New app helps young Iranians avoid 'morality police'

A policeman asks a woman wearing bright coloured clothes for her identification papers at a morals police checkpoint in Tehran in this June 16, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Stringer/Files

DUBAI (Reuters) - A new smartphone application that helps Iranians dodge the Islamic Republic's "morality police" is proving popular with the young, tech-savvy population but has quickly fallen foul of the authorities.

The Gershad app allows users who spot checkpoints set up by the morality police, who enforce Islamic dress and behaviour codes, to tag their location on a Google map with an icon of a bearded man, enabling others to steer clear of them.