The MyShake app is now available to download for Washington state residents who want to receive as much early notice as possible before the ground starts shaking during an earthquake.

The Washington Emergency Management Division said in a written statement that the app, which was designed by seismologists and engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, was made available to download on Wednesday.

The app is free for iOS users through the Apple App Store and can be found in the GooglePlay store for Android devices.

With the addition of Washington, the entire U.S. West Coast is covered by the app's early warning system.

Officials said the app can provide precious seconds for people to protect themselves in the moments before seismic activity is felt.

“Getting seconds of warning before an earthquake strikes may not sound like much, but it is plenty of time to drop, cover and hold on to protect yourself,” said Maximilian Dixon, the geologic hazards supervisor for the Washington Emergency Management Division. “Practicing how to drop, cover and hold on as soon as you get an alert, or feel earthquake shaking, will help you to do it even faster. I’d like to thank Cal OES for their amazing partnership and providing this service for free to our residents and visitors.”

According to Washington officials, the MyShake App was originally funded by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

Local state earthquakes worked with their counterparts in California to add tsunami information before it was rolled out to Washington state residents, officials said.

Alerts based on information from the USGS ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system are already available to all mobile phones through the Wireless Emergency Alert system and/or through a built-in-earthquake alerting system for Android devices.

MyShake provides a third option that may be a faster way for users to get an earthquake alert on their phones than the WEA system.

According to the state, the app as well as Android’s built-in system will deliver alerts to subscribers during quakes that exceed a 4.5 magnitude, which will cause light to strong shaking in their area. By comparison, the WEA system is set to send alerts for earthquakes larger than a 5.0 which cause moderate to strong shaking.

“Accessing tools such as the MyShake app will help you, your family and community be better prepared and have a more positive outcome in the event of an earthquake,” said Christina Curry, Chief Deputy Director of Cal OES. “We are pleased to share this resource with our West Coast neighbors.”

State officials said the app has been downloaded more than 1.6 million times since it was launched in late 2019.

The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning system, run by the U.S. Geological Survey in partnership with the Universities of Washington, Oregon, California-Berkeley and Caltech, uses ground motion sensors in all three states to detect earthquakes that have occurred and automatically notifies residents and visitors so that they can “drop, cover and hold on” in advance of ground shaking. The Earthquake Early Warning system has been activated in Washington state providing public alerts to mobile phones since its rollout on May 4, 2021.