Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Contact-tracing apps help reduce COVID infections, data suggest

Evaluations find apps are useful, but would benefit from better integration into health-care systems.
  1. Dyani Lewis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of countries have deployed digital apps that attempt to identify people exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and stop onward transmission. But evidence that these ‘contact-tracing’ apps work has been hard to come by, because most collect limited data to protect users’ privacy. Now, studies from a handful of nations show mounting evidence that apps can help prevent infections and are a valuable public-health tool.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 591, 18-19 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00451-y

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 26 February 2021: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that WeHealth was a non-profit company.

References

  1. Wymant, C. et al. Preprint at go.nature.com/2m4scfk (2021).

  2. Fancourt, D., Bu, F., Mak, H. W. & Steptoe, A. Covid-19 Social Study Results Release 28 (2021).

  3. Rodríguez, P. et al. Nature Commun. 12, 587 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Menges, D., Aschmann, H., Moser, A., Althaus, C. L. & von Wyl, V. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.01.21250972 (2021).

  5. Ballouz, T. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.21.20248619 (2020).

  6. Masel, J. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.02.21251022 (2021).

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links