Hawaii COVID-19 exposure notification app to shut down
The AlohaSafe Alert app, Hawaii’s free state-approved COVID-19 exposure notification system, will shut down on Thursday.
The app will no longer be available on May 11, according to a note posted to the alohasafealert.org website, coinciding with the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency declaration.
The app, which the state officially rolled out at the start of 2021, was designed to alert users if they had been exposed to the coronavirus using Bluetooth technology to anonymously communicate with other phones that support the Google/Apple Exposure Notification framework.
It was launched by the Hawaii Department of Health in partnership with aio Digital and the Hawaii Executive Collaborative to help slow the spread of COVID-19. It was downloadable for free from the App Store or Google Play.
Once DOH confirmed a person was positive with COVID, the app user would be sent a verification code to anonymously notify others of possible exposure within 48 hours.
The notification was triggered if phones were in proximity to one another in the past 14 days, at a distance of 6 feet or less for at least 15 minutes. Notification of others was optional.
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In July 2021, the app had reached 1 million activations. In June 2022, the app evolved to allow users to self-report a positive home COVID test.
DOH said the privacy of users is protected, and that no GPS location or personally identifiable information was collected or stored.
