Third party integrations with NZ COVID Tracer app

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Significant progress is being made on work to allow third-party integration with the NZ COVID Tracer app and the National Contact Tracing Solution.

Users of the Rippl app, developed by digital agency Paperkite, are already able to receive NZ COVID Tracer contact alerts and in due course will be able to share their digital diaries with the Ministry when required for contact tracing. 

Paperkite is now taking this one step further by trialling an automatic check-in feature that uses Bluetooth beacons. This allows Rippl users who have Bluetooth enabled to check in to select locations without needing to scan the QR codes.

The beacons are already being trialled at several locations and will be in use at this weekend’s Beervana festival in Wellington. The results of the trial will inform decisions by Paperkite on any further rollout of the beacons.

The Ministry’s partnership approach to third-party integration is helping us stay on top of the latest digital contact tracing innovations and concepts.

Third-party integration also helps improve contact tracing by increasing the range and volume of information available to contact tracers, by allowing more New Zealanders to receive contact alerts and share their location histories, and by making it easier to contact people who may have been exposed to COVID-19.

The Ministry expects the Rippl, SaferMe and Snapper platforms will be fully integrated with the National Contact Tracing Solution by early 2021. New Zealanders who use these platforms can be assured their personal information will be shared with the Ministry for contact tracing only if they have given their consent.

NZ COVID Tracer now has 2,364,900 registered users. Poster scans have reached 116,664,548 and users have created 4,839,697 manual diary entries.

Source: Ministry of Health, 18 November 2020

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