This Govt move seemlessly from one fiasco of incompetence to another It’s the only thing they’re any good at https://t.co/f5fmnoTOod

— Angela Eagle (@angelaeagle) June 18, 2020

the face saving line is "actually both the approaches are bad" https://t.co/PdziEFtysO

— alex hern (@alexhern) June 18, 2020

UK government wanted one approach, Google and Apple wanted another, guess which turned out to be more powerful. https://t.co/aMRxNngilt

— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) June 18, 2020

Which one is the “world beating app”, can anyone remind me? This is a HUGE embarrassment for the Government. We should have had a tracing app MONTHS ago to help us get out of lockdown. https://t.co/komP7Fqw7G

— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) June 18, 2020

I was three weeks off pic.twitter.com/sepkVj9Flu

— alex hern (@alexhern) June 18, 2020

UK gov argues Google/Apple API "does not yet present a viable solution" as it "does not currently estimate distance in the way required".
After testing, Italy and Germany this week rolled out their A/G-based apps nationwide https://t.co/tAGtQ5vWQe

— Tim Bradshaw (@tim) June 18, 2020

First testing facilities, now this, why is it taking the UK government so long to work out that the private sector can be an ally in the battle against covid? https://t.co/HhVlDBJfEP

— Liberal Reform (@liberal_reform) June 18, 2020

Almost exactly two months ago, we reported that the contact tracing app would not work unless the Apple and Google model was adopted and that the government was trying to pressure Apple to give it a special exemption https://t.co/FClBIxL0D7

— alex hern (@alexhern) June 18, 2020

This is a welcome move - the Google-Apple model better protects individual privacy than a more centralised model - a conclusion many others have already reached https://t.co/gCdpEWI6jC

— Mark Harper (@Mark_J_Harper) June 18, 2020

When we first reported this, officials told us they were just doing due diligence on the Apple/Google system. Six weeks later, this "back-up project" has become the new UK contact-tracing app https://t.co/CEBVfOCEAy

— Helen Warrell (@helenwarrell) June 18, 2020

What an unmitigated shambles of a Government! The Foreign Secretary doesn’t understand what kneeling means & they’re now scrapping their #COVID19 app, promised by May, not ready till winter, for the app rest of Europe is already using successfully - having wasted vital time & £s. https://t.co/aBJB8V83cW

— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) June 18, 2020

France is officially the only European country with a contact tracing app based on a centralized model *slow clap* https://t.co/lxL1Gb9Str

— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) June 18, 2020

Love it how Brits are framing their decision to switch to @google/@apple #coronavirus app after months of technical glitches as an example of how UK is leading the way of test-and-trace worldwide. pic.twitter.com/PBh5M60Rqt

— Mark Scott (@markscott82) June 18, 2020

The now ditched NHS X app was picking up 4% of Apple phones. It didn't work and was never going to work. Yet, the government tried and tried. Officials won't disclose how much money was spent flogging this unfortunate horsehttps://t.co/9XuowohKbS

— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) June 18, 2020

who could have possibly predicted today's shocking u-turn https://t.co/m89n9Uf10A

— Tim Bradshaw (@tim) June 18, 2020

The story of UK #COVID19 policy in three acts
Act 1: Yes other countries are doing it one way but we've got a better plan
Act 2: Yes our plan is tricky, yes other countries think we're crazy, but good old British hard work and ingenuity will save the day
Act 3: https://t.co/xJDw7Wz6vZ

— Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) June 18, 2020

Another £250m spaffed up the wall. Or is that spaffed into the ever open wallet of their mates.

Worse still, months of dev and test work wasted and still no working app which has to be a core component of any removal of lockdown. Absolute cabinet of clowns. https://t.co/Ez8YubS3W0

— Kev H ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@kevhowson) June 18, 2020

Somebody has made a absolute packet out of this utter failure of an exercise.

Anyone with two brain cells saw this coming 3 months agohttps://t.co/87QT3vP3IB

— Pete Hotchkiss (@petehotchkiss) June 18, 2020

The tone of this from the BBC. “Late running” is about the only hint of the fiasco this has been in the UK. And it’s not the centralised or not problem (or not only) it’s that the UK’s initial approach was fantastically badly thought out! https://t.co/DfjaI96ScX

— Jon Worth (@jonworth) June 18, 2020

Three months late, the govt realise they should have gone with the Apple / Google app that every other country is using.

One source tells me that the NHS rejected an offer of help from Google at the start of March. https://t.co/liaGUHXHYd

— Stefan Simanowitz (@StefSimanowitz) June 18, 2020

https://t.co/9l2x1z81kD
Another u turn, another, day, another cock up. Do Cummings pals that were paid for original app get to keep their Millions? You bet!

— lynne dixon (@lynnedixon14) June 18, 2020

UK virus-tracing app switches to Google-Apple model, two months after rejecting those companies and battling on with our own. https://t.co/QK8rbH4GWt

— Rupert Myers (@RupertMyers) June 18, 2020

Some of us saw this coming and urged the NHS to do this weeks ago after it made the same mistake with tracing. Why this ideological obsession with not sourcing things from the private sector? https://t.co/xwANA9Vtuh

— Matt Ridley (@mattwridley) June 18, 2020

And in the least surprising news today, the UK government discovers that tech companies are better at doing tech than it is. https://t.co/o7w36nFrqT

— Henry Jones (@hthjones) June 18, 2020

Who could have predicted that a government that got it so wrong on going into lockdown and PPE and protecting care homes and testing and getting kids back to school and everything else would have got it so wrong on the track and trace app. https://t.co/gqZs0W2LAA

— David Schneider (@davidschneider) June 18, 2020

If the NHS will to support it, I could roll out the German Corona-Warn-App (privacy respecting, official diagnosis rather than self-reporting as I understand it) in short time at zero cost to the taxpayers.

