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Many people do not use the state corona warning app because they consider it to be unsuitable in the fight against the pandemic.

This is the result of a nationwide survey commissioned by the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg.

33 percent of the non-users stated that the app was of no use.

"That shows how important it is that we increase functionality," said Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens).

The app is far from reaching its full potential.

In the survey, only 36 percent of the slightly more than 1,000 respondents said they had installed and activated the app at all.

58 percent said no. 6 percent said they did not own a smartphone.

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There are many reasons for not using the program: 19 percent of non-users cite concerns about data protection and privacy or a feeling of surveillance as reasons.

16 percent say they own a smartphone on which the app cannot be installed.

15 percent say the app doesn't work technically or that it needs too much storage space.

For 13 percent of non-users, not having dealt sufficiently with the topic is a reason not to install it.

One in ten stated that they did not use the app because nobody uses it in their own environment.

And 17 percent simply don't want to use the app.

The Corona warning app for smartphones has been available in Germany since mid-June.

According to Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU), 22 million people had downloaded the app by the beginning of November.

The application can measure whether mobile phone users have come closer than two meters to each other for a longer period of time.

If a user has tested positive and has shared this in the app, the software warns other users that they have been near an infected person.

So far, infected users have had to agree that their risk contacts are informed via the app.

Almost every third person uses the app because of social pressure

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Those who use the app cite health protection as the decisive reason: 72 percent have their own health in mind - but this puts self-protection well above the protection of family, friends and acquaintances (55 percent).

Every third user wants the app to relieve the health authorities and facilitate contact tracking.

The social pressure as a motivating factor is also not insignificant: 30 percent of users state that they use the app because everyone should use it or because many in their own environment do so.

The Baden-Württemberg state government has initiated a federal-state working group to improve the app.

From the point of view of Prime Minister Kretschmann, the survey shows how important it is to readjust - by increasing functionality or making the app compatible with older mobile phones.

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The app will be crucial for maintaining a stable condition over a long period of time in spring and summer - as long as not enough people have been vaccinated, said Kretschmann.

Contact diary should offer additional benefits

15 percent of those surveyed have installed the app because they expect additional benefits from it - this segment has hardly been used so far, according to the State Ministry.

Further functions of the app could ensure a greater influx.

The new update of the app includes a contact diary.

Encounters and locations can be noted in it - a reminder for tracking chains of infection.

The app's acceptance is not only based on a high level of data protection, but also on useful functionality and real added value for users, said Kretschmann.

The core of the app remains the anonymized warning of other users about risk contacts.

The state government advocates obtaining consent for forwarding from the app users during the corona test so that the result can be automatically forwarded directly from the app in an emergency.

Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) and Saarland's Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) are also promoting better forwarding.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) called at the end of November to increase the utility of the app for citizens with new functions such as local information on the infection situation on site.

Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) even called the app a “toothless tiger” in October.