Main function of the application when it was launched, “contact tracing” is now deactivated by default, since January 25.
It’s the end of an era: symbol of the beginnings of the StopCovid application, then renamed TousAntiCovid, the contact case detection function by Bluetooth was deactivated on January 25, 2023, confirms the development team to BFMTV. When opening TousAntiCovid, users now see a message indicating the end of “contact tracing” in accordance with “the regulations in force”.
As a reminder, this option consisted in activating the Bluetooth of the mobile in order to detect other smartphones in the vicinity. If the latter also had TousAntiCovid and one of their owners subsequently reported himself as infected with Covid-19, the users who had been in contact with him then received an alert.
A function with limited effects
As recalled by Lunabee Studio, in charge of TousAntiCovid, with BFMTV, this development follows the broader end of “contact tracing” measures on January 31, 2023, scheduled the law of 30 July 2022 putting an end to the exceptional regimes created to combat the epidemic linked to Covid-19.
The shutdown of this Bluetooth function comes a few days before the deadline, in order to allow the total dismantling of the dedicated servers as well as the cleaning of the data, specifies the company. TousAntiCovid’s “contact tracing” function worked anonymously: the list of detected mobiles was kept without association of names (which were not entered by users anyway), in the form of a series of numbers generated randomly.
Although Bluetooth detection was initially the main object of TousAntiCovid, its use remained anecdotal during the Covid-19 epidemic. The application finally gained popularity (with 62 million installations in total) thanks to two functions: the creation of travel certificates, then the storage of its health pass.