If the government can't pull themselves together, we can.

Please RT.

— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) June 18, 2020

Another U-turn: this time on the coronavirus tracing app.

Ministers were urged to sign up to this model from the start.

How much quicker could we have got control of the pandemic if we had? https://t.co/JXv7mYz2I3

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) June 18, 2020

Who could have guessed that an app designed by Google-Apple and already tested in lots of other countries might be more reliable than something banged out by a mate of Dom's?#Apple #Google https://t.co/74b7PlOdjL

— Parody Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson_MP) June 18, 2020

In a major U-turn, the UK is ditching the way its current coronavirus-tracing app works and shifting to a model based on technology provided by Apple and Google https://t.co/yJFOEBIWnY

— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) June 18, 2020

Three months late, the govt realise they should have gone with the Apple / Google app that every other country is using.

One source tells me that the NHS rejected an offer of help from Google at the start of March. https://t.co/liaGUHXHYd

— Stefan Simanowitz (@StefSimanowitz) June 18, 2020

Excellent news: “In a major U-turn, the UK is abandoning the underpinnings of its existing coronavirus-tracing app and switching to a model based on technology provided by Apple and Google.” https://t.co/yLJu3QSXWY

— Matthew Lesh (@matthewlesh) June 18, 2020

The tories, of course, will say that they did the right thing testing the app and this decision was borne of the results. What actually happened is that they bunged £100+ million to the people that helped with Brexit and people will die as a result. https://t.co/KtybeHIuVX

— Dave Lee (@davelee1968) June 18, 2020

UK ditches its coronavirus contact-tracing app and switches to Google-Apple model (story by @thomas_macaulay) https://t.co/wPM0RBOTZT

— TNW (@thenextweb) June 18, 2020

This was inevitable. Britain, one of the last holdouts, bends to Apple and Google's contact-tracing rules. w/ @benjmueller. https://t.co/un0o5znEEy

— Adam Satariano (@satariano) June 18, 2020

Another government u-turn: Britain spent months insisting on building its own contact tracing app, now its dropped that and joined other countries in turning to Apple and Google –– by @satariano + @benjmueller. https://t.co/VkOPRCLvfM

— Jane Bradley (@jane__bradley) June 18, 2020

The Canadian government will launch a contact-tracing app next month. The app will use Google and Apple's technology, and will be built by a team of Shopify engineers, with assistance from BlackBerry.

Big news from Ottawa today via @MartinPatriquin https://t.co/7FKqrHPg4g

— Fatima Syed (@fatimabsyed) June 18, 2020

Here's @MartinPatriquin and my updated @the_logic story on the new federal and Ontario government-backed contact tracing app, including how it works and where it came from (working title: "From ODS to Ottawa")https://t.co/XzXekQHoDb

— Murad Hemmadi (@muradhem) June 18, 2020

Tech people were right about tech. Politicians are not all-knowing. Who would ever have thought it? https://t.co/KzBaRuJWES

— Nightpaws (@Nightpaws) June 18, 2020

Far too slow to lockdown and now the promised world beating tracing app becomes dust - the Tory response to #Coronavirus has been disastrous and sadly, is costing many lives! https://t.co/LYCIM90iZX

— Manuel Cortes (@Manuel_TSSA) June 19, 2020

It’s almost as if we should have gone with the Google-Apple app immediately rather than spending millions on an app created by a mate of Dominic Cummings. Still, at least that mate gets to keep the money for literally doing nothing. https://t.co/limSfUu3DD

— Barnaby Edwards (@BarnabyEdwards) June 19, 2020

UK ditches its coronavirus contact-tracing app and switches to Google-Apple model (story by @thomas_macaulay) https://t.co/4YNk2lTNx4

— TNW (@thenextweb) June 19, 2020

The question is how much NHS patient data did Palantir and Faculty slurp up in the meantime? https://t.co/5W57xCrVOL

— Dan Lives (@dancharvey) June 18, 2020

Federal, Ontario governments launching app to aid contact-tracing efforts https://t.co/dCcTxrOJ2h

— Henry Makow (@HenryMakow) June 18, 2020

Learn more about today’s #ContactTracingApp announcement from the Canadian Government on @the_logic, featuring @cyberpolicyx’s policy expert @sambandrey: https://t.co/gaWkmPq2CZ

via @MartinPatriquin & @muradhem #Privacy

— Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst (@Cybersecure_CA) June 18, 2020

“While reassurances from the Prime Minister that the [contact tracing] app will be ‘completely voluntary,’ are encouraging, that is not enough to make it true,” says me? on behalf of @cyberpolicyxhttps://t.co/Io4cUCt3xm

— Sam Andrey (@sambandrey) June 18, 2020

The app uses Google and Apple's exposure notification API. It uses Bluetooth, not location services the way most people understand them. Folks far more versed on the technology than I note the difficulty of making data properly de-anonymyzable, of coursehttps://t.co/XzXekQHoDb

— Murad Hemmadi (@muradhem) June 18, 2020