The CoronaMelder app can now be downloaded and from 1 September it can probably be used throughout the country. PlusOnline surveyed readers’ willingness to download the app and it turned out that there were quite a few questions. Therefore: the answers to frequently asked questions in a row.
Where can I download the app?
The CoronaMelder app can be downloaded in the Google Play Store and in the Apple App Store.
On which phones can the app be installed?
The app works on Apple iPhones running iOS 13.5 or later operating system and most Android phones running version 6 or later. You can check yourself whether your phone complies with this. However, if you have an old phone, you will unfortunately not be able to install the app.
What if I don’t have a smartphone?
Unfortunately, you cannot use the app even then.
How does the app know if someone has corona? If someone has tested positive, they should stay at home. If he doesn’t, why would he mention on the app that he tested positive?
The app works with unique, completely anonymous codes. Those codes are compared with a database of codes of infected persons. You can read exactly how it works technically here >>
People can indeed decide for themselves whether they indicate that they are infected. The infection probably took place some time before the diagnosis. Each phone checks if it has encountered the codes on the server before. The app looks at the server with codes of infected persons a few times a day. He compares this server with the codes stored on your phone. This way the app sees whether you have run an extra risk of infection.
You will be notified if the codes of an infected person are on the phone. In this notification you can read when you have been in the vicinity of the infected person. Not who it is, and where it was. The app also tells you what is best for you now.
How many meters away does the app work?
The app connects with users who are within 10 meters of you.
Should I use the WiFi of a public network?
The app keeps track of your contact with other users via bluetooth: people who approach you at a short distance. Sending the encrypted information to the server to compare the codes is also possible via 4G. So there is no need to be connected via WiFi. It can also wait until you get home.
I am very curious if this app is not interfering with the medical equipment I have to wear?
That is not the case: Bluetooth does not cause interference with medical equipment. In fact, many modern medical equipment also works with Bluetooth.
Isn’t bluetooth very bad for your phone’s battery?
The app consumes little energy. The app uses Bluetooth Low Energy (Low Energy Bluetooth). This is a special form of Bluetooth that uses little power. The exact percentage of your battery that the app uses differs per phone.
An app with bluetooth? It is warned that you should NOT turn on your bluetooth because then all third parties have access to your data?
No system is watertight. In theory, bluetooth can also be hacked. But it is used for much more than just CoronaMelder: also, for example, wireless earphones. Because Bluetooth only works at short distances, it is difficult to intercept the signal and thus steal data. Exchanging information via bluetooth is therefore actually even safer than via the internet. The only chance for a hacker is if he or she is near the devices. But what is the chance that you will encounter a hacker along the way, who also knows that your bluetooth is on…
More information about bluetooth can be found here >>
If the data is traced and maintained via Facebook, then I will not participate!
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all other social media platforms are not involved in CoronaMelder. The app does not communicate with them.
For example, can restaurants refuse me if I don’t have the app?
No that is not allowed. The app can be downloaded and used voluntarily and you can go wherever you want without the app.
Do people who download it get priority in covid treatment?
New. There is no other benefit apart from what the app offers: a warning when you have been in contact with an infected person.
I find a tracking app a very unpleasant idea. We are already very much followed in our movements because of everything and I find a tracking app a means to follow all my movements without being in control myself.
CoronaMelder is not a ‘tracking app’. The government does not keep track of where you are or what you do. Personal and location data is not used. Without that data, there can be no tracking. The information that the app does send is also well encrypted. The government doesn’t know whose phones are, nor where you were.
You will only meet someone who is infected twice. Then I have to quarantine twice for two weeks.
You don’t need anything. CoronaMelder does not call the police if you do not report to the GGD. What you do with the information is entirely up to you.
Do you still have unanswered questions about the CoronaMelder? Bel 0800-1280 (for free).
Opening hours:
- Monday to Friday 08.00 – 20.00
- Saturday and Sunday 10.00 – 16.00