I can’t think of a more unequivocal title than that. š
The Australian government doesn’t have a good track record of either launching publicly visible software projects, or respecting privacy, so I’ve naturally been sceptical of the contact tracing app since it was announced. The good news is, while it has some relatively minor problems, it appears to be a solid first version.
Privacy
While the source code is yet to be released, the Android version has already been decompiled, and public analysis is showing that it only collects necessary information, and only uploads contact information to the government servers when you press the button to upload (you should only press that button if you actually get COVID-19, and are asked to upload it by your doctor).
The legislation around the app is also clear that the data you upload can only be accessed by state health officials. Commonwealth departments have no access, neither do non-health departments (eg, law enforcement, intelligence).
Technical
It does what it’s supposed to do, and hasn’t been found to open you up to risks by installing it. There are a lot of people digging into it, so I would expect any significant issues to be found, reported, and fixed quite quickly.
Some parts of it are a bit rushed, and the way it scans for contacts could be more battery efficient (that should hopefully be fixed in the coming weeks when Google and Apple release updates that these contact tracing apps can use).
If it produces useful data, however, I’m willing to put up with some quirks. š
Usefulness
I’m obviously not an epidemiologist, but those I’ve seen talk about it say that yes, the data this app produces will be useful for augmenting the existing contact tracing efforts. There were some concerns that it could produce a lot of junk data that wastes time, but I trust the expert contact tracing teams to filter and prioritise the data they get from it.
Install it!
The COVIDSafe site has links to the app in Apple’s App Store, as well as Google’s Play Store. Setting it up takes a few minutes, and then you’re done!