Virus Tracker Apps Market

Virus Tracker Apps Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2020 - 2030

Virus Tracker Apps Market: Introduction

Smartphone apps are playing a significant role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These apps are being used to track infected people, issue self-quarantine guidelines, provide the latest communication to citizens, and ease the burden on the healthcare staff. These apps have been downloaded by millions of people across the world, from South Korea to Poland. The European Union is planning to roll out its app and has issued guidelines for the same. Apple and Google, two Silicon Valley tech giants, have joined hands for the development of an app that would assist healthcare organizations.

The technology of virus tracking apps is designed to slow the spread of coronavirus by tracking whom a person has been in close contact with. The technology uses a Bluetooth-based system that stores data on individual’s telephone device and not a central database. When a person officially tests positive for COVID-19, the system can send a notification to anyone who was recently near that person, telling him/her to contact their local health authority and obtain medical advice and a coronavirus test.

Key Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities of Virus Tracker Apps Market:

Technology has come to the rescue in diagnosing those affected, identifying hotspots, and obtaining real-time updates. An issue of data privacy exists; however, most app developers are presently trying to put mechanisms in place to safeguard user privacy. Some of the most popular smartphone apps to track Covid-19 outbreak are CovidWatch, TraceTogether, Aarogya Setu, HaMagen, and NHS smartphone app.

Google and Apple recently announced a partnership agreement to facilitate the installation of COVID-19 tracking applications developed by governments via Android and Apple operating systems on mobile devices. The idea would be to make it easier for these ‘apps’ to be automatically downloaded as part of smartphone system updates. Google and Apple’s mobile operating systems power more than 99% of the world’s smartphones.

The apps offer unprecedented access to personal data, which could be exploited by authorities or even third-parties, despite pledges that information would be kept out of reach. Moreover, the apps run continuously in the background to track activities, which consumes significant battery life and hence, people are not happy with these apps. The factors mentioned above are likely to restrain the global virus tracing apps market.

North America to Capture Major Share of Global Virus Tracker Apps Market:

Asia Pacific is currently leading the global market due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19 and governments of China and India have made it mandatory for people in their respective countries to download virus tracking applications. Globally, countries in Asia were among the first to roll out tracing apps, with China launching several that use either direct geolocalisation via cellphone networks, or data compiled from train and airline travel or highway checkpoints. The Government of India launched the Aarogya Setu ("Bridge to Health") app, with quite 100 million downloads since April—less than one-tenth of its population, since just one in four people in India owns a smartphone.

South Korea, for its part, issued mass cellphone alerts announcing locations visited by infected patients, and ordered a tracking app installed on the phone of anyone ordered into isolation—aggressive measures that helped limit deaths to only a couple of hundred in a population of 51 million.

Australia's COVIDSafe app, unrolled in April, has been downloaded 6.1 million times by roughly 15 million smartphone users; however, no data is available on what percentage remain active daily

Concerns about privacy protection are particularly acute in Europe, where officials have called for collaborative efforts that might include intense oversight to make sure users know when and the way personal data is being exploited. A nonprofit coalition, Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT), was established to supply technologies for building apps; however, in numerous cases governments have struck out on their own.

Several Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain have unrolled Bluetooth tracing apps—Doha has even made its use mandatory, warning that violators face up to 3 years in jail, prompting a rare backlash over privacy concerns.

Key Players in Virus Tracking Apps Market: