Luca was always controversial.
(Foto: imago images / ari)
Berlin How the Luca app works to contain the corona pandemic was quickly explained: “I’ll get on the train with Luca, beep, check in, check out. Go to girlfriend private meeting check in check out. Then I go to the restaurant beep, beep,” explained the rapper Smudo in February 2021 on “Anne Will”. Containing the pandemic seemed as easy as playing a small game on a mobile phone.
The Corona chapter of the Luca app is now being closed for the time being: According to their own statements, the makers have deleted all data from the system that has been recorded and stored in encrypted form since the contact tracing application was launched during the pandemic.
Luca was always controversial. The concept for the central storage of the encrypted contact data was particularly criticized. Critics from the Chaos Computer Club and from the scientific community repeatedly questioned the usefulness of the collected data, which was hardly used by the health authorities.
The Luca makers denied that and were happy about the good numbers: Luca was in the top download lists of the app stores for many weeks despite the constant criticism. According to the operators, 41 million people in Germany have registered as users since the app was launched.
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At the latest when the number of infected people skyrocketed with the Omikron variant, the actual purpose of the Luca app was called into question. If health authorities can no longer identify and notify contacts of infected people anyway, there is no longer any reason to digitally log restaurant visits with the Luca app just in case.
Conversion to a payment app for restaurants
With the end of the Luca app as a tool to contain the corona pandemic, the application will not disappear. It is to be given a second life for the digitization of the hospitality industry and will initially be launched as a payment app for restaurants.
Against this background, it is easy for the makers of the Luca app to part with the old databases. The data is only stored and visible locally on the smartphones of the users, said the managing director of the operating company, Patrick Hennig, on Wednesday in Berlin. “Luca has no access to it.”
On Wednesday, Culture4Life in Hamburg, Berlin and Rostock launched a service that guests can use to pay bills without cash. Restaurant visitors scan a QR code at their table and see their bill in the app, which can then be paid via smartphone.
Further digital services such as the acceptance of vouchers or integration into cash register systems are being developed and will follow soon, said Hennig. Luca Pay is to be financed through transaction fees, which amount to 0.5 percent of sales plus 5 cents for each payment transaction.
Also digital reservations planned
The creators of the Luca app had previously raised 30 million euros in a financing round to redesign the application and implement the new business model. With the new offer, Culture4Life competes against industry giants such as PayPal or Deutsche Telekom. Telekom is cooperating with the start-up Enfore of the series founder Marco Börries.
Germany is still lagging behind when it comes to digital payments, said Luca boss Hennig. “We want to change that. In just three months, we developed Luca Pay, a new product with which we are making the customer experience in the catering industry more digital and efficient.”
With the system, guests and service employees saved valuable time with every payment transaction, said Hennig. “Further digital services are in development and will follow soon. Our goal is the complete digitization of the user experience from reservation to ordering to payment – and beyond Germany.”
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