‘Google wants to make corona apps work on Wear OS smartwatches’

More and more countries have their own corona app for Android and iOS devices. Via such a corona app, people can be warned if they have come into contact with someone who is infected with the corona virus. Google now also wants this system to work via smartwatches, so that people do not always have to carry their phone with them.

Corona apps on smartwatches

You may not always carry a phone with you when you go outside, but you do have a smartwatch on your wrist at all times. In the future, your smartwatch may be able to contribute to the collection of the anonymous contact moments that are required for the operation of corona apps. XDA reports that Google is currently making changes to the code of its Google Play Services aimed at the operation of corona apps with smartwatches.

If smartwatches can take over this task from telephones in the future, this will ensure that there are no more ‘black spots’ in your contact moments. Those who currently go out on the street without a phone run the risk of coming into contact with someone who is infected. Since the corona apps currently do not work on smartwatches, this contact moment remains unnoticed, while there is a chance that you have become infected with the virus.

Update from Play Services

All changes to the code of the Play Services were found in version 20.50.14 and are related to, among other things, the notifications to be sent at contact moments and the connection with the smartwatches. The smartwatches that will work with the changes that Google is currently making to the Play Services will thus not only serve as a bluetooth signal for other phones that use corona apps, but also serve as the place where the notifications arrive once you touch them. come with an infected patient.

It is not yet known which smartwatch platforms will receive support for this method of contact research. Presumably it concerns Wear OS, given that Google can make changes to it itself – for other platforms, Google would depend on the adjustments that companies want to make to their software. However, given the limited popularity of Wear OS as a platform, Google’s aim to make corona apps work via smartwatches seems to have little effect.

What do you think of the steps Google is taking to strengthen contact research through corona apps by making it work on smartwatches? Would you also like the corona app on your phone to be able to record the contact moments via a smartwatch? Let us know below the article.