Smartphone Technology Maintains Privacy, Helps Ease Covid-19 Concerns
Boulder, Co. (April 2020) – SocialSmart, a U.S.-based organization focused on smarter social distancing amid the Covid-19 pandemic, announced today that it has developed a one-of-a-kind smart phone application for both the iPhone and Android operating systems to help ease concerns about safely reopening communities following more than a month observing stay-at-home orders.
SocialSmart is an app that uses anonymous bluetooth technology to monitor the social distancing habits of its users and, via a unique algorithm, inform users of their social distancing success by measuring the quantity and quality of each user’s social interactions.
The app, which will be free of charge to download, adds a layer of social distancing data so individuals, families and communities can make more intelligent social distancing decisions. SocialSmart is fully functional and will become available with the right government or health institution partner.
“SocialSmart allows people to make better, more socially responsible decisions. For the first time they can make decisions based on data, instead of guesswork,” SocialSmart co-founder Stephen Shapiro said. “We believe blanket stay-at-home orders are a result of a lack of data. SocialSmart adds a data-layer to the decision. This data will better inform individuals, families and the greater community on how best to ease these restrictions.”
SocialSmart relies on anonymous bluetooth technology to locate other users who have the app, and it can accurately track how many people a user socializes with during the day (inside a distance of 10 feet) as well as the duration of the interaction.
It then compiles a real-time user score based on his or her interactions, giving the user a simple touchpoint to either maintain or improve their social distancing habits.
SocialSmart is also the only Bluetooth tracing system that works in the background across Android and iPhone devices, so that each user’s normal smartphone habits – including phone calls and texts, browsing the internet or using GPS map applications for directions – are never interrupted while the app is running.
“Fixing the backgrounding issue is a big security gain for SocialSmart,” said co-founder and SocialSmart developer Dan Gish. “Users of the other apps currently on the market cannot use their phone or browse the internet while the app is open. Those apps just aren’t being used, and that will blunt the progress our communities are making to flatten the curve.”
SocialSmart’s use of bluetooth technology is more precise, accurate and effective than relying on GPS systems or traditional cell towers, and in order to ensure privacy for its users, SocialSmart does not require any personal information to download and activate the app. Each user’s identity remains anonymous and will not be shared with any third party. Users do not see the name or contact info of other users while viewing the app, only an anonymous descriptor such as “1st Contact” and the duration of the interaction.
Prior to founding SocialSmart, Shapiro and Gish co-founded the Denver-based online learning company SocialFusion, a leading provider of website and communication solutions for K–12 education. SchoolFusion served over 5,000 schools with over 1 million users in 44 states across the country.
“SocialSmart’s mission is to bring people together, to help them socialize intelligently,” Shapiro said. “This is not meant to be the solution for COVID-19. It’s a solution to today’s challenges, and how we reintegrate societies which hold individual privacy dearly.”
For more information about SocialSmart and the technology behind the app, log onto https://socialsmart.app.
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