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Scotland COVID-19 Mobile Application
Protect Scotland app Help Scotland keep the spread of coronavirus under control by downloading and using this app. This application published from NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect service.
Using the app is entirely voluntary. When you use the app, you will be alerted if you have been in close contact with another app user who has tested positive for coronavirus. If you test positive and you enter the unique code sent to you into the app, it will anonymously warn other app users whom you have been in close contact with.
Using Bluetooth, the app will search for other devices with the Protect Scotland app installed, which are within 2m of your phone. You don’t need to have a Wi-Fi connection. The app uses a very small amount of your mobile phone data.
The benefits of using the app
- Speeds up the process of identifying and notifying people that have been at risk of catching coronavirus, particularly of unknown contacts
- slows the spread of the virus
- Reduces the likelihood of further lockdowns
- Helps protect the health service, your family and friends, yourself and the people of Scotland
Privacy and Data
The Protect Scotland app is designed to protect the privacy of all users. It doesn’t store or share any personally identifiable information, like your name or address. Nobody can track your location by using the app or tell who you are.
You can remove the app from your device at any time, and all the data stored on your phone will be deleted.
How the Protect Scotland app works
- Once you have installed and set up Protect Scotland, it will run in the background of your device. You can use your phone and other apps
- Using Bluetooth, the app will exchange anonymous, encrypted, random codes with other mobile phones with the Protect Scotland app installed. You do not need to have a WiFi connection and the app uses a very small amount of your mobile phone data, but you do need to keep Bluetooth switched on
- When the app finds another user, it will record the contact, the distance between your phones and the length of time your phone was near theirs. This is all done anonymously
- If you test positive for coronavirus, you can choose to input the Test Code, provided by the contact tracer, into the app. This will automatically notify other app users that you have been in close contact with (within 2 metres for at least 15 minutes)
- When another app user tests positive, and has inputted a Test Code, the app will notify you and any others if it determines you may be at risk
- You may or may not still be contacted by a contact tracer. This depends on whether you have been identified to be at risk through traditional contact tracing methods
- It is your choice over whether you choose to download and use the app or not. You will never be asked to prove you have the app, and you should never be asked to show the status of the app to anyone else – that is entirely up to you
Features of Protect Scotland app
Contact tracing identifies people who may be at risk from COVID-19 because they were in close contact with someone who has the virus. By voluntarily choosing to use the Protect Scotland app citizens will help NHS by:
- Reducing the time it takes to alert you if you come into close contact with another app user that tests positive
- Alerting other app users that you might have forgotten you were in close contact with
- Allowing us to anonymously alert people who don’t know each other
The app communicates with other app users’ phones using Bluetooth to swap anonymous random IDs when in proximity (2 metres or less) for an extended period of time (15 mins or more). The app calculates proximity measurements over a 24 hr period. This acts like a virtual handshake between devices, which can then be anonymously recalled if one of the contacts later tests positive for COVID-19. It is important, therefore, that app users keep Bluetooth enabled on their phones as often as possible.
Contact tracing is a vital part of slowing the spread of coronavirus. The more people who download and use the app, the more it will help to stop the transmission of the virus. Downloading the app supports the contact tracing process.
A contact tracer is an individual working for NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect service. Their role is to get in touch with individuals who have tested positive for coronavirus or have been identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive.
The app provides a good measure of the distance and time spent near a confirmed case and therefore good at identifying a risk if no other protections were in place. However, the app cannot take account of whether you were face to face or whether face coverings/screens were in place etc when the contact happened.
General advice is to keep your phone on you and the app active.
Where exemptions apply you are advised to use the pause feature on the app. This feature allows you to temporarily suspend proximity tracing for a set time without affecting Bluetooth use for other parts of the phone, e.g. wireless headphones.
If you receive an alert from the app at work then it means you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Contact could have happened any time in the last 24hrs so you should follow the advice on the app.
Alert of Protect Scotland app
Anyone that tests positive for COVID-19 in Scotland will be contacted by a contact tracer, who will ask them about their close contacts and whether they are an app user. If you are an app user, the contact tracer will send you an SMS message with a randomly generated test code to enter into your app.
The app will then seek permission to share the anonymous IDs it has been gathering from your close contacts over the past 14 days. These IDs are stored on a secure NHS Scotland server so that other users’ apps can periodically check-in to see if they match up with a positive case.
If you receive an alert from the app then it means you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 and you should follow the advice on the app.
If the app finds that you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus, you will get an alert.
You won’t know who the contact is or where the contact happened. You will just know that you were close enough (within 2 metres) for long enough (at least 15 minutes or more) for there to be a risk.
The app will advise you of what action you need to take, such as isolating at home for several days or booking a test if you experience symptoms.
The app provides links to further information on local/regional lockdowns and support available to help you self-isolate.
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