NOVID

Expii, Inc.

About this app

This app was primarily designed for use in Allegheny County, Don Salvador Benedicto, Georgia Tech, Grand Valley State University, Harvard, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Las Vegas in New Mexico, and Santa Fe.

NOVID goes beyond contact tracing. It is the first and only application that warns you about cases of COVID-19 in your personal network before you you're exposed, while keeping you anonymous. It gives you personalized COVID Radar about disease spread. It also gives you exposure alerts if you have spent a long time near people who later self-report positive tests. It's your radar and shield in this difficult time.

Under the hood, NOVID automatically generates a random anonymous identifier, which has no relationship to your personal information. You don't need to provide an email address, phone number, username, or password. NOVID periodically scans the nearby area using a combination of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and ultrasound, detecting and sending only anonymous identifiers.

Ratings and reviews

Big suggestion: allow the app to turn off when in certain locations. If you don't want to allow location access, then perhaps turn off when using a certain WiFi network, or a certain set of WiFi networks (such as your home, your family's home, your friend's home). My only other suggestion is to find a way for backward red states to promote using it. I've never had any contact in this area with another Novid user except my own friend.

Edit: If like me, you refuse to have persistent notifications in your Android bar, the developer has provided a workaround in the reply to this review, and indicated that doing so does not effect efficacy of the application. Rating updated. Original: Pros: The app itself is great, and a very useful tool in a pandemic. Cons: The user interface creates a persistent, unremovable notification which clutters the notification bar. As a notification zero user, this is absolutely unacceptable. I'll reinstall when the "running in the background" notification can be hidden.

Easy to use and understand. App runs smoothly. Great idea to help with the pandemic by making contact tracing easier & more accessible. The fact that the app keeps EVERYONE ANONYMOUS makes the probability of people truthfully admitting that they have tested positive for covid19 a lot more likely i.e more info for contact tracing! Genius! Just need more people to download the app for it to reach it's full potential.

What's new

- Update to Android SDK 33