In iOS 16.4, Apple added basic support for Medical Services to end support for the Exposure Notification API. When health authorities decide to stop supporting the feature, users will see a message on their iPhone informing them of the decision. “Your health authority has disabled exposure notifications. Your iPhone no longer registers nearby devices and will not be able to notify you of possible exposure,” the notice read. “Previously collected exposure data is automatically deleted.”
Three years later, Apple is now giving healthcare agencies the option to pause the adoption of the Exposure Notification API.
Apple and Google had high hopes for the exposure notification platform, but it failed to gain traction largely because of the scattered rollout by states and health authorities around the world. For example, in the United States, instead of creating a single contact tracing app, the decision to support exposure notifications is made by each state’s public health agency.
Then each state has to adopt the API and create its own exposure notification app. Finally, the “Exposure Notifications Express” system came out, bringing this functionality directly into iOS 13. However, every state is required to register for the platform, and many have opted out.
You can manage contact notifications on your iPhone by going to the Settings app and looking for the “Contact notifications” menu.
Three years after its launch, what do you think of the Contact Notification system developed by Apple and Google? Has this been helpful to you during the COVID-19 pandemic? Let us know in the comments below.