[Withdrawn] NHS COVID-19 app: troubleshooting and technical information
Updated 28 March 2023
Applies to England and Wales
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-covid-19-app-user-guide/nhs-covid-19-app-troubleshooting-and-technical-information
Getting an error message
‘Unfortunately, this app is not working’
There are a number of reasons you may receive this message.
Your phone may not support the app. Read more about which phones can and cannot use the NHS COVID-19 app.
You may have restricted settings on your phone that are preventing you from using the app. This is most common if you have a work phone or have special software installed on your personal phone because you use it for work purposes.
You may be using Android OS versions 6 to 10 and location sharing is disabled.
You may have another app installed on your phone which uses the same contact tracing technology and is preventing the NHS COVID-19 app from working.
If you have an iPhone, make sure ‘Exposure notifications’ and an ‘active region’ are switched on in your phone settings by following these steps:
- Go to your phone’s settings and select ‘Exposure notifications’.
- Make sure ‘active region’ is set as ‘England and Wales - Department of Health and Social Care’.
- Select the arrow next to this option, then scroll down to ‘Share exposure information’.
- Make sure the toggle for ‘Share exposure information’ is switched on.
When you have completed these steps, go back into the NHS COVID-19 app and follow any prompts for setup.
If you are still having problems, please use the feedback form to report a technical problem.
Stopping the app’s timer
If you’ve recently tested positive or have registered symptoms, you may have been advised by the NHS COVID-19 app to stay at home. It will provide you with a countdown timer so that you can keep track of this. You are unable to stop the timer and will not receive any close contact notifications until the countdown timer ends.
If you have reported symptoms in error, and do not have COVID-19 symptoms, you cannot cancel the countdown timer within the app. If you have started the timer by mistake, we would advise that you just ignore it on this occasion. It will be on your phone only and no one else will be able to see it.
Using your phone battery
The app uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and the Google or Apple exposure notification system, which is designed to have minimal impact on your mobile phone battery, especially if you normally have Bluetooth on.
If your phone battery is draining much faster than usual, you can check how much battery the app is using compared to other apps.
You can find this on your phone by following these instructions (the steps may be slightly different, depending on your phone):
- Apple iOS: Settings > Battery
- Android: Settings > Device Care > Battery
Under day-to-day phone use, battery usage by exposure notifications should be under 5%. However, if your phone is idle (for example if you are not using it much), exposure notifications may contribute to higher percentages of battery consumption. This does not necessarily mean the app or exposure notifications are using more battery overall.
When determining how much battery is being used by the app, you should check over the course of a week to get a better understanding of battery activity.
You can find a breakdown of battery use in your phone’s settings. The breakdown of battery usage will depend on what combination of apps are running on your phone at that time. If a lot of apps are being used, each app will show a smaller percentage of battery usage. However, if a single app is running, this may appear as 100% battery usage at that specified point. It is therefore important to consider which other apps may also be in use.
Sharing keys and matches within exposure notifications settings
The NHS COVID-19 app uses Apple and Google technology for monitoring contacts anonymously. In your phone settings, you can see a section for exposure notifications or exposure logs.
If you have an iPhone, go to ‘Settings’ then ‘Exposure notifications’ and ‘Exposure logging status’.
If you have an Android phone, go to ‘Settings’ then ‘Exposure notifications’.
On both types of phone, if you tap on ‘Exposure checks’ you can see a list of timestamps that are recorded every time your phone receives a list of anonymous ‘keys’.
In these settings, your phone provider (Apple or Google) provides an overview of the digital contacts (exposure logs) and how their GAEN technology works. This includes the number of exposure checks over the past 14 days.
This lists all your digital contacts with other app users you have been in close contact with.
The NHS COVID-19 app does not hold any identifiable data. The digital contact technology exchanges unique codes, changed regularly, to create a log of your close contacts which keeps the privacy of all NHS COVID-19 app users.
Enabling exposure notifications
If you have an iPhone running iOS 13.7 or higher, you may have trouble setting up the NHS COVID-19 app for the first time.
When you’ve downloaded the app and are setting it up, you’ll get a notification asking you to enable ‘Exposure notifications’.
If you select ‘don’t enable’, you’ll get a screen saying ‘For this app to work, you must allow permissions on your device.’ You will be prompted to ‘go to settings’.
- Go to your phone’s settings and select ‘Exposure notifications’.
- Make sure ‘active region’ is set as ‘England and Wales - Department of Health and Social Care’.
- Select the arrow next to this option, then scroll down to ‘share exposure information’.
- Make sure the toggle for ‘share exposure information’ is switched on.
When you have completed these steps, go back into the NHS COVID-19 app and follow any prompts for setup.
If selecting ‘Set as active region’ is not possible, or still doesn’t work, try the following.
In your settings:
- Go to ‘General’.
- Select ‘Reset’.
- Select ‘Reset location and privacy’.
Getting an alert about app availability
The NHS COVID-19 app will be updated from time to time with new functionality and improvements. The latest version of the app offers the best protection against COVID-19, so it’s important to keep it updated.
Sometimes, when an update to the app is very important, we may send you a message asking you to update your app or operating system. If the update is critical to the app working properly, the old version of the app will stop working and you will need to upgrade.
If you are required to update your app, the notification will say:
The app availability has changed.
or
The app is not currently available.
When you tap the notification you will get a message saying:
Update this app. This version of the app is out of date and has stopped working.
Go to the App Store or Google Play Store and update it to the latest version to help keep you and your loved ones safe.”