Aarogya Setu has been transformed as nation’s health app

The Aarogya Setu was launched as a contact tracing app for the country, but now, it has been integrated with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), ABHA and with additional functionalities like sharing of health status through QR code, Open API, and health advisories.

It has been transformed into the health app of the nation. However, the app no longer enables contact tracing via Bluetooth, but the Aarogya Setu team says the feature can be re-introduced, depending upon the health ministry’s requirements.

The app is currently offered under the umbrella of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the National Health Authority, with NIC under MeitY as the IT partner. All information stored on the user’s mobile device is protected using encryption. All the data transmission from the device to the server and back is anonymised, encrypted and transmitted securely.

Every single request from the app to the server is also authenticated. The backend data storage at rest is also encrypted. End-to-end testing of the system was done both internally and through reputed academic institutions, security audit companies, and even ethical hackers, to check for the presence of security vulnerabilities.

Aarogya Setu has since been transformed into the National Health Platform. It has been integrated with the ABDM ecosystem and shall provide the features and functionalities of the Personal Health Record (PHR) application and a host of other health-related features, some of which have already been introduced.