Ministry of Electronics & IT makes Aarogya Setu an open source

In order to coincide with the three key pillars of transparency, privacy and security, the source code of Aarogya Setu app has been made open by Ministry of Electronics & IT. Since 98% users of this app are on android, the source code of Android version of the application for review and collaboration has been released. In the next two weeks, the source code of iOS version will also be made open.

New Delhi; As per Ministry of Electronics & IT, the Aarogya Setu mobile app launched On 2nd April 2020, for helping augment the efforts of limiting the spread of COVID19, the source code of Aarogya Setu has now been made open source in line with India’s policy on Open Source Software. Ministry also added the key pillars of Aarogya Setu have been transparency, privacy and security.

The source code for the Android version of the application is available for review and collaboration at https://github.com/nic-delhi/AarogyaSetu_Android.git.The iOS version of the application will be released as open source within the next two weeks and the server code will be released subsequently. Almost 98% of Aarogya Setu Users are on Android platform, also tweeted by Aarogya Setu.

Opening the source code to the developer community signifies our continuing commitment to the principles of transparency and collaboration. Aarogya Setu’s development has been a remarkable example of collaboration between Government, Industry and Academia and citizens.

Releasing the source code of a rapidly evolving product that is being regularly used by more than 114 million users, is challenging. Developing and maintaining the source code is a huge responsibility, both for Team Aarogya Setu and the developer community. The repository now being shared is the actual production environment. All subsequent product updates will also be made available through this repository.

The process of supporting the open source development will be managed by National Informatics Centre (NIC). All code suggestions will be processed through pull request reviews. Aarogya Setu’s source code has been licensed under Apache License

Version 2.0, and is available on “As-Is” basis. Any reuse of the source code with changes to the code requires the developer to carry a notice of change. More details can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions document available at https://www.mygov.in/aarogya-setu-app/

While making the code Open Source, Government of India also seeks the developer community to help identify any vulnerabilities or code improvement in order to make Aarogya Setu more robust and secure.

Towards this objective, Government has also launched a Bug Bounty Programme with a goal to partner with security researchers and Indian developer community to test the security effectiveness of Aarogya Setu and also to improve or enhance its security and build user’s trust., also tweeted.

Details of the Bug Bounty Programme along with the rewards therein are being shared separately. Details of the Bug Bounty Program is available on the innovate portal of MyGov at https://innovate.mygov.in/

The Government of India, by opening the product design and code, has also demonstrated its strong commitment to contributing to the global good. India is keen to share learnings from our approach to technology to fight COVID-19 and make the benefits of the solution available to the rest of the world and any government can use it for fighting the pandemic. Together we can, and we continue supporting the doctors and frontline health work in helping fight this pandemic.