Germany backs Google and Apple’s covid app, ditches alternative over privacy concerns

Frankfurt: The German government on Sunday switched to backing a coronavirus-tracing app using technology supported by Google and Apple, ditching a German-led alternative that had come under fire over privacy concerns.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff Helge Braun said Berlin was now in favour of a “decentralised software architecture” that would see user data stored on people’s own phones instead of on a central database.