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COVID Alert is Canada's free COVID-19 exposure notification app. It can alert you to possible exposures before you have symptoms.

On this page

• How it works
• Your privacy is protected
• Provinces and territories where you can report a diagnosis
• How to get a one-time key
• A public health tool
• How many people are using COVID Alert
• Posters and videos for understanding the app
• Posters and handouts to print and share
• Get help with COVID Alert
• Share your story
• Building the app in the open
• Follow us on Twitter
• Contact us

How it works

• The app uses Bluetooth to exchange random codes between your phone and nearby phones.
• Each day, the app checks a list of random codes from users who have informed the app, through a one-time key, they’ve tested positive for COVID-19.
• If you test positive for COVID-19, you need to enter a one-time key in the app to notify others.
• The app will notify you if a phone was near you in the last 14 days from a user who tested positive and entered a one-time key.
• Keep background updates switched on and check them regularly.

Watch the video on how COVID Alert works.

Random codes and exposures

When you're near someone else with the app, both phones exchange random codes every 5 minutes.

The app estimates how close app users are to one another by the strength of their Bluetooth signals.

The random codes change often and can’t be used to identify you.

An exposure is recorded if you’re within 2 metres of someone with COVID-19 for 15 minutes or longer.

Each day, your phone gets a list of the random codes of app users who have reported a diagnosis. This is only possible when connected to the internet.

If it finds a matching code on your phone, the app notifies you that you've been exposed. It explains what to do next.

Your privacy is protected

COVID Alert doesn’t use GPS or track your location. It has no way of knowing:

• your location
• your name or address
• your phone's contacts
• the health information of anyone you're near

Nobody will get any information about you or the time you were near them. Learn more about how COVID Alert protects your privacy.

Provinces and territories where you can report a diagnosis

Which province or territory you live in will determine:

• if you can get a one-time key
• how you get a one-time key

Currently, the only places you’re unable to report a diagnoses are:

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Nunavut
• Yukon

How to get a one-time key

You can get a one-time key if you’re diagnosed with COVID-19. The app uses this one-time key to alert anonymously other app users that they were exposed. You can choose to upload the random codes your phone sends you.

App users can also enter details to help narrow down when they were likely most infectious. Those details tell the phone which random codes to upload. If the user chooses not to provide details, the app uploads the random codes from the last 14 days.

The random codes go into a central server. No other information is sent to the server.

Learn more on how to use the one-time key.

A public health tool

Using COVID Alert for the duration of the outbreak is just one of the public health tools available to help limit the spread. The app doesn’t replace:

• medical advice
• manual contact tracing by local public health authorities

Always follow all public health guidelines in your area.