Kroger Health has just released a COVID-19 test that does basically everything a pharmacy kit does, except it has managed to include an iPhone app. The company, which is a franchise of the largest supermarket chain in the United States, is awaiting FDA approval to market the test, which is in short supply on the market.

Kroger's test will work in much the same way as drugstore tests, except that it makes a huge effort to include the need for an app in the story. The program will use the phone's camera to read the lines displayed in the result with AI and determine the answer.

The company claims that the test has an accuracy of 93% in positive cases, and 99% in negative cases, compared to PCR tests. The test is expected to be sold in the United States via an online store and franchise branches.

Where's the difference?

A COVID-19 antigen test works like this: patients apply a sterile swab to their nose and back of their throat. After collecting fluids, the user dips the swab into a vial of liquid and pours the liquid into a device similar to a pregnancy test. Fifteen to thirty minutes later, the results are there.

The results of the rapid test appear on a screen with two arrows, C (for Control) and T (for Test). The first index evaluates whether the meter is working, while the second detects the presence of the virus or not. So, all that Kroger's test does with the exclusive iPhone app is, basically, make sure that you're not seeing things wrong.

Apparently, this is yet another line of efforts to use technology to detect Covid-19. Since the pandemic began, we have seen devices that do exposure tests on masks and social networks use AIs to identify a possible need for admission to an ICU. And in a reality in which smartwatches da Apple are able to detect Covid-19 before visible symptoms, an app test is far from being the most useful thing around.

Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. MacRumors e 9to5Mac

Image: Narvikk (iStock)