GOOGLE

    Google Settings

The second picture is a screenshot of what you see if you click on that rectangle. I do not remember the Covid line when I was looking around at all he stuff on the phone. And while I added many apps in Google Play, and updated apps in Play several times, I do not think that this is what installed Covid, because it is not an app, it is part of the operating system. However, at 23:50 on June 2, it offered a system update (the third picture is a screenshot of it that I saved), and at 01:45 on June 3 I accepted the system update and it installed (the fourth picture is a screenshot of that). Notice that nothing about Covid software is mentioned in the system update messages, and I would not have allowed that update if Google had been honest and forthcoming about what was in it. I consider my phone to have been trashed by a lying, stealth update, and am seriously considering testing if a factory reset of the phone will remove it, even though it means setting the phone up all over again.

 

 

Crossy, is this what you wanted to see?

 

[Crossy]

Got it, it's in Google settings (not phone settings), so yes even my antique Note-3 has the menu.

 

But since there's no App associated with it hence "To turn on COVID-19 exposure notifications, open an available app" it does nothing.

 

One assumes (dangerous I know) that once a Bluetooth based tracker is installed it will interface via this menu.

 

See the post above by @Swiss1960

 

[dave s]

On 6/6/2020 at 6:21 PM, blackcab said:

Just checked. I have this on my Samsung Galaxy as well. Here is a screenshot:

 

 

 

The long, thin picture does not have enough resolution to read the text. The link

    https://support.google.com/android/answer/9888358?hl=en#:~:text=How the app may determine,The day the contact happened.

appears to be the source of it.

 

 

 

Use the COVID-19 Exposure Notifications System on your Android phone

To help understand whether you've been exposed to someone who reports having COVID-19, you can turn on Exposure Notifications. If you change your mind, you can turn it off.

To use the system, you need to download your public health authority's app.

• If you have COVID-19, you may share that info with the app to help alert the people you've been in contact with.
• If you've been exposed to someone who has shared they have COVID-19, the app will notify you and give you further instructions.

What you need to get started

• Download an app from your region's government public health authority. To find out if an app is available, check with your government.
• Turn on your phone's Bluetooth. Learn how to turn on Bluetooth.
• Turn on your phone's Location setting. Learn how to turn on Location. The system uses this to scan for Bluetooth signals. The system does not collect or track your location.

How Exposure Notifications work

When you turn on Exposure Notifications within an app from your region's government public health authority, your phone shares random IDs with other nearby phones that also have turned on the Exposure Notifications System.

Throughout the day, your phone and the phones around you exchange random IDs. When your phone detects a random ID from another device, it records and stores the ID.

If someone reports having COVID-19 and their ID is stored on your phone, the app will notify you of next steps to take.

How the app may determine exposure

The government public health authority determines which factors might indicate exposure.

If the app learns that you've come in contact with someone who reports themselves as having COVID-19, the system shares with the app:

• The day the contact happened.
• How long the contact lasted.
• The Bluetooth signal strength of that contact.

The public health authority app is not allowed to use your phone's location.

The Exposure Notifications System itself does not use your location or share other users’ identities with the app, Google, or Apple.

If you have COVID-19

1. In the public health app, you may report yourself as having COVID-19.
2. The app may ask you to share your random IDs. This helps the public health authority to notify others.
3. The app may then check if your random IDs are stored on other people's devices. It may alert others who came in contact with you. Those other people won't know your identity.

How the Exposure Notification System protects your privacy

You decide if and when to share your data.

• All of the Exposure Notification matching happens on your device, which means only you and your app know if you report having COVID-19 or been exposed to someone who has reported having COVID-19. Your identity is never shared with other users, Apple, or Google.
• When you download a public health authority app, you can opt in to use Exposure Notifications.
• If you have COVID-19, you can choose to share your random IDs with the app.
• To help prevent tracking, your phone's random ID changes every 10-20 minutes.
• Your phone only stores random IDs from the last 14 days.
• The public health authority app is not allowed to use your phone's location or track your location in the background.
• Only official public health authority apps can use the system.

Turn off Exposure Notifications

You can turn off Exposure Notifications in your Android phone's Settings, or uninstall the public health app.

Important: By turning off this feature, you won't be notified if you've been exposed to COVID-19.

1. On your Android device, open the Settings app.
2. Tap Google  COVID-19 Exposure Notifications.
3. Turn off Exposure Notifications, or turn off notifications for a specific app.

Learn how to uninstall apps.

 

Delete your exposure history

You can delete the random IDs stored on your device before they're automatically deleted after 14 days. You can't delete your random IDs that are stored on other people's devices or that you shared with an app.

Important: By deleting this data, you won't be notified if you've been exposed to COVID-19.

1. On your Android device, open the Settings app.
2. Tap Google  COVID-19 Exposure Notifications.
3. Tap Delete random IDs  Delete.

 

If you were exposed to someone who reported having COVID-19
You may get a notification from the public health authority app that you were exposed to COVID-19. If you get a notification, the app will guide you on what to do next.

 

 

 

A much more informative and less ambiguous description is quoted here

    forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1167639-covid-19-notification-on-android-google-and-ios-apple/?do=findComment&comment=15499431

    Covid-19 Notification on Android (Google) and iOS (Apple) - General topics - Thailand Visa Forum by Thai Visa | The Nation

in response #15 as the site link

    https://www.google.com/covid19/exposurenotifications/

    Exposure Notifications: Using technology to help public health authorities fight COVID‑19

 

[WorriedNoodle]

On 6/9/2020 at 5:45 PM, dave s said:

What you need to get started

• Download an app from your region's government public health authority. To find out if an app is available, check with your government.

Sorry if this has already been discussed and I missed it, but what is the government public health authority app if one exists?

[KhunBENQ]

On 6/6/2020 at 3:29 PM, Toany said:

Check your phon emy going to settings - Google Services and you wil se the first eentry "COVID 19 exposure notification"

 

Can a techie please explain why this is on my phone?  I have not installed any program or even logged into THAICHANA.

I can't explain really but I also have it (in German language).

Same as above: it says "open an available app" and babbles about bluetooth (a concept that would really make some sense and is followed in other countries).

Obviously the thing is dead for now.

So I can sleep well.