The U.K. government has decided to ditch its own COVID-19 contact tracing app and instead look to Apple Inc. and Google LLC for help.

According to the BBC today, the technology developed in the U.K. was not as “privacy focused” as what has been created by Apple and Google, but after testing its own app on the Isle of Wight, it was deemed ineffective. Germany, Italy and Denmark have also ditched similar “centralized” apps, although France is one country that still won’t get private companies involved in tracking and tracing.

Google’s Android system and Apple’s iOS operating systems prevented such centralized software from tracking users for the purpose of protecting their privacy. In the wrong hands of the wrong government, it was thought, that could have led to nefarious surveillance, but it turned out that in the U.K. it meant its app just didn’t work.

After testing it was found that only 4% of phones running iOS could be traced, and 75% of Android phones could be traced. The technology provided by Apple and Google worked much better, with 99% of phones being registered, although the technology was not as good at calculating distances between people.

“Apple software prevents iPhones being used effectively for contact tracing unless you’re using Apple’s own technology,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at a briefing. “Our app won’t work because Apple won’t change that system… and their app can’t measure distance well enough to a standard that we are satisfied with. What matters is what works. Because what works will save lives.”

He added that countries all over the world have struggled to get the technology right, but with more collaboration he hopes the U.K. will soon find a solution.

In a press release, the government didn’t exactly say it had done a U-turn, but said it was now going into the “next phase” of contact tracing development. That phase, it seems, is to adopt the Apple-Google technology, leading some media to call the decision “embarrassing.”

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