The Limestone County Sheriff’s Office has launched a new smartphone app.

The free app will let residents track sex offenders, print a concealed-carry permit application, submit a tip to law enforcement, email department employees, see who’s currently in jail, sign up for video visits with a jailed loved one, get updates on the Limestone County Sheriff’s Rodeo and receive scrolling alerts on everything from dangerous weather to escaped inmates.

The app is available as “Limestone County (AL) Sheriff’s Office” in the Google Play Store and “Limestone County Sheriff AL” in the App Store.

“It was (Sheriff Mike) Blakely’s idea,” said Deputy Stephen Young, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office. “Everything is moving from computer-based to mobile-based devices. This has been in the works for about three months, and now we are tweaking it.”

One feature Young touts is the ability for renters or house hunters to use the app to map out all convicted sex offenders near a particular address. Currently, some but not all of the information is available by accessing the LCSO website on a laptop or desktop computer.

In the not-to-distant future, residents will even be able to fill out and send a concealed-carry permit application from their smartphones, rather than just print out the application.

“The app makes this information accessible no matter where they are,” Young said.