Awareness of social crowding and viral disease encounters through mobile technology
Your Phone, Your Health, Your Community
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are no longer able to offer the mContain app and its associated services to communities and organizations throughout the United States.
Despite our continued efforts, we regrettably must say that mContain will not be approved in a usable form for Apple iOS smartphones, forcing us to cease its development and operations in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. This project does not merit continuation without the inclusion of Apple smartphone users.
The mContain website will remain online as a reference to the efforts of our team and collaborators, including the office of legal counsel at The University of Memphis and the office of Attorney General for the State of Tennessee. All those involved donated much of their time and effort to provide a way for our community to help manage the COVID-19 pandemic. We are thankful to say that these efforts will not go to waste. The learning experiences and technological advances achieved through mContain work will provide foundations for future projects and influence decisions as new opportunities arise to advance our team science and software development going forward.
The mContain team would like to give a heartfelt show of gratitude to everyone who supported this project. THANK YOU.
Download for Android Now:
Download for iOS (iPhone) Coming Soon
Uses smartphone technology to detect proximity encounters (within 6 feet for several minutes) with other app users, displays the number of daily proximity encounters and crowding, and can notify other users about possible exposures to COVID-19 individuals
Reduces the chance of community transmission by providing social crowding information and sending an early warning to users who may be at risk of infection
Residents of the United States are welcome to download and install mContain on their mobile device
mContain is public service run by the MD2K Center of Excellence at The University of Memphis
mContain Press Release
A New App for Personal Tracking of Social Distancing in the Greater Memphis Area
Researchers at the MD2K Center of Excellence, headquartered at the University of Memphis, announce the launch of a free mobile app called mContain to help track social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak with a goal to reduce community transmission.
READ MORE
• NIH-funded MD2K Center releases app that alerts user if close contact with COVID-19 cases (National Institutes of Health)
• New app for personal tracking of social distancing in the Memphis area (National Science Foundation)
• U of M develops app to track social distancing (Memphis Business Journal)
• A New App for Personal Tracking of Social Distancing in the Greater Memphis Area (University of Memphis Press Release)
• Avoiding crowds? There’s an app for that (Daily Memphian)
• U of M developers create first-of-its-kind app tracking crowding in Shelby County (WMC-TV Action News 5)
• University of Memphis app tracks social distancing (WNYT-TV Channel 13, Albany, New York)
• New app from University of Memphis tracks social distancing (WATN-TV ABC Local 24)
• Researchers create free app tracking social distancing in Greater Memphis Area (WHBQ-TV Fox 13 Memphis)
• U of M team creates social distancing app (WREG-TV News Channel 3)
• New App Can Help Track Social Distancing, Possible COVID-19 Exposure (Memphis Flyer)
• Which sections of Memphis are complying with ‘stay at home’ order? (Daily Memphian)
The mContain app uses location and Bluetooth technologies in smartphones to detect proximity encounters (within 6 feet for several minutes) with other app users. Similar to a step count, the app counts and displays the number of daily proximity encounters with other app users. To reduce the chances of entering crowded places, the app displays the level of crowding at busy places on a map. If a user and their COVID-19 test provider both agree to share the results of their test, the app can notify other users about possible exposures to COVID-19.
Residents of the United States are welcome to download and install mContain on their mobile device.
Stay home as much as possible. If you think you have been exposed to COVID-19 and develop a fever and symptoms, such as cough or difficulty breathing, call your healthcare provider for medical advice. You may also call your state or local health department’s public information phone number for guidance. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has assembled a number of steps to take if you think you are sick with COVID-19.
The Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensor Data-to-Knowledge (MD2K), headquartered at University of Memphis, is a consortium of 13 universities funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2014 to develop novel computing technologies to use mobile sensor data for improving health and wellness.
mContain reduces the chance of community transmission by providing an early warning to users who may been at the risk of infection from a COVID-19 positive individual.
You can help by getting the word out to anyone who may be interested in using the mContain app. Assist others with installing and using the app. Encourage social distancing and other safety measures. Together, we can increase awareness and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Download the mContain app using this direct link on your Android device (iOS version coming soon), or by searching for "mContain" on the Google Play Store (Android) or Apple App Store (Coming Soon).
Whenever you wish. You can be notified by the app only if your location history is available in the app when a location is visited.
