Covid app now fixed, and there are updates too

biko · 30-08-2020 10:54am #1

It should also now be easier to report errors to the app’s developers and HSE, such as the recent battery drain issue that severely impacted its performance on Android phones.

While now fixed, the issue may have had a significant impact on the number of users deleting the app.

The most noticeable change is that the app now gives a more detailed breakdown on the number of cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. This includes a list of the number of hospital and intensive care admissions, discharges and confirmed cases across the country.

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/the-covid-tracker-ireland-app-update-battery-issue

Fr_Dougal · 30-08-2020 4:31pm

It’s still a bit of a battery drain, but not as bad as before.

Jim_Hodge · 30-08-2020 4:44pm

Still won't load on a slightly dated phone though.

catrat12 · 30-08-2020 8:29pm

I have a new i phone and it has exposure logging as well as the COVID app I installed should I be using this also and can anyone tell me what provided and matched key count mean and should I delete the exposure checks as they seem to be doing it every 2 hours

plodder · 31-08-2020 8:48am

catrat12 wrote: »

I have a new i phone and it has exposure logging as well as the COVID app I installed should I be using this also and can anyone tell me what provided and matched key count mean and should I delete the exposure checks as they seem to be doing it every 2 hours

Matched keys are ones that you have picked up from being close to someone who then reports a positive test and therefore results in a close contact alert to you. Most people will (hopefully) never see any matched keys.

Provided keys seems to be a change in terminology, but I think it refers to the keys your phone downloads every two hours and are the keys of people who have reported a positive test. The number of those relates to the number of people who have recently reported a positive test anywhere in the country.

Personally, I wouldn't go deleting anything to do with the app. It only keeps data for 14 days, and I presume it deletes the downloaded data after it does the matching check. Also, when you installed it and set it up, that would have enabled 'exposure logging'. You just need to make sure that Bluetooth is switched on after that I think.

Jinglejangle69 · 31-08-2020 8:52am

This app drained my android which now won't turn on. Phone only months old.

Had to get a new phone and lost everything.

Never again.

un5byh7sqpd2x0 · 31-08-2020 8:55am

Jinglejangle69 wrote: »

This app drained my android which now won't turn on. Phone only months old.

Had to get a new phone and lost everything.

Never again.

It had nothing to do with the COVID app, it was a Google Play Services cockup.

plodder · 31-08-2020 9:14am

I've had trouble in the past with phone batteries getting deep discharged. It was always possible to coax them back to life again. But, if a new phone is bricked by an app in this way, I think I'd be sending the phone back.

Smegging hell · 31-08-2020 11:04pm

Jim_Hodge wrote: »

Still won't load on a slightly dated phone though.

Same here.

Fr_Dougal · 01-09-2020 8:01am

Seamus Panicky Sleuth wrote: »

It had nothing to do with the COVID app, it was a Google Play Services cockup.

It has been documented many times before, it was the Covid app. The HSE even apologised. The app creators updated it. In the article quoted they admit that there was an issue.

DublinCJM · 23-09-2020 2:40pm

Anyone know how the reporting on this thing works?

Myself and my partner both got close contact alerts on Sunday night, within an hour or so of each other.

HSE rang us both yesterday, and all they would tell my partner was that the contact was Sept 8th.

When they rang me, they said it was Sept 9th. I queried the time as I thought it would be unusual that we were different days, given that we were both together with our 3 year old, away in Gorey for a few days holiday.

They told me mine was reported to the HSE as being 02:50 on the 9th. I know for a fact that I was in bed asleep at that time.

So can there be a delay in the reported times? I assumed the whole principle was that the app logged close contacts at a particular time.

Only thing I can think of is that while I was asleep in the hotel, with my phone on charge beside the bed, the person in the room next door had their phone beside their bed with only the bedroom wall separating us. They went on to have a positive test, and that's why it was 02:50.

