Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 26, 2025

Iterative Development of an Innovative Smartphone-Based Dietary Assessment Tool: Traqq
Published on: March 19, 2021
Checking Contact Tracing App Implementations with Bespoke Static Analysis
Robert Flood1, Sheung Chi Chan2, Wei Chen1
1LFCS, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Abstract:
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, contact tracing apps have been developed based on digital contact tracing frameworks. These allow developers to build privacy-conscious apps that detect whether an infected individual is in close proximity with others. Given the urgency of the problem, these apps have been developed at an accelerated rate with a brief testing period. Such quick development may have led to mistakes in the apps' implementations, resulting in problems with their functionality, privacy and security. To mitigate these concerns, we develop and apply a methodology for evaluating the functionality, privacy and security of Android apps using the Google/Apple Exposure Notification API. This is a three-pronged approach consisting of a manual analysis, general static analysis and a bespoke static analysis, using a tool we have developed, dubbed MonSTER. As a result, we have found that, although most apps met the basic standards outlined by Google/Apple, there are issues with the functionality of some of these apps that could impact user safety.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Errors: Detection and Minimization
Absolute error in a measurement is the numerical difference from the true or central value. Relative error is the ratio between absolute error and the true or central value, expressed as a percentage.
Errors can be classified by source, magnitude, and sign. There are three types of errors: systematic, random, and gross.
Systematic or...
Steps in Outbreak Investigation
Development of Analytical Methods
Detection of Gross Error: The Q Test
Principles of Disease Surveillance
Leaky Scanning

