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Following a trial run and official release on the 24th of September 2020, the NHS COVID-19 app has been downloaded more than 29 million times in England and Wales, as of December 2021. Developed to complement the NHS Test & Trace in England and the Test, Trace and Protect program in Wales, the app is aimed at increasing the speed and accuracy of contact tracing, and includes features such as local area alerts and venue check-in.

NHS COVID-19 app usage

Between the beginning of June 2021 and the end of July 2021, the number of COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom started rising again, reaching the peak of 54,674 on the 21st of July. In the previous week, it was reported that more than 600 thousand users of the NHS COVID-19 app in England and Wales had received a self-isolation alert or “ping,” causing what has been since renamed by the media as a “pingdemic.” The NHS COVID-19 app, which works using Bluetooth technology, registers the devices that the users have been in proximity of, and is programmed to send alerts to all the traced contacts in case the app users test positive for coronavirus. While the app’s tracing measurements are currently being reviewed to decrease the number of alerts sent, two in 10 users have reported switching off the app’s contact tracing function. Moreover, according to a survey of online users in Great Britain, only 22 percent of the online users who have the app are using it correctly, while one in ten reported deleting the app altogether.

Travel health pass and COVID-19 apps

In 2021, the rolling out of vaccination plans worldwide prompted health institutions and travel companies to start releasing new apps or updating their current ones to function as health passports. With close to 5,7 million downloads in the first half of 2021, the NHS app was the most downloaded app used to show digital certifications. The CovPass app, which is available to residents in Germany, followed with more than 5.56 million downloads as of the second quarter of 2021. According to a February survey of travelers worldwide, the main concerns over the use of digital health passports related to security risks over personal data being hacked and privacy protection.