Who is still using the app???

[ReviewingTheSituation]

My DH, apparently! I thought most people had deleted it, or at least turned off the tracking thing. But he has just been pinged. Again. Says he was a contact with someone on 29 December who has now tested +ve. Except he didn't leave the house at all on 28th or 29th, or see anyone other than me (and my parents before they left on the morning of 28th, and they definitely haven't tested +ve).

This is the 3rd time he's been pinged - maybe this one will finally convince him it's really not fit for purpose...

I still have it on but I've never been pinged

Never used it in the first place. Seems pointless to have it now as you don't need to isolate if you're jabbed.

I’ve been pinged twice, both where contact with someone infected made sense.

Now you don’t have to isolate, only test and remember you’ve recently had contact, I don’t know why people would delete it.

I still have app because I forgot about it, never been pinged.

I got rid of the app when all the stories of people being pinged because someone (usually their neighbour or colleague who they have never been in the same room as) got a positive and the app wasn’t programmed to realise you can’t catch covid through a wall.

My guess is a neighbour has tested positive.

I still have the app and have only been pinged once in August and related to shopping and lunch trip I went on. Seeing as when I look on my settings, my exposure notifications have encountered 11 people who have tested positive (but not close enough for long enough to be pinged) I’d say a fair few still have it.
Nothing will ever be 100% perfect but that doesn’t mean it was never fit for purpose. Like everything else, it just requires a bit of common sense as well

Oh I lie I’ve actually been pinged twice but the first time I was already isolating due to being a close contact via work and I did also develop covid myself then anyway.

I turned the Bluetooth tracking bit back on after mid August when the rules changed and you no longer had to isolate.
I’m flabbergasted that I haven’t been pinged. We live in London. I get public transport, go to restaurants, soft play, I’ve been to the theatre more than ever, gym and leisure centre multiple times a week etc.. HOW??

Now you don’t have to isolate, only test and remember you’ve recently had contact, I don’t know why people would delete it.
This is why I switched mine back on and more out of interest than anything else. I assumed it would ping all the time but no.
The thing is, other than the tracking there is no actual point to it anymore is there? I think I downloaded it in the first place back when you had to check into venues so it was a necessity. Most places didn’t bother and just pointed you in the direction of the QR code and didn’t expect anyone to actually do it but some places watched over your shoulder as you checked in, so it seemed necessary. Now that’s gone, I guess the app is kind of pointless?

Now you don’t have to isolate, only test and remember you’ve recently had contact, I don’t know why people would delete it.

It was never a legal requirement to isolate if you got a notification from the app, as it couldn't be enforced.

Actually the reason it was never fit for purpose was because it was never legally binding. If it carried some kind of enforceable obligation then it might have been more useful but essentially it's a £76 million pound failure (still small change compared to the total £37 billion and rising of the entire T&T programne that had had no discernible impact on the pandemic in the UK according to the NAO and the PAC). Just a proportion of that would have gone a long way to putting proper ventilation in schools and care homes...

Actually the reason it was never fit for purpose was because it was never legally binding. If it carried some kind of enforceable obligation then it might have been more useful

Why then would people install the app, if they were opening themselves up to penalties, if they ignored something they voluntarily installed.

@PhilCornwall1 Precisely. It was never going to be effective in any form. A total waste of time and money.

Never had it in the first place

I live in an apartment block so I'm surrounded by people who I'm never in the same room as. I got pinged when I was already isolating and hadn't been out of the house 🤦🏼‍♀️ I deleted the app after that.

I don't know anyone who still has it!

@thewhatsit

I turned the Bluetooth tracking bit back on after mid August when the rules changed and you no longer had to isolate. I’m flabbergasted that I haven’t been pinged. We live in London. I get public transport, go to restaurants, soft play, I’ve been to the theatre more than ever, gym and leisure centre multiple times a week etc.. HOW??

Because very few other people have contact tracking turned on and many have deleted the app altogether. Small chance of you being near once of the only people still using the app.

I've got it. Never been pinged. Even after leaving it on accidentally while working in hospital with known covid + patients. It's not the most reliable.

I still have it. I never think about it until one of these threads pops up. I can't see the harm in me having it, I'd just up the LFT tests.

I turned the tracking off on mine months ago but the app is still on my phone. I was out with a friend at the start of December and we'd just arrived at a venue when her NHS app pinged to say she was a contact. I expressed my surprise then that she still had it switched on. But I don't know anyone else who has it.

Deleted it months ago!

I still have it and it pinged the other day. I think contact was on a domestic flight I took. It asked me was I fully vaccinated and booster before a date in early December - when answering yes it simply said test if you have symptoms.

[quote ColettesEarrings]@PhilCornwall1 Precisely. It was never going to be effective in any form. A total waste of time and money.[/quote]
Agreed. My employer was forcing installs and enabling it on work mobiles. People weren't happy about it, but the Chief Exec wouldn't budge. He soon did when over 60% of phone users (in the thousands of people in this country) turned off their mobiles and wouldn't switch them back on, until the app could be deinstalled.

I still use it. Tracking on. I don’t check in anywhere because I don’t go anywhere I need to check in. Never been pinged.

@SpringRainbow

I got rid of the app when all the stories of people being pinged because someone (usually their neighbour or colleague who they have never been in the same room as) got a positive and the app wasn’t programmed to realise you can’t catch covid through a wall.

My guess is a neighbour has tested positive.

I deleted it for the same reason. I live in a flat and I wasn't going to isolate because a neighbour had tested positive!

Seeing as when I look on my settings, my exposure notifications have encountered 11 people who have tested positive (but not close enough for long enough to be pinged) I’d say a fair few still have it

Where are you in the country and how often do you go about people?

For example if you're in London over the last 3 weeks, more than 1 in 5 people that you've seen are likely to have been positive, so seeing 11 would be astonishingly few and point to no-one really using the app. Remember just walking down the street you would getting pings "but not close enough" pings from people.