A free whale and dolphin tracker app, developed by the Pacific Whale Foundation, will allow the general public to assist researchers by using their phones to record sightings, behaviors and locations of the two sea creatures.

The app was developed by whale foundation researchers in partnership with International Underwater Explorations, a geospatial information system company that deals with real-time data from a wide range of sources, a foundation news release said Tuesday.

With the app, users can record and track sightings of marine wildlife, including GPS location, group dynamics, observed behaviors and photos, from their phones. This information is uploaded in real time and added to a global research database.

“We’re excited that members of the public can use Whale & Dolphin Tracker to participate in our research as citizen scientists from any location around the world,” said Jens Currie, whale foundation senior research analyst. “Their contributions will help us and other researchers track and monitor cetaceans, determine patterns of species distribution, build life histories of individual animals, and study their interactions with the environment.”

An interactive “Live Sightings Map” on the whale foundation website, PacificWhale.org, displays all sightings logged by the Whale & Dolphin Tracker within the previous seven days. Viewers can use species and date filters to see changes throughout the year.

Whale & Dolphin Tracker initially was designed and built as a web-based application in 2010 to allow whale foundation marine naturalists to gather research data on whale and dolphin distribution and activities in the waters surrounding Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe.

A fundraising campaign in 2016 provided the funding to bring the web-based application to mobile platforms, the whale foundation said.

The app can be downloaded from the App Store for IOS devices and Google Play for Android devices.