It has been billed as key to getting Britain back on its feet to help navigate a future way of life post-lockdown. But before the new Covid-19 contact-tracing app is rolled out across the UK this month, it must pass a pilot on the Isle of Wight where it appears to have got off to a bumpy start – with emerging signs of a generational divide.
Although most locals told the Guardian they were broadly supportive of the idea, questions have been raised about glitches on some phones and the potential lack of takeup among the island’s older, less tech-savvy residents.
And just as the NHS app was unveiled to the island on Thursday morning, it was dealt a further blow when a parliamentary committee warned it must not be released in its current form without increased privacy and data protections. Meanwhile, it emerged that Downing Street was leaving open the prospect of ditching the app entirely and instead opting for a “decentralised” model favoured by Apple and Google.
By late morning on Thursday, 33,000 of the Isle of Wight’s 140,000 residents were undeterred and had downloaded it, with 28 logging symptoms, the local Tory MP Bob Seely said. (Key workers had access to the app earlier in the week.) Later in the day, downloads topped 40,000.
Seely rejected privacy objections, saying: “If we’re not first on the island, we’re last… It’s good for my folks because we get stuff early, we get to test the stuff and the social scientists can then take that information so there’s a win-win for both sides.”
The NHS app works by using bluetooth technology to register when people come into close contact with each other. Relying on users to flag when they develop symptoms, the app then uses a centralised database to alert others with whom they have come into contact that they are at risk of infection so they can isolate and get tested. It does not require users to register their names, only asking for part of their postcode, with NHSX – a digital unit under both the Department of Health and the NHS – claiming that the “app does not collect personally identifiable data”.
Richard Quigley, who stood against Seely as the Labour candidate at the general election and runs a fish and chip shop in Cowes, said he was cautiously supportive but warned against people treating the app as an “electronic vaccine”, meaning they could flout physical distancing.
The government is aiming for 60% of the population to download the app for it to work effectively. But with more than a quarter of the island aged 65 and over, there are fears the app may hit a stumbling block with older people who are not as tech-minded or who do not own smartphones.
Kevin Lewis, 74, from Northwood, a village near Cowes, said he did not even know what Bluetooth was. He explained neither he nor his 70-year-old wife would be using the app as, despite both having smartphones, they felt they lacked the digital wherewithal.
“I think it’s going to abjectly fail,” said the semi-retired coach driver who has lived on the island his whole life. “I’m very limited in my usage of my smartphone because I’m just not of that generation. All the circles I move in are of the same ilk and [have] the same thoughts on it. We welcome anything that’s going to end this dreadful thing, I just think it’s the wrong island [to test it]… I’ve had my son and grandchildren trying to explain it but I’m still left in the dark.”
On Facebook some residents also expressed disappointment with the rollout, complaining they were unable to download the app because their phones had older operating systems. It is understood it will not work on versions before Apple iOS 11 or Android 8.
But other islanders were more positive. Natasha Edwards, 41, managing director of the Garlic Farm, a family-run business in Newchurch, was quick to download the app and was encouraging others to follow despite being aware of reservations. “I know there’s a bit of negativity on the Isle of Wight among various community groups, there’s the usual paranoia about security and privacy, which I think is probably quite valid,” she said.
“Most people I’ve spoken to, my friends and contacts, are really keen to get it downloaded. They’re willing to make that small sacrifice of privacy, or perceived privacy. If it’s going to help us come out of lockdown sooner, which I don’t know whether it would, let’s go for it.”
Meanwhile, Steve Young, 44, an NHS data analyst, and his wife, a nurse, who both work at St Mary’s hospital – which has recorded 28 Covid-19 deaths – were both supportive of the app.
“I suppose, like everybody, I was a little bit concerned to start with from the privacy point of view. But, if I’m quite honest, what have we got to lose? Anybody who has a smartphone of any description has pretty much signed away a significant amount of privacy anyway,” Young said.
However, he shared concerns about the likelihood of the app’s takeup among older people. “I’ve got a 60-year-old lady who lives opposite me, she’s a frontline worker, she’s a carer. If anybody needs it, it’s her. She has a very basic phone which could not take the app. Even though her daughters have tried to show her how she could do it with one of her phones, she just can’t get the hang of it.”