Apple launches coronavirus screening app and website: How to use them

apple coronavirus screeening
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

If you're looking for coronavirus information, Apple's already added the ability to screen yourself for COVID-19 using the Siri assistant on your iPhone. And now Apple is broadening its coronavirus efforts with a web page and app that include information and screening tools for the ongoing pandemic.

Launched today (March 27), Apple's COVID-19 website is highlighted by a screening tool that you can use for yourself others to determine whether you need medical attention. 

Questions in the screening tool cover topics like symptoms you're experiencing, whether you've traveled internationally recently and the kinds of contact you've had with other people. You also provide information about pre-existing conditions such as asthma, diabetes, a weakened immune system and other at-risk factors.

At the end of the screening questions, you'll get advice on whether to self-isolate or contact a health-care provider. Along with that recommendation, you'll be advised of other steps you can take like monitoring your symptoms and whether you need to get screened for coronavirus.

According to Apple, any information you provide during the screening won't be shared with either the company or the Centers for Disease Control — a nod to privacy concerns some users may have.

apple coronavirus screening

(Image credit: Apple)

In addition to the screening tool, Apple's COVID-19 website features an about page with the latest information on the pandemic. The site also includes information on social distancing, self-isolating and cleaning tips. You can also look up how to get tested for coronavirus, what to expect from your test results and steps you can take while waiting to get your results.

Apple's COVID-19 site is accessible from around the world. U.S. users can also head to the iOS App Store and download an app-based version of the site for their iPhones and iPads. The mobile version contains the same features and information as the COVID-19 web page.

Philip Michaels

Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.