A new app from RealNetworks can detect whether people are wearing facemasks in public, seeking to help businesses, schools and others monitor compliance with public health guidelines designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The app, dubbed MaskCheck, is available for free on iOS and Android. Designed for use in a tablet on a countertop or stand, it uses the device’s camera to check whether people passing by are wearing a mask. It can also detect whether those who are wearing masks are doing so properly, fully covering their nose and mouth.
The Seattle-based digital media company is collaborating on the rollout with the COVID-19 International Research Team, a coalition of scientists coordinating COVID-19 related projects, including research that has demonstrated the efficacy of masks in slowing the spread of the virus that causes the disease.
In addition to providing information to venues that install the app, MaskCheck will provide anonymous data about mask compliance for public health officials and show the patterns publicly at a county level on a public map. The data will also be available via an API under a Creative Commons license for free use in other online services and apps.
MaskCheck can determine the presence or absence of a mask in less than 1 second, with greater than 90 percent accuracy in a variety of scenarios, the company says.
Features include the ability to send text message alerts to the business owner or school administrator when the app detects someone who isn’t wearing a mask.
Businesses, schools and other venues that install the app can decide whether to use MaskCheck to passively collect data on mask-wearing; to offer visual reminders about properly wearing masks, akin to a highway speed monitoring sign; or to use the app to help enforce compliance, preventing people from entering a particular space unless they’re properly wearing a mask.
MaskCheck runs on RealNetworks’ SAFR technology, which is used in other scenarios for facial recognition. However, the MaskCheck app doesn’t use facial recognition or seek to identify the person, said Rob Glaser, the RealNetworks CEO, in an interview. Gender and age detection are off by default, but those who install the app can turn them on. It doesn’t detect ethnicity.
Asked about potential objections from people skeptical about the efficacy of masks, or dubious about public health restrictions, Glaser said, “I hope we’re past that.”
“The data is so incontrovertible at this point,” he said. “There’s obviously people from the tinfoil hat contingent on any topic, and particularly around the pandemic, which has become such a disorienting thing. But hopefully we’re at the stage right now where the dominant conversation is about what’s actually happening in the field with regard to mask compliance.”
Even with vaccines starting to be rolled in the U.S., Glaser pointed out that masks will still be important for months to come until widespread immunity is reached.
Partnering with RealNetworks on the project “was a no-brainer for us,” said Afshin Beheshti, co-president of the COVID-19 International Research Team. Among other projects, the grassroots coalition of scientists has also developed a COVID-19 exposure assessment tool for gauging the level of risk in different scenarios.
“Not only do we want to enhance public knowledge of science and therapeutics, we also want to provide tools and resources like this for free for the public to actually use and, hopefully, stop the spread, or slow down the spread of COVID-19,” Beheshti said.
