Custom inner payloads

A custom inner payload is designed to work exclusively with the Herald Envelope payload. If you want a completely custom payload, see the custom outer payload page.

The inner payload is constructed by a national/state authority and MAY only be verifiable or readable by that health authority.

There are many reasons individual countries’ inner packets may vary:-

• A different appetite for privacy vs national security, and thus more data needing to be shared
  • E.g. one country may be decentralised, another centralised, but using the Herald Envelope payload would allow for international interoperability still
• Requiring the sharing of more epidemiologically useful information (E.g. phones were outside, phone orientation, GPS location)

Note: We recommend the Herald Secured inner payload as this provides full epidemiological information as well as ensuring national security and individual privacy.

How to implement a custom inner payload

There are only two steps:-

• Implement a Payload provider callback to construct your inner payload on the fly
• Provide size information on the inner payload by either:-
  • If using a fixed payload size, tell the Herald protocol what your inner payload size is
  • If using a variable payload size, implement a Payload Parser callback

Performing these steps allows your national contact tracing app to continue as-is, but supporting international interoperability by using the Herald Envelope payload.

Alternatives

Alternatively, implement a custom outer and inner payload.