Hannah Fry of the The San Diego Union-Tribune writes that it didn’t take Sean Miller long after moving from Vermont to San Francisco to understand the scope of a stinky problem plaguing the city by the sea: poop on public sidewalks.

Dodging human — and sometimes animal — excrement on walkways became a normal part of the 24-year-old’s life in his South of Market neighborhood.

“Pretty much everyone who lives here is pretty well accustomed to seeing this stuff when you’re walking down the street in every neighborhood,” Miller said. “It’s very frustrating. You should be able to pull out your phone, take a photo and send it to the city to have it cleaned up.”

The idea for Snapcrap was born from this notion.

The free app, which launched last week for iOS users, allows people to take photographs of feces on sidewalks and streets and deliver an alert to the city’s Public Works Department. The app uses cellphone GPS to track the specific location of the mess and creates a ticket so that users can keep tabs on their complaints.

Prepared messages that can be sent to the city along with the photo range from succinct to humorous.

“Help! I can’t hold my breathe much longer,” one note reads.

Similar in name to Snapchat, which allows users to take photos and videos and share them with specific friends, Snapcrap’s display plays off the visuals of the popular social media application. The icon has a yellow background with a white poop emoji.

Snapcrap had been downloaded nearly 1,000 times in less than a week following its launch, Miller said.