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More than 1 million download COVIDSafe app

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More than 1.13 million people have downloaded the coronavirus tracing app, exceeding government expectations despite concerns about how well it will function and calls for its design to be publicly released.

The COVIDSafe app went live at 6pm on Sunday night and operates as a 'bluetooth digital handshake', maintaining a log of the Bluetooth connections a person's phone makes with others. It is based on Singapore's Tracetogether software.

"That's an extraordinary achievement. We'd hoped to reach the million mark in perhaps five days - we got there in five hours," Mr Hunt said.

"The more people the better."

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According to experts, at least 40 per cent of the population would need to download the app for it to be effective.

The app needs to be open and notifications on when a user is out and about, especially in meetings and public places, but Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said the app will be running in the background and your phone does not need to be unlocked for it to work.

The app has raised both privacy concerns as well as questions on how much it will drain battery-life.

Web security expert Troy Hunt said the app ran on Bluetooth LE (low energy), which is designed for favourable battery life. "There are plenty of other apps that work out there in similar ways," he said.

The COVIDSafe tracing app was launched on Sunday and within four hours had been downloaded by 1 million Australians.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

He said the app would cause a battery-drain if it was running in the foreground, open and front of screen, but that "we should have no more than a day's worth of speculation on this" now that the app is available and people can check battery use.

Most people were already running apps on iPhone and Android that would be of greater security concerns than this one, he said.

So far, some users have told this masthead it was easy to download, while others had trouble finding it in the app store.

On Monday morning, a group of 80 academics and industry experts had called for the release of the source code, the blueprint of the app.

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Making the code publicly available would allow software developers to see for themselves exactly how the app works and what it is capable of.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government would release the source code for independent analysis within 14 days.

"The reason for that is that there's constant review of the safety and security," Mr Hunt told ABC radio's AM program.

"Our first task is to make sure the security assessment is done and that there is absolute protection of privacy above all else, but at the same time, working on the same basis as other countries such as Singapore, we will be releasing the source code ... for a full assessment," he said.

The app was designed by the government's digital transformation agency in conjunction with leading Australian design firm Shine, with Amazon acting as the server.

"[Amazon] is "pre-credentialed and pre-established as a protected, highest classification server in Australia," the Minister said.

Mr Hunt said it has the "strongest data protection both physically and in law that Australia has ever had", meaning the information couldn't even be accessed for a criminal investigation via a court order.

"The data has to be in Australia, has to stay in Australia. There's a five-year jail term to anyone who breaches that security," he said.

Users provide their name, phone number, their age range and postcode and need to be within 1.5 metres of each other for the bluetooth digital handshake.

"What this does is it simply allows public health officials to contact you and protect you if you have been exposed to the virus."

Australian Medical Association president Dr Tony Bartone encouraged people to download the app to stop the spread of the virus.

"That’s an important part of keeping the lid on any spread," Dr Bartone said.

- with Marissa Calligeros

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