Unfortunately for Huawei users, their phones won’t be able to use Google’s contact tracking tool

To combat the spread of the Covid-19 disease together, Apple and Google for the first time have teamed up to work together on a joint project: deploying a contact tracing system through smartphone of the user. However, not all smartphones can use this system: they are Huawei smartphones.

Last year, at the height of the U.S.-China trade war, the Chinese company was banned from accessing American technology, including Google sharing technology with Huawei. Since then, the Chinese telecom company has had to launch phones, including the P30 and Mate 30, without Google services.

This means Huawei’s new phones will not be able to use the contact tracking tool that Google and Apple have just created and deployed globally. Based on Bluetooth technology, the software tool on this smartphone will let users know if they have recently been exposed to people infected with corona virus recently.

Huawei’s access to the tool, meanwhile, could expose users to the corona virus from others without their knowledge, without notice. This not only brings risks to users but also to the community, when they accidentally spread the virus to others.

How does contact tracking technology work?

The technology works by exploiting short-range Bluetooth signals to record exposure when smartphone users are near each other for about 10 minutes.

People who are positive for the corona virus will be able to choose whether they want to send encrypted lists of phones they’ve been on to Google and Apple recently. When they submit this list, users of those phones will be notified of their exposure to the person infected with the virus so they can isolate themselves and perform the test.

In mid-May, both companies plan to add this feature to iPhones and Android phones so they can exchange information through third-party apps, which have been added by public health agencies. co-approval. In the coming months, they will integrate this feature directly into the operating system to reach everyone.

The tracking tool will need software updates delivered to Huawei smartphones through Google Play Services, or because of a traditional operating system update. Because Huawei phones do not have access to Google Play Services, they will not be able to receive these updates.

While Huawei smartphones are not very present in the United States, it has a 10% market share in the UK and about 18% in Europe, although most of them were devices sold before Google cut off the relationship.

Not only that, this could also include about 750 million other Android smartphones in China also not use this feature because Google services have been banned by the Chinese government.

For these phones, Google intends to release a framework so Chinese companies can use it to create an anonymous and secure tracking system, like Apple and Google. However, whether or not it is used depends on the decisions of Chinese brands, including Huawei, Xiaomi and others.

In addition, Google says about 80% of Android phones outside of China will be able to use this contact tracking tool, based on current usage.

Reference Telegraph