Beyond Blue is transferring ownership of its highly regarded suicide prevention app, Beyond Now, to Lifeline Australia as part of a partnership that aims to provide more clarity for people seeking support during a crisis.

Lifeline, which is well known for supporting people in crisis and suicide prevention, is taking ownership of the suicide safety planning app this month and will continue to provide the service and maintain uninterrupted access for new and current users.

Beyond Now has been accessed by hundreds of thousands of people since it was first developed by Beyond Blue in 2016 providing crucial support to those who are in suicide crisis.

In the past four years alone, more than 400,000 people have used the app with more than 150,000 safety plans made.

Beyond Blue chief executive officer Georgie Harman said this carefully planned move is part of Beyond Blue and Lifeline’s new partnership to reduce confusion and build a more connected support system for people.

“As Beyond Blue focuses more on early intervention and prevention – supporting people before problems snowball – it makes sense for us to hand over this important crisis management tool and precious community asset to our partner Lifeline who are well known for their work in supporting people who are in crisis,” she said.

While the look of the platform is changing, the service will continue undisrupted with redirects linking to Lifeline’s Beyond Now app and webpage.

People who currently have the Beyond Now app downloaded to their phone are being notified of the change in ownership via an in-app message.

People can continue to access their plan and use the app as they normally do, uninterrupted.

Beyond Blue Support Service: 1300 22 4636 or www.beyondblue.org.au or Lifeline: 131144.