Corona Warning app now also for old iPhones

The official Corona Warning Federal app can now also be used by owners of older iPhone models 5s and 6. The latest version has been available for download on the Apple App Store since Wednesday. However, it may take several hours for the updated app to become visible to all iPhone users.

With the new version 1.12, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), which is officially publishing the federal Corona Warning App, fulfills the requirements to enable the use of the tracking app also for owners of old smartphones. It is estimated that 1.7 million older Apple smartphones are still active in Germany and cannot run the previously required iOS 13 or 14 operating system. The current version of the app is now satisfied with iOS 12.5, which also works on iPhone 5s or 6.

A new feature in version 1.12 of the app is the Battle Log, which aims to help users better assess their risks. In the case of multiple Hazard encounters, only the date of the last encounter is shown on the app’s start page. Other match days are now also listed in the match record.

The app’s makers have confirmed that the contact diary, also integrated, functions as a private memory assistant and works independently of the contact tracing system for the Corona warning app. “It is therefore very important to distinguish between personal entries in contact notes (places and people) and the application tracking system.” For data protection reasons, the Corona Warning app does not know where people are or who they have met.

So far, more than 240,000 people who have tested positive have used the app to warn their fellow humans of dangerous confrontations. With an estimated average of five encounters with other app users, there are likely to be over a million warning messages triggered. However, the degree of use is too low for an overall warning of dangerous confrontations.

The app has been downloaded more than 25 million times on Apple and Google stores. Since not all users continue to use the app, the number of active users is less than this value. Experts estimate that about 23 million people continue to use it. The effectiveness of the application increases the more people actually use the application.