Review and Analysis of Contemporary Digital Contact Tracing Apps

The outbreak of the recent pandemic emerged as a challenge for healthcare systems, education, travel, and businesses to survive in traditional disposition. To mitigate its spread, digital technologies were exercised, and one of them was Digital Contact Tracing (DCT). DCT has been employed during outbreaks of epidemics like HIV/AIDS, SARS, Ebola, monkeypox, and COVID-19. However, many challenges, like security, data protection, and privacy also affected the smooth adoption of automatic DCT or apps. These challenges led to the failure of many DCT apps despite being the fastest method of contact tracing. The present study aims to analyze the exhaustive literature on DCT apps, that were exercised all around the globe during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A comprehensive literature survey of relevant studies and a detailed analysis comparing thirty different DCT apps is presented. It has been found that only a few studies discussed various technologies, challenges, adoption rates, and future advancements in the realm. Incorporating knowledge from multiple sources, this study underlines the reasons for the adoption and rejection of DCT apps during the pandemic. To overcome these limitations, thoughtful applications of modern-age technologies are recommended. This work endeavors to suggest potential research avenues for developing next-generation DCT apps.