Image via Apple //

Two worlds colliding…

It seems that for all the bad things to come out of COVID-19, it’s managed to start bringing people and groups together like you’d never believe (when they’re not fighting over toilet paper of course).

Putting community ahead of competition, tech giants Apple and Google are joining forces to develop a contact-tracking system to track the spread of COVID-19 within communities. The system will work in conjunction with public health apps on both Android and IOS devices. To break it down, the system will be deployed in two key stages.

The first stage will have the companies release application programming interfaces that will allow for interoperability between IOS and Android for health apps.

The second stage will involve the release of a Bluetooth-based contact-tracing system which will be built directly into the Android and IOS systems.

In a joint statement, the two tech juggernauts said “All of us at Apple and Google believe there has never been a more important moment to work together to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems,” said the two companies in a joint statement. “Through close cooperation and collaboration with developers, governments and public health providers, we hope to harness the power of technology to help countries around the world slow the spread of COVID-19 and accelerate the return of everyday life.”

Super dope of the two competitors to come together like this, hopefully this crisis will inspire more energy like this in the future…