1m downloads of Koronavilkku app in 1 day

Designed to help break infection chains, the Koronavilkku app has been downloaded a million times already, said the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in a press release.

The milestone of one million downloads was reached on Tuesday at around 8:00 AM within a span of just a day after Koronavilkku had become available for downloading in app stores.

“The number is absolutely fantastic! Such a volume in one day has exceeded all our expectations”, said THL Director Mika Salminen.

The app will allow people to participate in preventing the spread of the virus and to protect their own and their loved ones' health. Through the app, people exposed to the virus can be reached and infection chains can be stopped faster.

The more people download Koronavilkku the more beneficial it will be.

“One million downloads means that one million people have the opportunity to be informed quickly, if they have been exposed to a coronavirus infection. The larger the number of users the faster and more securely we can break the infection chains and keep the epidemic under control. Let's continue at a world record pace!” said Salminen.

The app is now available only in Finnish and in Swedish but an English version will be published later this autumn.

The app works on newer smartphones. It uses the Exposure Notifications interface developed by Apple and Google to create identification codes and information on contacts.

This interface is available on all iPhones running iOS 13.5 or higher, android phones running Android 6.0 or higher (Marshmallow), and Google Play.

Consequently, Koronavilkku is not available for older smartphones or android phones with no access to Google Play services.