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Covid app now fixed, and there are updates too

biko

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

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plodder

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

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

Heroditas

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.

[Deleted User]

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

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

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

MarkY91 wrote: »

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

Where do you see that?

MarkY91

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Caquas

Kurn wrote: »

How does the app work does anyone know. ....

I doubt if anyone here knows, but at least they have fixed a problem with iPhones.

https://www.newstalk.com/news/exclusive-covid-tracker-app-alerts-delayed-iphones-1094268

First time I've seen this statistic:

Almost 7,000 users of the app have been sent a close contact alert.

There have been over 50,000 confirmed cases, about half of them since the app was launched. If each of those approx. 25,000 case had an average of only 10 close contacts, that implies that just 3.5% of cases used the app to alert their contacts. A very poor result?

And our elected representatives are worried.

One source said the Fine Gael leader explained to the meeting that the HSE had previously told the Government that staff they had let go in contact tracing during the quieter months could be re-hired.

Mr Varadkar is understood to have told the meeting “that is not what happened”.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/varadkar-says-dumping-contact-tracing-problem-on-gps-unfair-1.4387464

fly_agaric

Caquas wrote: »

I doubt if anyone here knows, but at least they have fixed a problem with iPhones.

...
First time I've seen this statistic:

There have been over 50,000 confirmed cases, about half of them since the app was launched. If each of those approx. 25,000 case had an average of only 10 close contacts, that implies that just 3.5% of cases used the app to alert their contacts. A very poor result?

And our elected representatives are worried.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/varadkar-says-dumping-contact-tracing-problem-on-gps-unfair-1.4387464

They give that figure in the application. I think (but am not certain?) you might also have to have "opted in" to additional data collection to allow them to know this. Edit: Although... suppose they can also find it out + record it if you contact HSE to get a test + tell them it was because of the app giving an alert.
There are 1.3 m active users (~ 27 % of population of 4.9 m).
Being naive, the probability a random case and their contact both have the app is 0.27*0.27 = 0.07 (7 %)
So the 3 % (which was figure I was getting?) is worse alright.
10 seems kind of high for "average" contacts but it is I imagine an extremely skewed number obeying a power law where a small number of people have tons of contacts and most have only a handful.

Kurn

The booking and getting a test was very well done where I went. The app.... seems a disaster...

I exported the log json file. But no idea what the numbers mean

"Hash" : "removed",
"MatchCount" : 0,
"KeyCount" : 81,
"AppBundleIdentifier" : "com.hse.ftapp",
"Timestamp" : "2020-10-19 23:33:38 +0100"

Is the figure in bold exposure? If so none of the logs show exposure. I was better off south this alert.

Fitz*

Is there anywhere within the app where you can see the number of close contacts you have in the past 14 days, or whatever the figure is?

Kurn

Fitz* wrote: »

Is there anywhere within the app where you can see the number of close contacts you have in the past 14 days, or whatever the figure is?

Not that i can see. The alert just says stay put wait for a call. I’ve 5 days before the alert not leaving the flat. So it must be an old alert. Interesting i also have the app on my work iphone. Its always in my work backpack never leaves it. I never bring out unless im going to work. It also has an alert.

Caquas

A sceptical assessment of such apps. Bluetooth may be a problem.

https://theconversation.com/contact-tracing-apps-theres-no-evidence-theyre-helping-stop-covid-19-148397

Lots of international comparisons but no mention of Ireland, perhaps because there has been so little publicly available data.

Thoie

Kurn wrote: »

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.

Kurn wrote: »

Not that i can see. The alert just says stay put wait for a call. I’ve 5 days before the alert not leaving the flat. So it must be an old alert. Interesting i also have the app on my work iphone. Its always in my work backpack never leaves it. I never bring out unless im going to work. It also has an alert.

There's always going to be a time lag between the contact and receiving the alert.

1. Contact happens (say in a hairdressers).
2. Someone feels sick/has some reason to get tested
3. They get an appointment and get a test
4. They get a positive result
5. They get a code to enter in their app, and enter it

Let's assume they didn't feel sick before going to the hairdresser, and noticed symptoms the next day. All going well (contact day 1, symptoms day 2, test day 3, result and code day 4), there's probably going to be at least 4 days before you get an alert in the app. But add in any delays there, and you might get the alert more than a week after the contact.

Your risk of infection varies - in a hairdressers where everyone is wearing masks, sanitising etc, you're probably OK, but the app only knows you've been in proximity to that person's phone for a while - it doesn't know if proximity was on the other side of a wall, or if you were kissing the person for 2 hours. That's where a call from the HSE telling you what day the contact happened is important.

In my case I got an alert on the 18th, but like Kurn, it must have been some time previous - I suspect a hairdresser visit on the 10th. However, I haven't been contacted by the HSE yet, so I don't know that for definite - it could have been any time from the 4th, which would change who I need to let know. I also need to restrict movement for 14 days from the 18th because I don't have any other info. But I know I wasn't in contact with anyone for 4 days before that.

For other reasons, I had a test yesterday, but it could be next Tuesday before I get the results. If I'm negative I'm supposed to avoid people for another 2 weeks after that. So it could be November 10th before I can go buy a pint of milk again, based on a low risk contact a month before that.

DublinCJM

Thoie wrote: »

For other reasons, I had a test yesterday, but it could be next Tuesday before I get the results. If I'm negative I'm supposed to avoid people for another 2 weeks after that. So it could be November 10th before I can go buy a pint of milk again, based on a low risk contact a month before that.

I'd a test as a result of a close contact which I think was through a hotel room wall based on date / time.

By the time I actually got contacted and went for the test, 2 weeks had elapsed from the close contact. I was told I didn't have to self isolate, even before I went for the test.

The subsequent negative result text said if I was a close contact, to restrict movements for 14 days, from date of last contact with the confirmed case.

So, I don't think you need to self isolate if your result comes back negative.

r93kaey5p2izun

How many exposure checks for the past 14 days is the app showing for most people? Like what's considered a normal or average amount of exposures? I have 110 in 14 days. But I've no idea if that's typical or low or what. Obviously it will not only depend on contacts, but also on whether others are using the app or not. I think it's low and possibly indicates low usage by others.

plodder

Aliza Savory Tourist wrote: »

How many exposure checks for the past 14 days is the app showing for most people? Like what's considered a normal or average amount of exposures? I have 110 in 14 days. But I've no idea if that's typical or low or what. Obviously it will not only depend on contacts, but also on whether others are using the app or not. I think it's low and possibly indicates low usage by others.

I think those exposure checks are the number of times your phone checked online for new lists of exposures and found new ids to be checked. It says 82 checks over the last 14 days for me.

It doesn't relate to the close contacts that your phone has recorded afaik, but on Android at least you can look into each exposure check and see the number of IDs checked that time which possibly gives some idea of overall usage. For example, the most recent check for me contained 1,870 keys downloaded at 11:40am today which seems like quite a lot for just one check.