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Better notifications, privacy, and performance for COVIDSafe
Better notifications, privacy, and
performance for COVIDSafe
5 August 2020
Tags:
Security (/taxonomy/term/14) Accessibility (/taxonomy/term/10)
Privacy (/taxonomy/term/251) COVID-19 (/taxonomy/term/413)
COVIDSafe (/taxonomy/term/419)
Today’s update to COVIDSafe provides WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility compliance and
improves Bluetooth reliability and privacy on iOS and Android devices.
COVIDSafe was designed and launched during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in
Australia. Since then, the DTA – with the support of users and the tech community – has made
iterative enhancements to the app focusing on performance, privacy and accessibility.
COVIDSafe is an important tool that supports the meticulous and dedicated work of Australia’s
manual contact tracers. It has been used to find and notify close contacts that were unknown
to the person who tested positive. We strongly encourage all Australians using the app to
update it and benefit from the latest changes.
Today, we have achieved an accessibility milestone. The app is now Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA compliant.
This update also results in strengthened Bluetooth reliability and further privacy
enhancements.
Update details
Enhanced accessibility
Improving the accessibility of COVIDSafe remains a priority. We are pleased to announce the
app has now achieved compliance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
Previously, users needed to change the language of their device to view COVIDSafe in one of
the translated languages (Arabic, Cantonese, Greek, Italian, Korean, Mandarin and Vietnamese).
With this release, users will be able to select the language they would like to view from within
the app itself.
Improved notifications
This release includes a new notification service that will help users make sure the app is
working effectively.
The app will now advise users when there is a new version of the app and prompt them to
update. When users are on the latest version of the app they benefit from the latest
improvements.
Bluetooth reliability and privacy improvements
We have again strengthened the effectiveness of the app, working with the technology
community on several fixes.
We would like to thank the members of the tech community, including software developers
and researchers, who have worked with us to refine a Bluetooth connection issue within the
app.
Today’s release increases the validity period for the unique encrypted reference codes for the
app to make encounter logging more reliable on each phone.
We have further improved security measures for Android users who change the name of their
device, which is visible in Bluetooth pairing, to enhance their privacy.
Source code update and next release
We have updated the publicly available application source code in line with today’s release. To
make sure we can continue to engage with the technology community, the community can
provide direct feedback within the source code repository.
We are currently working on the next update to the COVIDSafe app, which we plan to release
in a couple of weeks.
Visit the COVIDSafe website (https://covidsafe.gov.au/index.html) for more information
or to access the application source code.
For media enquiries email us at xxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx (mailto:xxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx)
For other enquiries email us at
xxxx@xxx.xxx.xx (mailto:xxxx@xxx.xxx.xx)
© Commonwealth of Australia. With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and
where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license.
