Apple in the third iOS 13.5 beta introduced support for the Exposure Notification API it's developing with Google along with a toggle to enable it, and in the fourth beta of iOS 13.5 introduced today, Apple has tweaked the interface to make it more clear how exposure notification logging works.
In this beta, when accessing the Exposure Notification toggle located in the Health section of the Privacy part of the Settings app, Apple now makes it clear that the exposure notification logging feature can't be turned out without an accompanying app installed.
In a country where exposure notification is available, the new Exposure Logging toggle is grayed out and cannot be activated without an authorized app installed, as seen in the screenshot above.
You cannot turn on Exposure Logging without an authorized app installed that can send Exposure Notifications.
When enabled iPhone can exchange random IDs with other devices using Bluetooth.
The random IDs your device collects are stored in an exposure log for 14 days. This exposure log allows an app you authorize to notify you if you may have been exposed to COVID-19.
If you are diagnosed with COVID-19 you can choose to share your own device's random IDs with the authorized app so it can notify others anonymously.
In a country where there are no apps that take advantage of Exposure Notification, there's different wording letting you know the feature is not available and no toggle to turn on at all.
Beta users in the United States and other countries will see the warning about Exposure Notification not being available in the country as of yet because there are no apps that take advantage of Exposure Notification that can be downloaded at this time.
When health apps that use the Exposure Notification API are released, the Privacy section of the Settings app will also list the active Exposure Notification app that's installed.
Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
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In his Powe...
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Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far.
iOS 26.3
iPhone to Android Transfer Tool
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Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by Joe Rossignol
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There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Will never work. People will will toggle that they are infected (for a laugh or maliciously) and set off a ripple effect. You just KNOW that will happen.
You need a code from a testing center to kick off the "I tested positive" aspect of the tracing.
Will never work. People will will toggle that they are infected (for a laugh or maliciously) and set off a ripple effect. You just KNOW that will happen.
If you are potentially infected and/or asymptomatic, you wouldn’t report that you have COVID, so therefore the existence of the contact-tracing schema in your scenario is utterly pointless.
Completely and totally missing the point of all of this.
[LIST=1] * Someone gets tested and confirmed sick. * They send out the alert to others that they’ve been in contact with through a contact tracing app. * Those people that receive the alert might not know they could be sick and highly contagious, because they aren’t symptomatic (yet). * Those people then get tested. * If they find out that they are sick, they can isolate themselves until they are well, instead of continuing to unknowingly spread the disease.
Nice that they clarified how it works in the Settings app itself. There’s a lot of misinformation regarding Exposure Notifications. (A lot of people haven’t read the specification but insist they know everything about it.)
Will never work. People will will toggle that they are infected (for a laugh or maliciously) and set off a ripple effect. You just KNOW that will happen.
Nope. Can't happen. As an aside, that's quite a projection on your part!
Well some of you got your wish, this only works if you have an app installed, worried that really cripples the functionality. You have to opt in before you ever know you're sick. And judging from the responses I've seen here, I worry a large portion of the population is never going to do that.
