You’re shopping at the mall with your children when one of them suddenly disappears. A quick search of the nearby area is unsuccessful. What do you do?

Now there’s a free new tool from the FBI that can help. The Child ID app — the first mobile application created by the FBI — provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and other vital information about your children so that it’s literally right at hand if you need it. You can show the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers on the spot. Using a special tab on the app, you can also quickly and easily e-mail the information to authorities with a few clicks.

The app includes tips on keeping children safe as well as specific guidance on what to do in those first few crucial hours after a child goes missing. It features a password protection option to help keep your information safe and allows you to add pictures from your mobile phone’s image library. You can also zoom in and crop images prior to saving.

The app is available for download on iPhones through iTunes and on Android phones through Google Play.

An important note: The FBI 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.

Put your child’s safety in your own hands. Download the FBI’s Child ID app today.