Apple and Google are working on coronavirus contact-tracing technology for iOS and Android

Google and Apple are working on a joint effort to introduce opt-in Bluetooth-based COVID-19 contact tracing APIs in mid-May for iOS and Android.

The companies say the technology will not track the users' location or identity.

Contact tracing can help slow the spread of COVID-19 and can be done without compromising user privacy. Were working with @sundarpichai & @Google to help health officials harness Bluetooth technology in a way that also respects transparency & consent. https://t.co/94XlbmaGZV

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 10, 2020

To help public health officials slow the spread of #COVID19, Google & @Apple are working on a contact tracing approach designed with strong controls and protections for user privacy. @tim_cook and I are committed to working together on these efforts.https://t.co/T0j88YBcFu

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 10, 2020

The idea is to slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes the potentially fatal illness COVID-19 by allowing users to opt into a system that catalogs other phones they have been near,Reuters reports:

The rare collaboration between the two Silicon Valley companies, whose operating systems power 99% of the worlds smartphones, could accelerate usage of apps that aim to get potentially infected individuals into testing or quarantine more quickly and reliably than existing systems in much of the world.

The companies said they started developing technology two weeks ago to allow mobile devices to trade information via Bluetooth connections to alert people when they have been in close proximity with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, the sometimes deadly respiratory disease associated with the novel coronavirus.