Apple and Google have developed Bluetooth contact tracing. Texas isn't opting in.

SAN ANTONIO -- You may have recently seen an alert in your health settings pop up, reading "COVID-19 exposure notifications".

Some have wondered, has COVID-19 tracking technology been installed on our phones without our permission? The answer: yes and no.

"Can the smartphone revolution...solve the global pandemic problems?" asks Melisa Unsell-Smith, president of San Antonio-based cybersecurity company Rectify.

Unsell-Smith says Apple and Google did roll out new technology in an update to help with coronavirus contract tracing, but it's not what you think.

"Individuals must enable or opt in to that for it to even function," says Unsell-Smith.

Your phone now basically has the framework and the capability to help with contact tracing. You'd have to opt in for it to work, but right now, you don't have that option.

The Texas Department of State Health Services told News 4 San Antonio, "Texas is not using proximity-based mobile phone contact tracing."

"It's basically leveraging Bluetooth technology. So when you go out into the public and you're surrounded by other people with their phones, what's happening is that there's this string of numbers and letters that are being generated and communicated via Bluetooth. They are not connected to any personal identifiers or any geolocation data," says Unsell-Smith.

Those numbers and letters get stored on your device. If someone you were physically around someone who has a confirmed positive test for COVID-19, your phone would alert you without sharing anyone's personal information. The technology is built with privacy in mind.

However, the system is far from flawless. It's already getting rolled back in Europe due to privacy concerns.

"What happens to the data stores in the future? How do they get deleted? How are they archived? Are they repurposed for commercial use in any way? And we really don't know the answers to that," says Unsell-Smith.

In the end, technology could really help with contact tracing, but time will tell if Texas will agree to use it in the future.