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French mobile app helps lovers have safe sex

A team of French entrepreneurs have used the latest technology to help promote safe sex in France by creating a smartphone app to help randy lovers find their nearest condom dispenser.

French mobile app helps lovers have safe sex
Photo Rorro Navia/Damien Varron

French techies have once again proved their ability to come up with a smartphone app to solve some of life’s major problems.

First it was a team of Parisians who created an app to allow people to notify others of the whereabouts of dog poo on the city’s streets. Then authorities developed an app so residents could point out litter black spots on the capital's notoriously dirty streets.

Now four entrepreneurs from Bordeaux have come up with an app to help lovers practice safe sex by alerting them to the nearest condom dispenser.

The creators behind ‘Condomatix’ say the idea started as a bit of fun but there is also a serious side to the new app.

“There is a growing need to prevent sexual transmitted diseases so using a condom is very important,” one of the creators, Damien Varron, told The Local.

“Twenty-six years after the first campaign in the fight against Aids it's time to come up with new ways of communication,” he added.

“So far the app has been well received and we think it will be popular in France because it is quite unique in that there are a lot of condom dispensers on the street.”

The application is in its early days and will rely on people posting the location of machines to build up the network so that randy couples right across the country can take advantage.

Users can geotag a dispenser, take a photograph of it and mention whether or not it is in working order or not. It is available for both Apple and Android smartphones.

Varron said the team had contacted condom manufactures to try and get their support. They are also looking to expand further afield and have already had contact with someone in Mexico who is interested in developing the app there.

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What you need to know about technical error with Denmark’s Smittestop Covid-19 app

A technical issue has been detected with the Smittestop app used to help trace Covid-19 in Denmark.

What you need to know about technical error with Denmark’s Smittestop Covid-19 app
Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The technical problem may have caused certain users not to be notified they have been close to a person infected with coronavirus, when in fact this was the case.

It is currently unknown whether the issue has been present since the app was launched in June, according to DR.

Newspaper Politiken has reported that Copenhagen city councillor Pia Allerslev found that her family did not receive warnings from the app even though she tested positive for Covid-19 and had been close to them for over 15 minutes, the requirement for the notification.

Similar situations have subsequently been reported in other media in Denmark.

“We have recently tested the app to recreate the situation and appear to have found a possible cause for (the error),” Lene Ærbo, the technical leader of the app for the Danish health ministry, told DR.

Technical staff are working to confirm the error before releasing an update, according to the broadcaster’s report.

“We can see that in some cases, where mobile phones are together for a longer period, for example people who live together, close contacts don’t get a (possible) infection notification,” Ærbo said.

She added that because Google and Apple, who developed the Danish app, update it on an ongoing basis, it was not currently possible to say whether the error has always existed.

The Smittestop app is regarded as a supplement to manual contact tracing in Denmark, which is conducted by the Danish Patient Safety Authority (Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed).

One of its key intended functions is to identify infection chains between people who do not know each other.

Ærbo said to DR that the technical problem is limited to very close contacts – such as people in the same household – and not those for which contact had a relatively short duration.

“We can see that infection notifications are sent out for short-lived contacts. That is typically unknown contacts, so this is positive,” she said.

“But there have been challenges with household contacts and we are testing and working to improve this as soon as possible,” she added.

According to Ministry of Health figures reported by DR, 2,266 people registered their positive coronavirus test on the app between its launch and September 21st. The app has been downloaded 1,393,967 times.

App users who experience problems are advised to contact Sundhed.dk support on telephone number 44222080.

READ ALSO: Which European countries' coronavirus phone apps have had the most success?

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