After releasing for smartphones a few months back, the Indian government recently released Aarogya Setu app for feature phones running on KaiOS. According to the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), the app has now hit 30 million (3 crore) installations.
The government took to Twitter to share the news. The numbers don’t really come as a surprise considering the user base for JioPhones in the country. Take a look at the tweet below.
#AarogyaSetu App is now trusted by 30 Million Jio Phone users.
Join the fight against #Coronavirus and download the @SetuAarogya App today on KaiOS Platform, Jio Phones.#SetuMeraBodyguard @reliancejio @_DigitalIndia pic.twitter.com/oA5TG9j82Z
— Ministry of Electronics & IT (@GoI_MeitY) June 8, 2020
Aarogya Setu’s smartphone app, on the other hand, amassed a whopping 100 million installs within 41 days, which is partially because it was made mandatory for both government and private employees.
Following criticism from experts and privacy advocates, the government relaxed its guidelines and made the app’s installation for private employees ‘on best effort basis’.
That said, the government has made it mandatory to use Aarogya Setu if you’re planning to travel in flights across the country. Domestic flight operations in India resumed in the last week of May. You’ll have to show the app on your phone as part of the verification process during entry to the airport.
While the government released the app’s code for Android at the end of May, the app’s code for iOS and Kai OS has not been released at the time of writing this article. The government had announced that it would release them in the coming weeks and hence, we will have to wait to see how things turn out.
