Hong Kong Covid-19 app may get more user-friendly features, official says, allaying concerns over residents’ privacy
- Government Chief Information Officer Victor Lam says initial design of ‘Leave Home Safe’ app was somewhat ‘overdone’ and it is being redeveloped
- Access to photo albums, USB storage on users’ smartphones and Wi-fi connections has been blocked to allay users’ privacy concerns
More user-friendly features could be added to Hong Kong’s Covid-19 risk exposure app from next week, a senior information technology official has said, admitting that the initial design of a function for residents to record their journey was “overdone”.
Government Chief Information Officer Victor Lam Wai-kiu said the “Leave Home Safe” app – with more than 300,000 downloads and spanning over 45,000 public and private venues across the city – had been renewed this week to allay privacy concerns. Its access rights to photo albums and USB storage on smartphones and to users’ Wi-fi connections have been blocked.
Currently, when users enter a venue, they have to scan the specific QR code displayed there and press “leave” on the app when they exit.
But some people found it troublesome as they felt users might not remember to click “leave” when they departed a place or they could visit multiple stores in a shopping centre, which would mean they would have to press “leave” whenever they exited an outlet.
To make the experience better, Lam said, officers were planning to make it simpler for users to mark the exit time when visiting a venue, while also allowing people to review their previous journey records. He hoped to roll out some of the new functions next week.
