The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday introduced its first mobile app: an iPhone application aimed at helping parents whose children go missing.
With the Child ID app, a parent can store photos and information about their child such as height and weight. The idea is to have relevant data stored in one place so that a parent can show the information to a security or police officer as soon as the parent notices that a child is missing.
The app features a tab where a parent can e-mail details about the child to authorities. It also includes instructions about what to do if a child has gone missing.
The application is only available for iPhones currently but the FBI plans to make it available on other platforms in the future.
In its announcement about the app, the FBI says it does not collect or store any information that users store in the app. "All data resides solely on your mobile device unless you need to send it to authorities," it said.
The FBI is partnering with the American Football Coaches Association to publicize the availability of the app.
Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com