The app is easy to use. Use the buttons at the bottom of the screen to change page views. After installing the app and accepting the terms of use, no action is needed from users to begin data collection and notifications.
Yes. If Wi-Fi is not available, the app may use your cellular data to send your location history. Data rates may apply to use the app depending on your cellular plan.
The app minimizes battery consumption by using Bluetooth and location data sporadically.
Testing sites and agencies will use a unique code from the app to provide test results to mContain.
Not specifically, but at this time, only COVID-19 test results are being collected.
The servers will stop receiving app data when the COVID-19 pandemic has officially declared to be over within the United States. You can uninstall the app after the pandemic is over.
mContain will not ask users for personal information, such as name or contact info. mContain adopts an anonymous unicast approach to preserve the privacy of all app users, while still providing personal alerts.
Location data. Other than location traces, no identifying information will be collected.
This website uses Google Analytics to collect website usage data.
For your safety, no. The app will be unable to notify you of your encounters if there is a gap in location traces.
Other app users will only know the locations visited by all positive tested individuals for each day. This will include the locations visited by you. To protect your privacy, no individuals' time of visitation to any specific place will be released by the app.
Yes, though not advised, you may turn off location tracking by disabling this feature in your phone's settings. If you do this, the mContain app functionality will be limited.
mContain can provide up-to-the-minute guidelines and suggestions from health agencies as well as continue to monitor your health. Your status in the app will be updated when a negative test is reported by the testing agency.
The scientific team at the MD2K Center of Excellence will have access to collected location traces. Population aggregates without any individual information will be released to show trends in social distancing and crowding at different places in the county.
We will use your data in mContain for up to 30 days after the pandemic is officially declared to be over. After such time your data will be archived.
No. mContain is a public service app, and MD2K is a National Center of Excellence in mobile health within the University of Memphis and operates as a not-for-profit entity.
Using mContain makes your testing process quicker. Persons who are not mContain users may have to get the app installed at the testing site in order to obtain the unique mContain code.
No. Test results cannot be reported by users via the app. Test results can only come from an authorized testing agency.
mContain increases safety measures, but it is only meant to notify you of potential for COVID-19 exposure so that you may take precautionary steps such as being watchful of any onset of symptoms and keeping yourself under quarantine.
No. COVID-19 testing can only be done by authorized testing agencies.
The mContain app can only detect other individuals who have also installed the app and for whom a COVID-19 positive test result was reported from a testing agency. It is possible to encounter individuals who are COVID-19 positive but have not downloaded the app, or who have downloaded the app but not yet been tested. Social distancing is critical to minimize the risk of your exposure to the virus. Also, the app does not detect COVID-19 exposures via infected surfaces.
The app will notify users who have come into contact with other users who have tested positive by being in the same location on the same day. There are no preemptive features such as "potential risks" available through mContain. A publicly available map identifying crowding of people is available.
CDC Information on Coronavirus
TN Department of Health Information on Coronavirus
What to Expect If You Were Possibly Exposed to COVID-19
What to Expect After Being Tested for COVID-19
What to Expect After Being Diagnosed with COVID-19
Last Updated May 11, 2020
The Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensor Data-to-Knowledge at the University of Memphis (MD2K) is the owner and creator of the mContain mobile application (Mobile App) and its associated websites (mcontain.com, mcontain.info, mcontain.org, and mcontain.md2k.org) (Website). Both the Mobile App and the Website offered as a service to the public. Both are informational only and neither is intended as a substitute for medical advice. There is no guarantee as to the accuracy, availability or completeness of the information contained within the Mobile App, the Website, or in any of their links.
Neither MD2K nor the University of Memphis is responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, reference to, or reliance on any information contained within the Mobile App, the Website, or in any of their links.
Construction of this Disclaimer and resolution of disputes thereof are governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee.
© 2020 MD2K Center of Excellence. All rights reserved.
The MD2K Center of Excellence was established via a grant (#U54EB020404) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), through funds provided by the trans-NIH Big Data-to-Knowledge (BD2K) initiative, and is administered by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).
MD2K is currently supported by NIH grants U54EB020404, R01CA190329, R01DE025244, R01MD010362, R00MD010468, R24EB025845, R01CA224537, and U01CA229437. MD2K is also supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) grants ACI-1640813, IIS-1722646, and CNS-1823221.
mContain@md2k.org