COVIDSafe

I understand the importance of the app and am comfortable with the privacy precautions even though I would agree there are definitely concerns about data collection. For the moment though I think it’s an important public health and safety tool in the current situation. When I downloaded it I assumed it would have an option to run in the background if allowed so I didn’t have to have it open all the time. This doesn’t seem to be the case but I don’t mind that too much, I just have to keep remembering to open it again. However, the main issue is that every time I open it or even if it’s been open for a while it seems to go inactive and makes me sign up and reactivate again which is very impractical and inefficient. Hopefully this will be fixed soon. Otherwise it seems to work fine.

I downloaded this app the first day and I have it running in the background 24/7. However, we keep hearing it doesn’t work on iPhones unless it’s open on an unlocked phone. Who walks around with an unlocked phone? Glad to see the annoying daily reminder is gone. I wondered if that was sent because the app was in the background and now somehow a fix has been found so it works that way. But seeing so many comments about the notification makes me suspect it was stopped to avoid losing users. Meanwhile apparently I may as well not have the app because I don’t leave my phone unlocked unless I’m using it, and if I’m using it the app is the background anyway - either way it’s not working apparently. And the vast majority of close contacts I have are in my workplace, where phones are illegal. Honestly I only keep the app because the government threatened to hold off reopening places unless enough of us downloaded it. This my rating has dropped from 5 to 3 stars.

When so much is at stake, in terms of lives, livelihoods, all aspects of wellbeing and quality of life, I feel that downloading this app is the least that I can do. I am confident the limited data collected will not be misused and I found the app itself to be really quick and straightforward to download and set up. One of the other reviewers said to omit the ‘0’ when entering mobile numbers to fit with the international dialling format. Maybe this is why I did not experience the same issues as a few others. In any case, it is great to see so many people being proactive about downloading this app. Please let’s all work together and do whatever it takes to beat the coronavirus, look after our communities and help restore health to all aspects of our beautiful nation.

I’m a sceptic when it comes to government apps but I read the Privacy Policy and felt reassured that I could use a fake name, only asked for my age range, postcode and phone number. I was reassured my location is not tracked or recorded and it’s deleted every 21 days. The app only works on Bluetooth signal strength vicinity to record distance from potential infected people. Reassured and feel like I’m doing my bit for my friends, family and country co I can be contacted ASAP if I came close to anyone who ends up infected. Brilliant bit or technology actually. I turn off at night when I’m sleeping into ‘Airplane Mode’ so it not emitting signals while I sleep. If you’re an Aussie and care you’d download it too and delete this app in a month or so when this all blows over! 😜🍻

Those saying they can’t get their number recognised, have you tried leaving off the leading zero? Because the app has the +61 at the front this usually means you enter your phone number without the leading zero. I imagine they’ve put the 61 there to ensure that only Australian numbers can participate, which is sensible. I left off the leading zero and got in straight away with no issues at all. I think this app is a great initiative. I’m not worried about the so called problems of authorities knowing where I am. They can already do that anyway through the phone’s location service and through the gps on my car. This is designed for better tracing of who you happen to be around in the shops or at work or wherever, to meet the response to the virus, so I’ll support it.