Did you use the SwissCovid App when going out? Probably not. | Image: Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone

Many contact-tracing apps were unpopular because they offered few supplementary services – or none at all. This is the conclusion reached by a team from the University of Lausanne after conducting a user study and a comparison of apps from different countries. The developers of these apps focused mainly on data security, says the lead author Dana Naous. If another pandemic ever occurs, the SwissCovid App ought to integrate additional features, e.g., diagnoses or check-in services.

D. Naous et al.: Learning From the Past to Improve the Future. Value-Added Services as a Driver for Mass Adoption of Contact Tracing Apps. Business & Information Systems Engineering (2022)