Any informed views appreciated.

eusap · 23-09-2020 2:48pm

If you go to the settings of your phone and search for Exposure notifications you will see your phone randomly uploads the data to the HSE, it may have been between 18:00 (last upload) - 02:00 (new upload) that you where in contact, where for your wife it may have been 17:00 (last upload) - 23:00 (new upload) the blue tooth keys just handshake and don't record the date/time, its the upload that has the date/time

DublinCJM · 23-09-2020 2:59pm

eusap wrote: »

If you go to the settings of your phone and search for Exposure notifications you will see your phone randomly uploads the data to the HSE, it may have been between 18:00 (last upload) - 02:00 (new upload) that you where in contact, where for your wife it may have been 17:00 (last upload) - 23:00 (new upload) the blue tooth keys just handshake and don't record the date/time, its the upload that has the date/time

So the 02:50 time the HSE gave me doesn't necessarily exactly reflect the time of the close contact, rather just the time when the close contact alert was notified to HSE?

Thanks for the response.

plodder · 23-09-2020 3:46pm

DublinCJM wrote: »

Anyone know how the reporting on this thing works?

Myself and my partner both got close contact alerts on Sunday night, within an hour or so of each other.

Everyone's phone checks for updates every few hours, but randomly relative to other phones. So, that makes sense you would get the alert roughly an hour apart.

HSE rang us both yesterday, and all they would tell my partner was that the contact was Sept 8th.

When they rang me, they said it was Sept 9th. I queried the time as I thought it would be unusual that we were different days, given that we were both together with our 3 year old, away in Gorey for a few days holiday.

They told me mine was reported to the HSE as being 02:50 on the 9th. I know for a fact that I was in bed asleep at that time.

So can there be a delay in the reported times? I assumed the whole principle was that the app logged close contacts at a particular time.

I think it does log the particular time. So, it probably was 02:50 for you and that the signal came through the wall from an adjoining room as you suggest. Your partner's phone might not have registered on that other person's phone at the same time though. Or it did, but it had already registered earlier in the evening because it was closer at that time. I would guess the time of first contact is what is reported.

Only thing I can think of is that while I was asleep in the hotel, with my phone on charge beside the bed, the person in the room next door had their phone beside their bed with only the bedroom wall separating us. They went on to have a positive test, and that's why it was 02:50.

Right, I'd say that is what happened.

DublinCJM · 23-09-2020 4:06pm

Thanks

Pauliedragon · 23-09-2020 4:13pm

I have a P20 and was only able to download the app last week but I haven't noticed any difference in the battery.

ShineOn7 · 23-09-2020 7:22pm

Is there still a battery drain with this?

Fr_Dougal · 23-09-2020 8:52pm

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Is there still a battery drain with this?

I’ve noticed a drain lately. Only getting half a day from a charge now, day and a half without the app installed.

ShineOn7 · 23-09-2020 8:55pm

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

day and a half without the app installed.

Is it a Nokia brick from 1998?

El Weirdo · 24-09-2020 9:56am

I haven't noticed any battery drain on my Pixel 3a.

plodder · 24-09-2020 11:09am

Just try it out. If it's causing you battery problems then get rid of it, if you have to.

30-09-2020 6:19pm

plodder wrote: »

Just try it out. If it's causing you battery problems then get rid of it, if you have to.

Or check your battery usage - where you'll discover it is not the covid app - and leave the app installed where it is.

georgieM · 06-10-2020 7:45pm

App hasn't checked exposure since the 28th of September any body else notice this

DublinCJM · 06-10-2020 9:38pm

georgieM wrote: »

App hasn't checked exposure since the 28th of September any body else notice this

Mine's checking between 4 and 6 times a day by the looks of it... Maybe needs an app update?

EDIT: Having said that, I've scrolled back through it and there's some days it's only been once, and doesn't look like it did anything on 30th Sept.

Maybe only checks if it came in contact with another phone.... Though that must mean I kept 2m away from the missus for the whole of the 30th

wowzer · 06-10-2020 9:44pm

georgieM wrote: »

App hasn't checked exposure since the 28th of September any body else notice this

Same for me, last exposure check on the 29th.

plodder · 06-10-2020 10:18pm

Same here (Android) but I notice on my wife's iphone you can't see exposure checks at all any more. Might be something to do with the recent update relating to international travel. I don't see any information about it anywhere.

