With the update to 1.13 of the Corona-Warn-App, users have the option to make an anonymous data donation to experts.
Anonymous status report to experts
The version 1.13 of the app offers the new feature to send its status anonymously to experts. According to the information provided by the app’s developers, no conclusions about the person are made during data transmission. The option of data transmission is displayed after installation when the warning app is restarted. A dialog box appears in which users can decide whether their own data should be transmitted or not. If a user wants to revise their decision, this can be adjusted again in the settings.
If data transfer is activated, the app passes the risk on to the data processing experts. Depending on whether a green or red tile is present, the classification is made into low or high risk. By specifying age, affiliation and state, a correlation between local incidence and warnings can possibly be established. With this so-called data donation, it is then also possible to perform different analyses. The data experts will be able to find out different correlations. For example, whether there are more red or green tiles in certain age groups. The goal of the anonymous data submission is to further improve the warning app and also to test the effectiveness of the app.
Data submission free
If the user of the Corona-Warn-App has agreed to the data transmission, it is carried out automatically in the background, and the user does not incur any costs for the transmission of the data. Even when dialing in via the mobile network, there are no costs.
Survey of the RKI
Another innovation is a survey by the RKI. Users who have an increased risk or who are shown a red tile can take part in a survey by the Robert Koch Institute. The survey is intended to examine the effectiveness of the Corona-Warn-App.
