Aarogya setu beats Pokémon GO, becomes world's fastest growing app

In the backdrop of the Union government endorsing COVID-19 contact-tracing mobile application Aarogya Setu (Health Bridge), it has become the world’s fastest growing mobile app. The endorsement came close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging people to download the app in his lockdown 2.0 address on Tuesday (April 14).

The app registered over 50 million users in 13 days and of these, 11 million users enrolled in a single day, according to the Niti Aayog team lead.

With its swift growth, Aarogya Setu has overtaken Nintendo’s popular augmented reality game ‘Pokémon GO’s’ record of 50 million downloads in 19 days in 2016, reported Hindustan Times.

The mobile app which is available on both Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store uses location data to trace people who’ve come in close proximity with any COVID-19 positive patient. The application seeks access to location at all times. The app also shares safety measures and updated medical advisories about the novel coronavirus in 11 languages.

Related news |How slipshod handling of suspected cases is upping Bengal’s COVID-19 tally

How does the app work?

To build data base, the app firs requests for some basic information including age, gender, name, health status and also asks the user about his/her travel history. The user can also register to help the administration, if needed.

The tracking is done through a Bluetooth and a location-generated social graph, which calculates the user’s risk of infection based on the proximity of the coronavirus patient. If a user tests positive, he/she will be alerted about the possibility of being infected and such suspected cases are then notified to government for further testing.

Related news | Online predators put millions of children at risk during COVID-19 lockdown

(With inputs from agencies)