[1][2] Formerly titled The Pope App, the app was launched on January 23, 2013 under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, a now-defunct dicastery that was merged into the Secretariat (now Dicastery) for Communication in March 2016.
Initially, The Pope App was available only on iOS devices, but became available for Android phones at the end of February 2013.
[3] The app is available for download on iOS and Android in five languages: English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Alerts notified the followers by informing and offering access to "official papal-related content in a variety of formats".
[4] The app also enabled its users to see areas of the Vatican through webcams allocated throughout St. Peter's Square in Rome that broadcast images.