GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A new app, designed by a 16-year-old Gainesville student, will allow users to rate how restaurants, shops and other businesses are following COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Customers are able to use the Prober app to grade businesses on five categories: social distancing, masks/gloves worn by staff, cleanliness, hygiene material and curbside pickup.
“First, I was wondering, ‘How are people going to adjust to businesses reopening? How would they find which places are safe?'" said the app’s creator, Anish Jha. "Because, eventually, the economy is going to have to reopen, and at the current pace, it doesn’t look like it’s going away soon.”
Users are able to rate the establishments on a one-to-five scale for each category, and other users are then able to see the spot’s overall score.
“This app is oriented for people who are conscious about their health and the whole point of this is to monitor businesses that aren’t,” Jha said. “We’re allowing people who are taking the necessary precautions to monitor businesses, and by doing that, they monitor the people who aren’t, so it’s a triangle in the sense of keeping people in check.”
The latest version of the app was launched Saturday, and as of the publication of this article four days later, has had nearly 500 downloads.