Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 11, 2020

Acceptability of app-based contact tracing for COVID-19: Cross-country survey evidence

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  • This large-scale (N=5,995) online survey investigates user acceptability of a contact-tracing app across different installation scenarios (voluntary installation vs. automatic installation by mobile phone providers) in France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US. Results show strong support for the app under both installation scenarios, with at least 68% of respondents across countries indicating that they would install the app or keep it if automatically installed. Concerns about cyber security and privacy, as well as lack of trust in government, are the main barriers to adoption. 
  • These findings suggest that app-based contact tracing may be an acceptable approach to help control the spread of COVID-19. 

Altmann et al. (May 4, 2020). Acceptability of app-based contact tracing for COVID-19: Cross-country survey evidence. Pre-print downloaded May 11 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.05.20091587