On March 20, Singapore government launched TraceTogether, a mobile phone app for improving contact tracing. This is a collaborative effort of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) and the Ministry of Health. The app works by exchanging the bluetooth signals of nearby phones with the app installed. As of May 8, the mobile app has reportedly been downloaded by about 25% of Singapore residents. However, this figure is far from a minimum of 75% of active users in the population, as suggested by the multi-ministry task force on COVID-19, for effctive contact tracing.
In this analysis, we report the feedback from people who downloaded the app and possible reasons for the low number of downloads.
TraceTogether Usage
Among 807 eligible respondents, 572 (71%) reported that they downloaded the app. This percentage is higher than the reported figure of 25% in the population. Demographic characteristics were similar among respondents who downloaded the app and those who did not (results not shown).
When asked the reasons for not downloading the app, the respondents cited concerns about how the collected data will be used as the top reason.
Among 572 respondents who downloaded the app, the majority (93%) have it installed on their phones at the time of the survey. A small number of people (n = 42) removed the app from their phone. Battery drainage appears to be the top concern as reported by almost half of these respondents. Other commonly reported reasons are the app not running properly and concerns over how the collected data will be used.
Opinions on TraceTogether
Among 572 repondents who downloaded TraceTogether, only 1 has been contacted by the Ministry of Health because of close contact with a COVID-19 case. These respondents were also asked their opinion on different aspects of the app (on a scale of 1 to 5 with 3 considered as neutral) ranging from ease of use to data privacy. After excluding 42 respondents who did not answer the questions, we found that more than half of these respondents think that TraceTogether app is easy to use, useful for contact tracing, and practical. Interestingly, 36% of respondents reported that they were concerned about data privacy in using the app while 42% reported otherwise.
Participation
We repeated a previous survey between April 26 and May 13 using an updated questionnaire. Survey completion was 55% (based on the number of completed surveys out of users who initiated the survey).
Respondents who reported not currently residing in Singapore (n = 5) and individuals aged <21 years or missing age were excluded from the analysis (n = 19). Demographic characteristics of eligible participants are as below:
| Overall (N=807) | |
|---|---|
| Age in years | |
| Mean (SD) | 48.3 (11.6) |
| Range | 21.0 - 78.0 |
| Gender | |
| Male | 335 (41.5%) |
| Female | 454 (56.3%) |
| Non-binary | 2 (0.2%) |
| Prefer not to say | 16 (2.0%) |
| Ethnicity | |
| Chinese | 581 (72.0%) |
| Malay | 39 (4.8%) |
| Indian | 41 (5.1%) |
| Other | 123 (15.2%) |
| Prefer not to say | 23 (2.9%) |
| Education attainment | |
| Primary (PSLE) | 4 (0.5%) |
| Secondary (O/N Level) | 72 (8.9%) |
| A Level/Polytechnic/Diploma | 140 (17.3%) |
| ITE/NTC | 19 (2.4%) |
| University | 548 (67.9%) |
| Prefer not to say | 24 (3.0%) |
| Housing type | |
| 1-2 room HDB | 19 (2.4%) |
| 3-4 room HDB | 243 (30.1%) |
| 5-room HDB/executive flat | 210 (26.0%) |
| Private housing | 288 (35.7%) |
| Others | 17 (2.1%) |
| Prefer not to say | 30 (3.7%) |
| Marital status | |
| Currently married | 478 (59.2%) |
| Divorced | 37 (4.6%) |
| Never married | 221 (27.4%) |
| Separated but not divorced | 6 (0.7%) |
| Widowed | 9 (1.1%) |
| Prefer not to say | 56 (6.9%) |
| Household income | |
| < $2,000 | 56 (6.9%) |
| $2,000 - $3,999 | 84 (10.4%) |
| $4,000 - $5,999 | 110 (13.6%) |
| $6,000 - $10,000 | 161 (20.0%) |
| > $10,000 | 247 (30.6%) |
| Prefer not to say | 149 (18.5%) |
| Have you ever downloaded the TraceTogether app? | |
| No | 235 (29.1%) |
| Yes | 572 (70.9%) |