The World Health Organization (WHO) reportedly has a new app in the works meant to offer tips and help to Android users deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The app, dubbed “WHO MyHealth,” is being developed via GitHub primarily by volunteers. Among those, developers include former Google and Microsoft employees. But the group also includes WHO advisors and ambassadors in addition to other industry experts.
The primary goal for WHO MyHealth is to maintain parity with a related chatbot released to WhatsApp by the organization. That means it will focus almost exclusively on advice and tips for users to protect themselves during the outbreak. Of course, travel-related tips will be included there too. Based on pre-release images discovered in the GitHub, users will be able to share the app with friends and family as well.
This app will help dispel coronavirus myths and may help map the spread in future
Now, of course, part of spreading relevant information about the spread of COVID-19 will also involve doing away with myths surrounding the disease. There are already plenty of sources that accomplish that. The official WHO application will serve as an additional central hub for all of that information. But it may also soon be able to help users self-report.
Specifically, comments found in the GitHub suggest volunteers are trying to incorporate existing mapping technologies into WHO MyHealth. Google Maps is explicitly mentioned. The underlying purpose of that seems to be to allow users who have been diagnosed — or who come in contact with afflicted patients — to report their location on a map.
The feature would, the comment indicates, request permission to track historic location data. It may also record current location data. That would allow WHO MyHealth to effectively draw a map showing the spread more accurately and granularly.
Privacy concerns may prevent that kind of tracking from happening. Conversely, the feature might be limited to regions where laws allow deeper location tracking. Regardless, the feature would also be used to alert users based on their location.
The team behind WHO MyHealth is additionally considering a “self-triage” tool that might help users self-diagnose. That won’t be included in the initial release. The app won’t be released in many languages to start either. While the development team ultimately plans to release in as many languages as possible, it plans for English “+ one additional language” to start.
When is the COVID-19 WHO app going to launch?
Developers are building WHO MyHealth using Google’s cross-platform Flutter SDK. As a result, the volunteers should be able to easily port it across all platforms. In fact, it’s intended for release on both Android and iOS as well as in a web app format. That only leaves behind the question of when WHO MyHealth will be launched.
The current roadmap for development doesn’t put that too far out into the future. That’s not too surprising, given its focal point. An early version of WHO MyHealth is expected to launch apps for both mobile platforms as early as March 30.