Apple and Google announced a jointly developed contactor tracking technology.

In early April, the two giants announced a joint goal to build software that could slow the spread of COVID-19 by using bluetooth technology in smartphones. According to Apple and Google, several U.S. states and 22 countries have signed on to use the technology to build a phone app that warns users of possible exposure to the coronavirus. Governments and health agencies can customize the system and combine it with data voluntarily entered by users. When users download these apps, they are alerted if other app users who have tested positive for the virus are nearby.

According to health experts, contact tracing is essential to slowing the spread of coronaviruses; the CDC calls it a key strategy to prevent further spread of COVID-19. Many U.S. states spend millions of dollars to hire contact tracers.

Smartphone apps can boost such efforts, not supplant them. Apple and Google's APIs address some of the technical issues related to building Bluetooth-based apps and make it easier for iPhones and Android phones to talk to each other.

However, the effectiveness of Apple and Google's initiative is already in question. Both companies have also expressed resistance to sharing users' personal health data, stating that they "believe user adoption is the key to success and that these strong privacy protections are also the best way to encourage the use of these apps."

However, these protections, such as not tracking location data and not keeping data in a centralized database, have led some countries to develop their own apps. Even countries that have signed on to use Apple and Google's APIs may find that without databases and location data, their apps are not as useful for contact tracing efforts.

The biggest barrier remains: will anyone actually download the app; Buzzfeed reports that Utah spent $2.75 million on the Healthy Together app, but as of May 18, of the state's 3.2 million residents, only only 45,000 had downloaded it. North Dakota has also launched its own location-tracking app, but only 4% of its residents use it.

North Dakota is one of only three states using Apple and Google technology (they are making a second, separate app). The others are Alabama and South Carolina; Recode reports that many other states are doing contact tracing the old-fashioned way: by phone. Barbara LaBeau, a spokesperson for Washington's COVID-19 response team, said, "The app is not for everyone and may help the process, but we are going to start the contact tracing by calling each person."