Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc.’s Google are expected to release two early versions of their proposed technology this week to slow down the spread of the coronavirus to selected developers for testing purposes, the companies said Wednesday. The two Silicon Valley companies, whose operating systems power 99% of the world’s smartphones, had said earlier this month that they would work together to create contact tracking technology to slow down the spread of viruses by enabling users to sign in to other phones nearby.
The rare collaboration is expected to accelerate the use of apps aimed at getting potentially infected people to test or quarantine faster and more reliably than existing systems in much of the world. Such tracing will play a critical role in managing the virus once the lock has ended, health experts say. Apple and Google plan to release the final version of their tools in mid-May after the developers complete the tests.
