https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2022/1/257446-how-reliable-is-smartphone-base... Studies have shown that smartphone-based solutions can indeed help to control the spread of infectious diseases. However, as we discuss in this article, they cannot reliably record all contacts. Furthermore, the classification of whether a contact is relevant is based on contact duration and proximity, which can only be determined with limited granularity using smartphones. On the other hand, dedicated contact-tracing devices were not available immediately because they required the development and production of custom hardware. Such custom-designed hardware in the form of wearable devices, along with custom-built communication protocols for contact tracing, can potentially overcome many limitations of smartphones. While such devices are being developed, they have not attracted sufficient attention of public health policymakers, and very little discussion about them has reached the public sphere. Moreover, many medical professionals and policymakers are not adequately aware of the limitations of smartphones or the advantages of dedicated wearable contact-tracing devices. The goal of this article is to highlight this gap, especially considering that contact tracing will be an important requirement in the future, even after we overcome this ongoing COVID-19 crisis. -- EN ===================================================================== Prof. Enrico Nardelli Dipartimento di Matematica - Universita' di Roma "Tor Vergata" Via della Ricerca Scientifica snc - 00133 Roma tel: +39 06 7259.4204 fax: +39 06 7259.4699 mobile: +39 335 590.2331 e-mail: nardelli@mat.uniroma2.it home page: http://www.mat.uniroma2.it/~nardelli blog: http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/blog/enardelli/ http://link-and-think.blogspot.it/ ===================================================================== --