Jinglejangle69 · 06-10-2020 10:23pm

Jinglejangle69 wrote: »

This app drained my android which now won't turn on. Phone only months old.

Had to get a new phone and lost everything.

Never again.

Would love to know who I could go to about this.

****.

Midnight Sundance · 06-10-2020 11:10pm

My last exposure check was sept 29th also.

Heroditas · 06-10-2020 11:13pm

28th for me too.

fly_agaric · 06-10-2020 11:15pm

georgieM wrote: »

App hasn't checked exposure since the 28th of September any body else notice this

Noticed that on my phone (android) at the weekend (opened app and decided to look at this information for some reason + was surprised it hadn't done any checks for a few days - since 28th Sept).

Seems to be doing exposure checks again now.

I did not do anything at all to fix whatever was the issue (other than closing the app down fully before I opened it the next time).

El Weirdo · 07-10-2020 10:20am

Had no checks from the 28th September until today. Had 2 today.

plodder · 07-10-2020 1:27pm

If you disable exposure notifications then go into the app so it sees they are disabled, and then re-enable them, that seems to fix it also.

MarkY91 · 07-10-2020 1:30pm

I've had between 4 and 8 checks every since day for the past few weeks.

Heroditas · 07-10-2020 4:50pm

plodder wrote: »

If you disable exposure notifications then go into the app so it sees they are disabled, and then re-enable them, that seems to fix it also.

That's how I eventually got mine working after the app froze and refused to accept those changes
What's worrying me is how many other users out there are also affected and aren't even aware of it.

07-10-2020 4:50pm

Jinglejangle69 wrote: »

This app drained my android which now won't turn on. Phone only months old.

Had to get a new phone and lost everything.

Never again.

That didn’t happen.

plodder · 07-10-2020 4:53pm

Heroditas wrote: »

That's how I eventually got mine working after the app froze and refused to accept those changes
What's worrying me is how many other users out there are also affected and aren't even aware of it.

The HSE and the developers know about the problem.

monkeybutter · 07-10-2020 4:58pm

Jinglejangle69 wrote: »

This app drained my android which now won't turn on. Phone only months old.

Had to get a new phone and lost everything.

Never again.

firstly back stuff up

how much stuff could you lose in a few months

did it drain it of life or what?

The J Stands for Jay · 07-10-2020 5:20pm

MarkY91 wrote: »

I've had between 4 and 8 checks every since day for the past few weeks.

Where do you see that?

MarkY91 · 07-10-2020 5:25pm

McGaggs wrote: »

Where do you see that?

When I turn bluetooth off, I get an " exposure notification". Clock onto it and then you can click onto "exposure checks"

I Interestingly had an exposure check at 00:26 as I slept. I 100% didn't have bluetooth turned on at that time. I thought the app doesn't do anything when bluetooth is off?

The J Stands for Jay · 07-10-2020 5:34pm

MarkY91 wrote: »

When I turn bluetooth off, I get an " exposure notification". Clock onto it and then you can click onto "exposure checks"

I Interestingly had an exposure check at 00:26 as I slept. I 100% didn't have bluetooth turned on at that time. I thought the app doesn't do anything when bluetooth is off?

Thanks. My only check in 14 days was today.

Heroditas · 07-10-2020 7:27pm

MarkY91 wrote: »

When I turn bluetooth off, I get an " exposure notification". Clock onto it and then you can click onto "exposure checks"

I Interestingly had an exposure check at 00:26 as I slept. I 100% didn't have bluetooth turned on at that time. I thought the app doesn't do anything when bluetooth is off?

I think it's syncing with the main servers at that time. It's checking if you've been exposed rather than checking if you're current being exposed if that makes any sense.

plodder · 07-10-2020 9:45pm

I've checked a few Android phones today and they all have stopped checking for exposures since Sept 28. They need to fix this problem with a software update, if as appears likely it's a widespread problem.

Caquas · 21-10-2020 12:03pm

Has anyone had an alert from this app recently?

The contact tracers were overwhelmed at the weekend and are not tracking contacts for the latest cases. If you have the app, can you rely on it to alert you?

I know it had over a million downloads but I have seen no statistics about its actual use.

