Implementing and Maintaining a SARS-CoV-2 Exposure Notification Application for Mobile Phones: The Finnish Experience

Exposure notification applications (ENAs) or digital proximity tracing apps were used in several countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this viewpoint, we share our experience of implementing and running the Finnish ENA (Koronavilkku), one of the national ENAs with the highest proportion of users during the pandemic. With the aim of strengthening public trust and increasing app uptake, there was a strong prioritization of privacy and data security for the end user throughout the ENA development. This, in turn, limited the use of the app as a tool for health care professionals and deeper insight into its potential effectiveness. The ENA was designed to supplement conventional contact tracing, rather than replace it, and to serve as an early warning system and a trigger for action for the user in case of potential exposure. The predefined target of 40% uptake in the population was achieved within 3 months of the ENA launch. We consider easy-to-understand information produced together with communication experts crucial during the changing pandemic situation. This information educated people about the app as one component in mitigating the pandemic. As the pandemic and its mitigation evolved, the ENA also needed adapting and updating. A few months after its launch, Finland joined European interoperability, which allowed the ENA to share information with ENAs of other countries. We added automatic token issuing to the ENA as of mid-2021. If added earlier and more comprehensively, automatization could have more effectively saved resources in health care services and prevented overburdening contact tracing teams, while also notifying potentially exposed individuals quicker and more reliably. In the spring of 2021, the number of active apps started to gradually decline. Quarantine and testing practices for asymptomatic vaccinated individuals following exposure to the virus were eased and home tests became more common, eventually replacing laboratory testing for much of the population. Taken together, this led to decreased token issuance, which weakened the potential public health usefulness of the app. A self-service option for token issuance would likely have prolonged the lifespan of the app. The ENA was discontinued in mid-2022. Regularly conducted surveys would have helped gain timely knowledge on the use and effectiveness of the app for better responding to the changing needs during the pandemic.