India open sources code for Aarogya Setu iOS app

Started by Kalyan, Aug 18, 2020, 07:17 PM

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Kalyan

India open sources code for Aarogya Setu iOS app


Developers have criticised the government for not uploading the code for updated versions of the Android app fast enough, while others have complained about not making the server side of the code publicly available


The Indian government has open sourced the code for its contact tracing app Aarogya Setu's iOS version. The move comes just over two months after the government open sourced the code for the app's Android version. The code is available on OpenForge, which is the Indian government's own open source platform. The Android version is available on Microsoft-owned open source platform Github.

While the government open sourced the code on 10 August, the announcement was made today on app's official Twitter handle.

Open sourcing the code for an app allows developers to take a closer look at how the app functions. They can also find bugs in the system and report the same to the creator. The Indian government had also announced a bug bounty programme worth ₹1 lakh, for those who can successfully find bugs in the code and report them. The winners of the Android bug bounty program will be announced soon.


Developers have criticised the Indian government for how it has handled open sourcing the code for its app. Some have said the government isn't uploading the code for updated versions of the Android app fast enough, while others have criticised them for not making the server side of the code publicly available. Keeping the server side code private means developers can't tell how the data collected by the app is used in the backend.

The Aarogya Setu app currently has 15 crore users, according to numbers shared by the government on its Twitter account. While its download numbers have ramped up fast, the government has so far never disclosed how many monthly or daily active users the app has. These numbers typically used to gauge whether users are using an application.


source - live mint