Luca app suspends contact recording

The Luca app to combat the corona pandemic will no longer collect any contact data until further notice. This was announced by the operator of the app, Berlin Culture4Life GmbH, on Monday.

“Since the contracts of the federal states for the use (…) of the Luca system expired at the end of March, the contact data collection is suspended,” says an e-mail that was sent to restaurant operators and other contractual partners. When guests scan the Luca QR codes, no contact details are recorded. Culture4Life had already announced a reorientation of the Luca app in February.

In a video, the managing director of Culture4Life, Patrick Hennig, described Luca as one of “the few success stories in the digitization of Germany”. “More than 40 million users have registered with Luca and half a million locations.”

Luca recorded over 330 million check-ins. In the future, Luca wants to simplify and improve people’s lives, especially in gastronomy and culture, through digitization. The use of the Luca app should ensure a better customer experience, “from ordering to paying and tipping”.

The Luca app was launched in 2020 in order to collect the contact details of restaurant guests and event visitors, as required by most corona infection protection regulations, in a data protection-friendly and efficient manner. Hennig said his company maintains the entire health department infrastructure. “It can be used at any time in the future if required.”

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The Luca system had repeatedly been the subject of fierce criticism. The Luca skeptics were particularly bothered by the concept of central data storage. Critics, such as the Chaos Computer Club, warned against misuse of the data collected via the Luca system.

The Luca encryption system criticized by critics withstood attacks, but the Luca makers could not prevent the police in Mainz from having the data of guests illegally queried via the health department in order to clarify a possible crime.