On May 4, 2020, Google and Apple released new details about the Google Apple Exposure Notification API (GAEN). GAEN provides a new way for public health authorities (PHAs) to implement a digital contact tracing solution that uses Bluetooth to detect contacts between people that may have led to exposure. The new technology is an important innovation in this rapidly emerging field, and we’re pleased to announce a new Path Check initiative, codenamed project Aurora, to empower PHAs to take advantage of GAEN.
As part of Aurora, the Path Check community is actively developing an open source, GAEN-compliant reference mobile app as well as the server technology required to deploy a GAEN solution. We are also launching a pilot program for PHAs and their solution providers who want to evaluate GAEN and potentially use Aurora. If you are interested in learning more about Aurora and how you could pilot it in your jurisdiction, please complete this form.
With GAEN, an authorized mobile app can use Bluetooth to help identify whether a user has been physically near someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19. The technology is designed to preserve the privacy of people who use the app, so the user-identifiable data are not accessible by Apple, Google, PHAs, or other citizens. (Read more about how GAEN works.)
As an implementation of GAEN, Aurora will include a reference mobile app for iOS and Android as well as what is called a key server. The key server is how a PHA anonymously publishes the information that notifies users that they may have been exposed to someone who has COVID-19. Aurora is currently under development and more technical information on Aurora is available on GitHub.
For a variety of reasons, Google and Apple are limiting use of the GAEN API. As a result, Aurora will be separate from our GPS-based solution, which includes Safe Paths and Safe Places. Our GPS solution is maturing quickly, pilots are being organized by PHAs around the world, and we continue to be deeply invested in developing this solution in parallel with the Aurora project.
For PHAs that choose to deploy a GAEN solution for their communities separately or alongside a GPS solution, Aurora will offer a number of advantages over other implementations of GAEN:
Aurora will also include a number of differentiated features:
In order to drive adoption and protect privacy, Google and Apple have put controls on the use of the GAEN API and the deployment of apps built with GAEN. Limitations on apps include several important provisions:
For a full list of the restrictions, see the licensing terms from Google and Apple.
For a variety of good reasons, Google and Apple have chosen to limit the use of GAEN. Based on our work with public health authorities around the world, we recognize that there are a number of benefits that would come from being able to have both the contact data provided by GAEN and the context data provided by GPS in the same privacy-preserving system.
A number of examples illustrate how contact and context together would be powerful:
In addition to phone-to-phone contact and GPS positioning, other location technologies will likely be useful for digital contact tracing. For example, on a campus, low-cost Bluetooth beacons could be a useful tool for precise positioning. In this paper we provide more thinking about how GPS and GAEN could work together.
PHAs will need to choose the solution or solutions that best fit their needs and community. Today, many PHAs are moving forward with GPS and some are planning to pilot GAEN. Unfortunately, those who want to use both will need to promote two separate apps to their communities and maintain required data separation on the backend.
The following table shows some of the pros and cons of GAEN and GPS.
Digital contact tracing is a new, rapidly evolving field that can be difficult to navigate. As a non-profit and volunteer community committed to developing free, open source software and privacy-preserving digital contact-tracing solutions, we always welcome the opportunity to talk to PHAs and companies who are evaluating solutions in this space. We are committed to serving PHAs and providing the much-needed support; please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss your specific needs or get more involved in our work.