Ever wonder what it would be like to have an app on your mobile device you were glad to have but hoped to never actually use? Facebook's new Safety Check tool looks to provide just such an inherently contradictory experience, as it allows users to quickly notify friends and family that, despite the recent appearance of a natural disaster in the user's immediate area, the user is indeed safe and sound.

Facebook (News - Alert) has proven, in the past, to be a great way to get the word out following such a disaster that the user has survived the incident unhurt, and so has provided peace of mind not only to the user, but also to the user's friends and family as well. Safety Check uses a combination of location data and the user's provided data to note where a user normally is in relation to a natural disaster, like the recent Menlo Park earthquake. Safety Check will then offer users an option between saying “I'm safe” and “I'm not in the area,” which is also a possibility for those who live in the area but weren't there due to a shopping trip, evening out or day at work. But, as a positive note, only those previously listed as friends will be able to see both a user's current safety status as well as any updates shared.

Plus, users will be able to use Safety Check in another direction as well, using the service to check on other users who were potentially impacted by natural disasters to see if said users are safe or otherwise not reporting in.

The service was reportedly inspired by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan back in 2011, an event that—according to the Japanese Red Cross—impacted over 12.5 million people, and left over 400,000 evacuated from homes. But it was technology and social media that allowed many of those displaced or affected to keep in touch with friends and family, and that got Japanese Facebook engineers thinking. The result was the Disaster Message Board, and a test of the tool a year later proved there was plenty of value in offering such a system to a wider pool of users.

It offers peace of mind in mobile app form, and should be the kind of thing that proves popular for users, even if said users hope to never actually have to use the app in question. It pretty much requires a natural disaster to have either happened near you or near someone you're close enough to like on Facebook, and that's a development few people—if any, really—ever want to see happen. But, much like insurance, should it ever be necessary, most will be glad it's there.

It must be strange for Facebook to release a tool that most users never actually want to use, but will be glad for when—and if—the time should come. Still, it's likely to be a good one to have on hand, and for all those mothers, fathers, siblings and friends who've ever been concerned about someone's well-being following a natural disaster, the Safety Check app will likely prove to be well worth having around.