Aarogya Setu app may soon come pre-installed on smartphones in India: Report

Smartphones may soon get the Indian Government's Aarogya Setu coronavirus (COVID-19) tracker app as a default application. This will encourage more people to use the app and check their risk of catching the infection. 

The government had reportedly asked smartphone companies to pre-install Aarogya Setu on phones, but since the manufacturing was suspended due to the pandemic, it wasn't possible. Now as the production is expected to resume soon, upcoming smartphones might get it as a default app which means users will not be required to download it, it will be pre-installed much like other Google services. 

According to a report by Mint citing sources that include a smartphone maker and the Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT).Here's everything you need to know about the app.

What is Aarogya Setu 

It is a mobile application that functions on location, Bluetooth, algorithms, and artificial intelligence to calculate a user's risk of getting coronavirus. The National Informatics Centre developed it for both Android and iOS users. The app has received an impressive response by the people across the country, so much so that it surpassed 50 million downloads within 13 days of release. India's contact tracing app, Aarogya Setu, recently crossed the 75 million downloads mark within 30 days of launch. The download of the contact tracing mobile app has been encouraged by PM Modi and the Central Board of Secondary Education, among others. 

You can install the app on your Android device here and iOS phone here.

How does it work

Once downloaded, users are required to sign up and fill personal information like gender name, age and profession. The app will then ask users if they have a cough, fever or trouble breathing, etc. to determine whether they are at risk of catching the coronavirus. The users will be informed about the status of their health condition and connected to essential health services. 

The app supports as many as 11 languages that include Hindi, English, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali, Oriya, and Telugu. You can choose a preferred language to understand its functions better.