I’m not a parent, but I can imagine that one of the scariest things any parent can imagine is losing a child in a public place. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has just released an app that can help parents if this worst case scenario ever happens to them.

Called the FBI Child ID app, its main function is a place to store vital information about your child that can aid law enforcement in the event that they go missing. With the app, parents can store multiple photos of their child along with other basic information like height and weight. This way you can quickly pull up all of this info to show anyone who is helping in the search.

Probably the most helpful function of the app is that it allows you to quickly email your child’s photos and physical description to the authorities in just a few steps.

The app also includes safety tips and guidance for what steps to take in the hours following a child disappearance.

In the future, the FBI says that the app will be updated to add more features.

The FBI Child app is free. Currently, it is only available on iOS. The FBI says that they “plan to expand this tool to other types of mobile devices in the near future.”

I can already see the question forming in your head, as it popped into mine right away – What about that information, where does it go?

Here’s what they say about that –

An important note: the FBI (and iTunes for that matter) is not collecting or storing any photos or information that you enter in the app. All data resides solely on your mobile device unless you need to send it to authorities. Please read your mobile provider’s terms of service for information about the security of applications stored on your device.

According to their blog, a child goes missing every 40 seconds in the United States. I guess it couldn’t hurt to put your child’s information down in the app on the off chance that something unexpected happens.