Singapore mulls issuing its citizens with a wearable device for contact tracing to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Proposal follows technical difficulties arising from contact tracing app

A weArAble device for contact tracing may be issued to Singaporeans to help curb the spread of Covid-19.

This was announced in parliament by Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative Vivian balakrishnan yesterday when he explained that technical difficulties have prevented Singapore’s contact tracing app TraceTogether from working well on iPhones.

“The app does not appear to work as well on iOS or Apple devices,” he said.

This is also why TraceTogether, the government app that identifies people who have been in close contact with Covid-19 patients, has not been made compulsory, he added.

balakrishnan, who is also the Foreign Minister, was replying on behalf of the Prime Minister to questions on whether more could be done to boost the use of the app for contact tracing.

Vikram Nair (Sembawang GrC) asked if TraceTogether should be made compulsory while Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GrC) wants to know if the government would consider measures to encourage those not familiar with technology to download the app.

The Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG), which balakishnan is in charge of, comes under the Prime Minister’s Office.

TraceTogether identifies people in close contact with a coronavirus patient via wireless bluetooth technology.

The app is useful when those infected cannot recall whom they had been in close proximity with for an extended period.

balakrishnan said that unlike devices that use the Android operating system, Apple devices suspend the use of bluetooth scanning when the app is running in the background.

“we have had repeated discussions at both the technical and policy level with Apple, but we have not yet been able to find a satisfactory solution,” he said.

“because TraceTogether does not work equally well across all smartphones, we have decided therefore, at this point in time, not to mandate a compulsory use of TraceTogether.”

balakrishnan said if the proposed wearable device works well, the government may distribute it to everyone in Singapore, which he said will be more inclusive and ensure all Singaporeans will be protected.

balakrishnan said about 1.5 million users have downloaded the TraceTogether app since it was launched in March, which works out to only 25% of Singapore’s population.