Useless – COVID Alert NY Review

I’m sure this app started out with the best of intentions, but right now it’s fairly useless. You can track your daily symptoms, but that’s it. In order for this app to work, every health department has to participate and therein lies the problem - THEY DON’T. When I recently tested positive for Covid, my local health department said they didn’t give out tracking numbers for the app. My doctor’s office said they didn’t give out tracking numbers for the app and that I would get a call from a state-level contact tracer so that I could give all the places I’d been in the week before I tested positive and the contact info for anyone I might have exposed. That call never happened. The person who exposed me said their local health department and doctor’s office didn’t know about the app. I emailed the app’s creator about these issues and also asked about how it could possibly tell me I’ve been exposed if participation is so limited, but got a canned response telling me how great and accurate the app is and to tell everyone I know to download it. I tried calling, got voicemail with a full mailbox. Tried emailing again, got the same “Hey our app is awesome!” response. They aren’t even addressing the negative reviews here which tells me this app was likely created for a huge sum of money and then forgotten. The app doesn’t allow you to self report that you’ve tested positive for Covid or that you were exposed to someone who was positive for Covid. It doesn’t allow you to enter in contacts that either exposed you or that you have been around and may have exposed. I’ve had the app on my phone for a couple of months now, and not once has it alerted me even when I knew I was next to someone who had Covid and their information was reportedly sent in to this tracing app. If you tap the link for possibly being exposed, it tells you to call your doctor and get tested. Really, really disappointed in this app and it’s overall lack of usefulness. Really, really disappointed in the lack of response from the creators. The only thing this is good for is draining your battery. It doesn’t deserve any of the five star reviews because the app doesn’t DO what it’s supposed to do. There is NO contact tracing whatsoever through this app. Zero. Zilch. Nada. It doesn’t protect your health, and gives a hugely false sense of security. You think you’re safe because the app isn’t alerting you - it’s not alerting you because nothing is reported to or able to be entered into the app! The only thing it works for (maybe) is seeing rates in your county. But because county health departments, testing sites, doctor offices, and even hospitals don’t have any clue about this app or contact codes, and because the state isn’t doing any sort of actual contact tracing, I’d give a grain of salt to the numbers on here until I find out where they get the data from.
Review by Super H Dog on COVID Alert NY.