A new smartphone app that alerts users when they have been exposed to the COVID-19 coronavirus has been released for state residents. The app is free and experts hope it will help stop the spread of the virus in the state.

The GuideSafe Exposure Notification App is free to download and available to all Alabama residents with iPhone and Android devices. The app allows users to receive notifications if they have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 along with information about quarantine and testing. The app does not identify individuals or track locations.

The GuideSafe app was developed with funding from the CARES Act. Experts from UAB worked with Birmingham-based MotionMobs and the Alabama Department of Public Health to develop the technology. Alabama is one of the first states to offer this technology to the public.

GuideSafe has been available to Alabama college students since Aug. 3. Curtis Carver, chief information officer for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said 1,800 users have downloaded the app.

GuideSafe does not replace contact tracing performed by the Alabama Department of Public Health. It can help notify individuals who have unknowingly been in contact with a positive patient in the 14 days prior to testing.

The GuideSafe app was developed with funding from the CARES Act. Experts from UAB worked with Birmingham-based MotionMobs and the Alabama Department of Public Health to develop the technology. Alabama is one of the first states to offer this technology to the public, said Dr. Karen Landers, medical officer for the northern district of Alabama.