Huawei has reportedly confirmed that most of its smartphones running Android will support Google’s contact tracing feature will be made available in the coming weeks via a software update. The company has been quoted saying that all the phones which were globally launched before the US trade ban in May 2019 will get the feature, which is likely to please the existing users of Huawei phones in the world. This update comes a few days after it was reported that none of the Huawei phones will be getting support from Google next month.
This means that Huawei P30 series and models before that will be getting future Android version updates through Google, allowing the Play Store ecosystem and access to millions of apps to the users. But we’re still not sure which of the old models will get the support, and more importantly, will this list also include devices from Huawei’s sub-brand Honor, which also runs on Android. This is something Huawei will have to clarify in the weeks to come.
In order to compensate for the loss of access to Google’s services, Huawei has been working on its own Android apps ecosystem which will be provided via the App Gallery on its latest devices like the P40 series.
Apple and Google are working together on a ‘contact tracing system’ that will let users know if they have been in the proximity of a person suffering from the COVID-19. Both the companies will implement on to their respective ecosystem via software updates.The contact tracking system will employ Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) for proximity detection for identifying people who have been infected by the COVID-19 and other people who might have come in contact with the infected person.
This is the first time when Apple and Google have joined hands to work on a software product that works through technical standards of their respective mobile platforms.