NHS Covid App - Phantom contacts

[Martin Brown]

Well after a few weeks running the app it finally went bleep yesterday. My wife saw the msg when it arrived - I didn't.

It flashed up something about a possible recent contact and then a second msg saying that no action needed to be taken. By the time she had come to show me the damn thing had completely evaporated from the screen leaving no traces of it at all in the log.

The app is the epitome of bad design! It does not inspire confidence. Any warnings it issues should be saved in the log to check at leisure even if it is a false alarm with a cancel message following it.

I thought they said they had fixed this bug a couple of weeks ago!

And they did!!!

It isn't fixed :(

Why am I not surprised?

[Andy Burns]

So why even notify you, just because you e.g. walked past someone in a supermarket?

[Jeff Layman]

Are you sure it wasn't an advert for the next "Mission Impossible" film? ;-)

[polygonum_on_google]

I am scratching my head as to why the app says I am in a HIGH risk area. Our local cases are very close to the bottom of the scale. Latest available figures show four cases in the previous 24 hours in our county.

We have also been told by venues (e.g. cafes) that the app does not remove the need to provide name and phone number. Which undermines one of its claimed utility.

Also, the combination of the app plus the required Exposure Notifications is forcing me to recharge my phone at least twice a day. Sometimes it uses more than 50% of the total battery usage. (OK - it is old, it needs either replacing or a new battery. I can't get a new battery fitted without losing the phone for 6 to 10 days! New phone time it is.)

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Actually, its not bad. There is a security hole in the Android version I gather but its been fixed. When the contact pops up, it goes and looks at distances I understand and deletes any not considered an issue. My feeling on this, however is how can it possibly be that accurate when its just, one assumes, using either bluetooth or what Apple call something else but is really bluetooth. grin

Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

More likely a new one in the resident evil series. Brian

[polygonum_on_google]

Brian 0- Apple call Bluetooth, umm, Bluetooth.

Later phones have Ultra Wide Band (as well as Bluetooth) but I don't think that is used by the app.

[Martin Brown]

It isn't fixed :(

Makes it a sort of backup. The cafe are required to show that they have also captured the names and addresses of their clients. Even if the clients cannot be trusted to give truthful answers. Yorkshire now has all three tiers active and in quite close proximity.

I'm surprised it is that bad. Can you get your phone to display a breakdown of which apps are most power hungry. The thing is supposed to be using low power Bluetooth which shouldn't be such a drain.

My own phone is showing its age now (and running out of memory too) with the extra stress of these additional apps. It still lasts a couple of days between charges provided I put it on the windowsill at home. Otherwise it spends all its time trying in vain to find a network.

[Martin Brown]

They obviously modelled it on the "this message will self destruct in 10 seconds" MEME although it may have been displayed for about a minute.

Certainly it didn't survive for long enough for me to see it first hand.

[Jethro_uk]

????

Very annoying and very ableist.

If that's the system used for messages you can be forgiven for never seeing them. I look forward to a court case where a big megacorp tries to say "but we did inform you" and then can't prove it.

[polygonum_on_google]

Yes - that is where I got the figures from!

A mere 16% Exposure plus 1% NHS app this morning. But I have been using it quite a bit this morning.

Yes - failing to find a network is clearly a major issue for me (and many others). The networks vary by the metre as you travel around here - often poor or nothing.

I am hoping a new phone will make this less of an issue.

Oh well, the new phone will be able to measure up a room in a few seconds so money well spent (DIY-wise). :-)

[RJH]

On my newish iPhone it's using 10-20% a day - but I'm not sure whether that's a percentage of battery capacity, or % of what I actually use (it's at about

50% when I charge it each night).

Similar problem here, so I use wifi calling and put the phone in aircraft mode, and keep wifi and bluetooth on, just disabling the mobile bit. The constant searching for a mobile signal hammered the battery. The only problem with this system is that I have to remember to disable aircraft mode when I leave the house.

[Martin Brown]

It seems like there ought to be a market for a prefer Wifi if available mode that disables base station searching for those of us in mobile notspots. Otherwise the battery falls off a cliff if you forget.

Which other networks offer the same Wifi connection measures as EE?

ISTR It was or used to be somewhat handset dependent.

[charles]

I'm on Vodaphone and use wifi calling at home. I have to.

[polygonum_on_google]

And I do on Three.

I have often thought there could be a "check less often, I know it is bad signal round here" setting.

[Dave Liquorice]

IPhones don't have app like Tasker then? Tasker enables you to monitor allsorts of things and states and perform actions based on the state of those things etc.

I have mines set that so that on losing the home WiFi signal it turns off the call divert and WiFi. If it sees the cars bluetooth, it connects to that and starts the music player. Leaving the car it stops the music player. If it can see certain mobile cells it turns the WiFi on to connect back to the home system and when it does sets the call divert.

[Jethro_uk]

You shouldn't really need to install an app to use another app ...

[Clive Page]

I haven't installed the app because until recently the phone I had was too old to run it. But now I see in their FAQ an answer saying that the UK's mobile operators won't take the app's communications out of your data allowance.

I don't have a data allowance, as I simply use wifi most of the time. Once in a while, such as when in a place that doesn't have usable wifi, I will enable mobile data, which costs me 1p/megabyte. Which of course I resent - sometimes it means my monthly mobile bill exceeds twenty pence!

Can anyone tell me: does the app require a permanent mobile data connection, and if so how much mobile data does it typically use per day? I assume it must be quite a lot if the phone companies have been prevailed upon to not deduct it from a data allowance, which typically seem to be measured in gigabytes per month.

[polygonum_on_google]

For me, the app itself shows 3.0 MB - since February 2018! (I have not reset my stats since then.)

But, I do not know how much data has been used on behalf of the app itself - by Exposure Notifications - if any.