SwissCovid App
To prevent the further spread of the coronavirus, scientists at EPFL and ETH Zurich have developed the SwissCovid App, which has been commissioned by the federal government.
The contact tracing app, jointly developed by teams at EPFL and ETH Zurich, will play a key role in preventing the further spread of the coronavirus. The SwissCovid App has been tested under the supervision of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the Federal Office of Information technology, Systems and Telecommunication (FOITT) and in close cooperation with cantonal doctors. The SwissCovid app is officially available as of Thursday 25 June.
Pilot users: how to continue using the SwissCovid app
The SwissCovid app is officially available as of Thursday 25 June.
If you're a pilot user of the SwissCovid app and want to carry on using it, you need to install the official version from the App Store or Google Play Store. This will automatically update the pilot version. The data already captured will be copied over to the new app version so that proximity tracing is uninterrupted.
If you no longer want to use the SwissCovid app, simply delete the pilot version from your mobile phone. All the data captured up to that point will be deleted as well.
If you have any problems installing the app, please call the FOITT hotline on +41 (0) 58 466 07 99 (7 a.m. – 7 p.m.).
How the app works
The SwissCovid App lets you know if you have been closer than 2 m for more than 15 minutes to someone who has tested positive for the Coronavirus. The purpose of this alert is to help break the chain of infection.
The app uses Bluetooth technology (rather than GPS) to search for nearby smartphones that are also running the app. If two such devices locate each other, they swap an encrypted key if the users are closer than 2 m together for more than 15 minutes. If an app user subsequently tests positive for coronavirus, they will receive a code from the cantonal medical service. This code can also be used to alert other users in close contact with the infected person and thus exposed to the risk of infection.
What should I do if I receive an alert?
If someone does test positive for the coronavirus, they will receive a code from the cantonal medical service which they enter in the app to activate an ID.
Anyone receiving an alert from the app confirming contact with an infected person is free to decide how they respond. The app displays the telephone number of the FOPH hotline where they can obtain further information anonymously. The app also recommends that anyone experiencing symptoms should consult the external pageCoronavirus Check on the Internet or seek medical advice and voluntarily enter self-isolation.
Entering the code in the app and calling the hotline are entirely voluntary. But if you follow all the procedures, you will help to make the app successful and enable its roll-out across the whole of the country, thus making a vital contribution to stemming the spread of the coronavirus.
Data security is assured
No personal data is recorded when installing or using the app. An encounter with another app user triggers the exchange of an encrypted code. This is stored locally on both devices and automatically deleted after 21 days. This applies both for the data in the local storage of the mobile phone and the codes of the infected user on the government's server. The alert is generated automatically and anonymously, and there is no possibility of inferring details about a person or the location of the infection.
When the SwissCovid App is uninstalled, the relevant data on the mobile phone is automatically deleted.