Some owners of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro handsets have reported being shown an error message when trying to use the NHS Covid-19 app.
Apple’s devices – which were released on Friday – can in fact run England and Wales’ contact-tracing software.
But the issue arises if apps are transferred from an older iPhone via an iCloud Backup data transfer, which is common practice.
This can easily be addressed by making a change within the Settings menu.
When users install the app from scratch, they are prompted to give the required permission.
But in what appears to be an oversight, when Apple transfers apps over, the phone does not ask owners to enable the permission and it is not obvious that it needs to be done.
As a result, the app cannot enable the Bluetooth-based matching functionality it needs to work.
The requirement is designed to protect user’s privacy.
However, the alert shown by the app suggested other factors might be at play.