Hunala
| Category | Price | Seller | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health & Fitness | Free | Yale University | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
Hunala leverages cutting edge network science and machine learning (that uses both crowdsourced and public information) to determine your likelihood of contracting the flu or other respiratory illnesses. Using the information you provide about your own location and social interactions, Hunala maps the distribution of symptoms and can offer information about how to avoid contracting an illness. By updating information daily, you have a powerful tool for monitoring risk of exposure.
Hunala’s networking sensor technology was developed in the lab of Sterling Professor at Yale University Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, and his Human Nature Lab team. All results come directly from this research lab.
How Hunala works:
● list people you spend time with
● indicate where you live
● fill out a brief daily survey to self-report any symptoms you may have
● get daily updates on your exposure risk based on where you live
Use Hunala to:
● stay up-to-date on how flu and respiratory disease is spreading through your community
● get recommendations on how to avoid contracting the flu
● help your community lower its risk of the flu by crowdsourcing an effective response
Reviews
A very useful app
Xyzzy4567
I’ve downloaded a few covid apps which quite frankly have seemed pretty useless. This one on the other hand is very well designed. Covid isn’t going to simply disappear, so “risk management” is the name of the game. But how can one weigh risks vs. reward without knowing ones own personal risk? This app is the answer. It forecasts your personal risk based on geographic and other factors which allows you to adjust your behavior in real time without requiring you to conduct complex risk assessment calculations yourself (which is unrealistic).
Useful, I think...
MayimbedeAzua
I like the app; I use it every day. My understanding is that it builds on my social network. Although I’ve shared it with the few people I Interact with, I haven’t heard of anyone else using it. How many people are using it? If its a small number of people, how accurate is it?
Not cool, Yale
e-Patient Dave
First, it’s all respiratory, not specific to COVID-19 despite the press coverage. Second, a key factor in the risk formula, seems to be whether you stay home, but it’s not defined: e.g. if I go for a walk, getting near nobody, does that count? Third, it’s SO not cool that when they ask for your friends and family, they don’t make abundantly clear that they’re going to send them all a spam text to join. I understand why but it’s NOT cool to not make that clear. Feels like smart people developed a good app but hype promoters got their hands on it.
Unable to sign up using 787 area code
HectorRamos
I haven’t received the confirmation text sent to my 787 telephone number. It’s a Puerto Rico area code, part of the USA and part of the AT&T network.
Questionable value — update
Princeton55
I have two issues with this application. (1) It is based on “respiratory risk” and not Covid 19 risk. I live in New Jersey which may have a high risk of respiratory illness (I’ll take Yale’s word for it) but has had a low risk of Covid 19 for many weeks. My concern is with Covid 19 so the output of Hunala is valueless. (2) When I answer “no” to the survey question about whether I have left the house my risk is evaluated as “high” but when I answer “yes” it drops to “medium”. That makes almost no sense unless the survey assumes that the other person in my house has become infectious since the last survey. There is a useful app somewhere using these techniques but this is not it yet. Update: the day after I submitted this review the app suddenly gave different results. It now shows New Jersey as “low risk” which makes more sense.
Algorithm is screwy
Annoyed167346
Like someone else mentioned, I changed the answer about going out from yes to no and my risk went from very low to very high. Huh? And it cited my network as part of the risk - what network???? No one’s in my network and I haven’t gone out.
App keeps improving!
TheGreenwichGirl
I love that new features are added every week. I find the app works better when I remind my friends by text to use the app. I notice new features are added regularly, and I appreciate knowing the source of my risk.
