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The controversial app for avoiding crime in your area is back in the App Store, and it's now called 'Citizen'

The controversial app for avoiding crime in your area is back in the App Store, and it's now called 'Citizen'

There are three major differences between Citizen and Vigilante, the first one being the change in name.

Citizen also increased its safety messaging, making it clear that the app is only designed to keep you aware of crimes in your area, de-emphasizing the "vigilante" suggestion from the previous app.

The third major change involved reaching out to public safety experts, police, and civil rights leaders — among others — to get input on how to make this app safe for people to use.

For now, Citizen is only available in New York City — Frame said the company wants to prove the concept in New York first before taking it elsewhere.

"We do have demand to come to many cities across the country already and we do have that on the roadmap," Frame said. But this will take time, he said, since Citizen does require physical infrastructure and set up in each individual city.

When you log on to Citizen, you'll be able to see a real-time map of incidents in your area. Each red dot represents a separate incident.

The "Recent" tab shows events chronologically, but the "Trending" tab opens up live events.

Here, you can chat with other users about what's happening.

Some of the incidents have video that's recorded by users, as well as a log of everything that's happened, a map of where it's occurring, and the option to record your own live video.

The crimes listed in Citizen are sourced from 911 calls. Things like false alarms, gas leaks, commercial burglary, minor car accidents, or suspicious bags will not appear on the app.

"We have a criteria as to what goes into the app and what does not go into the app," Frame said. "Our first focus is safety — user safety, officer safety — and our criteria is completely based on safety."

Once a 911 call comes in, it's put into the Citizen app. If you're in a quarter-mile radius of the event, you'll get a push notification on your phone.

But the Citizen app also offers you the option to report an incident yourself. By clicking on the menu button, you have the option to text a crime report to Citizen.

Frame stresses that Citizen is an "awareness and avoidance" app. While Vigilante appeared to sign off on approaching crime scenes, Citizen is aimed at helping you steer clear.

"We built this to protect people, to protect cities," Frame said. "We want to use technology for good. That’s our goal."

Citizen is available for free in the App Store and the Google Play store.

You can learn more about the app and see a video of how it works on Citizen's website.

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