Telecom and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday that the Aarogya Setu app, which alerts people if any known person in their vicinity has tested positive, will soon be made available on feature phones also. Currently, the app can be downloaded only on smartphones as feature phones don’t have any downloading facility. Hence, Prasad said that his department, the government of Tamil Nadu and IIT-Madras are jointly working on making the app accessible on feature phones through an interactive voice response system (IVRS).
Further, the app will also have added features like the e-pass for movement during the restrictions imposed by the government to fight the pandemic.
Since there are around 500 million feature phone users in the country, such a facility will help the people at the bottom of the pyramid in remaining informed and alert.
Prasad, who on Tuesday interacted with state IT ministers through video-conferencing to discuss Covid-19 challenges, tech innovations and road map for the IT and electronics sector, said. “Every state highly appreciated the Aarogya Setu app and shared their thoughts on it. I have assured them that a similar solution for feature phones is being developed and will be launched very soon.”
According to the IT ministry, the Aarogya Setu app has thus far seen 75 million downloads.