Farrelk · 21-10-2020 12:09pm

Caquas wrote: »

Has anyone had an alert from this app recently?

The contact tracers were overwhelmed at the weekend and are not tracking contacts for the latest cases. If you have the app, can you rely on it to alert you?

I know it had over a million downloads but I have seen no statistics about its actual use.

My mother got an alert on Wednesday 14th from the app that she was a close contact. She then got a call Monday evening to say that her contact date was actually Thursday the 8th. So today she is headed for a test after contact with someone at work 2 weeks tomorrow

plodder · 21-10-2020 12:41pm

Caquas wrote: »

Has anyone had an alert from this app recently?

The contact tracers were overwhelmed at the weekend and are not tracking contacts for the latest cases. If you have the app, can you rely on it to alert you?

I know it had over a million downloads but I have seen no statistics about its actual use.

No, the app is caught up in the contact tracing sh!t storm unfortunately. If you have a positive test then you can't upload your random IDs until you are contacted by the tracers. Pity, since the positive test result text message could include the code to do that.

Daemonic · 21-10-2020 12:55pm

plodder wrote: »

No, the app is caught up in the contact tracing sh!t storm unfortunately. If you have a positive test then you can't upload your random IDs until you are contacted by the tracers. Pity, since the positive test result text message could include the code to do that.

Unless it's changed since I was tested, you only get a text for a negative result. If your test is positive you get a call instead.

plodder · 21-10-2020 1:08pm

Daemonic wrote: »

Unless it's changed since I was tested, you only get a text for a negative result. If your test is positive you get a call instead.

I think it's a new thing.

Caquas · 21-10-2020 1:19pm

plodder wrote: »

No, the app is caught up in the contact tracing sh!t storm unfortunately. If you have a positive test then you can't upload your random IDs until you are contacted by the tracers. Pity, since the positive test result text message could include the code to do that.

I’m confused

The app website says

If you use the app you will:
be alerted if you have been in close contact with another app user who has tested positive for coronavirus

https://covidtracker.gov.ie/?utm_source=covid_tracker&utm_medium=app&utm_campaign=in_text%20

but it seems this is not automatic, as I had assumed. You say the person who tests positive has to be contacted by the tracers first, and then that person should alert their contacts using the app.

Even so, this would save a lot of work for the contact tracers i.e. the person who tests positive would alert their contacts.

Has the system failed to the point where even that initial contact by the tracers is not happening so the app is use
useless?

plodder · 21-10-2020 1:24pm

Caquas wrote: »

I’m confused

The app website says

https://covidtracker.gov.ie/?utm_source=covid_tracker&utm_medium=app&utm_campaign=in_text%20

but it seems this is not automatic, as I had assumed. You say the person who tests positive has to be contacted by the tracers first, and then that person should alert their contacts using the app.

The contact tracers give you a code that you enter on your app, and it's automatic from that point. But, it can't happen until you are contacted unfortunately.

Even so, this would save a lot of work for the contact tracers i.e. the person who tests positive would alert their contacts.

Not that it would save much work because they are in a way, two parallel systems. The contact tracers don't know who has been notified by the app, but if they are swamped, then the app could continue working automatically. So, it could save time and notify some people sooner.

Caquas · 21-10-2020 2:32pm

plodder wrote: »

....

Not that it would save much work because they are in a way, two parallel systems. The contact tracers don't know who has been notified by the app, but if they are swamped, then the app could continue working automatically. So, it could save time and notify some people sooner.

Do I have this straight?

People were being contacted by the app and then separately by the tracers but the tracers didn’t know whether anyone had been contacted already by the app. And now the tracers are overwhelmed and they aren’t even contacting the person who tested positive so the app isn’t alerting their contacts.

We were told that “test and trace” was the alternative to lockdown. No wonder we are back to lockdown if this is our alternative!

Kurn · 21-10-2020 7:42pm

How does the app work does anyone know. For example. I had a test on Friday. It was negative. Just now i got a close contact alert. But ive not budged from the flat all week. Except to pick up a prebooked takeaway. I’ve not been out all week other than that and live alone.

Covid app now fixed, and there are updates too

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