Alternatives to putting that NHS Covid-19 app on my phone

Once I'd uninstalled that NHS Covid-19 app, the battery life on my three year old phone shot up again to nearly two days. And this was with all the ordinary background use I put it to, which, believe me, is considerable. The thing is always near me, or on my person, and I pick it up to do something with it several times an hour. I would resent having to ration all that usage just to free up power for an always-on app that only warns me of possible infection, and then only if I stay too close to an infected person for too long.

My personal risk-assessment.

Am I ignorant of, or habitually disregard, the social distancing rules? No.

Am I thoughtless about planning where I go, so that I keep finding myself in places where I'm bound to be too close to other people? No.

Do I have people in my life I'm anxious to be physically near to? No. 

Do I ever use public transport? Short answer: no. It's highly unusual for me. 99% of the time, I travel about in my own safe personal bubble: my car.

Am I prepared to be constantly alert to potentially dangerous people-contact? For months ahead? Yes.

I'd say that I'm low-risk for the kind of contact that would register on this app. Not 'no-risk' of course. There will always be unforeseen people-contact I can't swerve away from. So I'd still like to install this app if I can do so without straining my phone's battery. Perhaps I could use the app part-time, activating it with Bluetooth and GPS only when there's a risk of mixing with people at closer quarters than usual. For food-shopping, say. Or when walking around town centres. Or (when it's allowed) eating in a restaurant. To save my phone's battery, this may be the only viable option.

I did look into installing the app on a smartwatch instead. Assuming that's actually possible! But there are snags. The cost of buying any smartwatch isn't trivial. As for which watch, it would be a no-brainer if I were an Apple fan: I'd just get an Apple smartwatch. But I'm in the Android world, and although there's a lot of stylish choice out there, none of it really appeals at the moment. Ideally I'd want to stay with Fitbit (for the quality of their data-presentation app, and the fitness analyses provided), but just now they have no proper smartwatch in their line-up. That could change. Google now owns Fitbit, and I'm sure the next Fitbit-Google watch will be well worth considering. But I've no idea when that might come.

So, for the time being, I'm going to rely on good social distancing habits - exercising constant vigilance and anticipation - to keep me away from infected people. And support this with part-time use of the NHS Covid-19 app when it's rolled out nationwide. It remains uninstalled for now.