Indonesia's Health Ministry says people shouldn't worry about the security of their personal data now that screening features of the government's PeduliLindungi app have been integrated into 15 major apps.
"The partners don't get to keep any data from PeduliLindungi," the ministry's Digital Transformation Office Chief Setiaji said today.
Setiaji said the exchanged data take the form of encrypted tokens, which by design can't be used by both PeduliLindungi and partner apps to identify individual users. In addition, the data is not stored on the partner app's server, and locations of where users check-in and check-out using PeduliLindungi are reportedly not stored or forwarded to other systems either.
"What's being provided is only the info on the users' status, and whether or not they are granted or denied entry [to a public facility]."
PeduliLindungi has become an essential app in the country in recent months, with it being mandatory for Indonesians to access public facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government has worked to include the app's screening features on 15 other popular apps as it seeks to expand digital screening and tracing coverage amid increasing public mobility. The app contains users' digital COVID-19 vaccination and testing history, among others.
PeduliLindungi's main features are now integrated with Gojek, Grab, Tokopedia, Traveloka, Tiket, Shopee, DANA, Livin' by Mandiri, BNI Mobile, LinkAja, MCash, Jaki, GOERS, Cinema XXI, and Loket.
There are also plans for the government to further develop the integrated health and mobility tracking app as a digital payment tool.
The ministry also said they are working to make things easier for Indonesians who don't own smartphones by integrating their vaccination and test history into their NIK (ID card number).