Egypt's Ministry of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs is bringing a lil’ slice of Om El Donya to the 9.5 million or so Egyptians living abroad, through suitably-named new smartphone app, ‘Kalem Masr’.

Released rather quietly in November, but officially announced this week, the app – which boasted 1,000 downloads at the time of publishing – offers Egyptian expats across the world a range of features and services, including articles from local media, an embassy locator and a housing guide to help Egyptians find a home away from home.

If you wade deeper into the app, you’ll find a few things that can only be called ‘random’ – not least a map of investments in the industrial sector and information about military recruitment. Interestingly, the app also offers a complaints sections (because Egyptians love a good session of light-hearted, passive complaining).

The app comes as part of efforts from the Ministry to look after their own, so to speak, with Minister Nabila Makram launching a number of initiatives aimed at Egyptian diaspora communities over the last 12 months. One of the most notable is ‘Speak Egyptian’ campaign, which aims to safeguard the country’s heritage and Egyptian-Arabic dialect, by teaching them to children – and by having Aladdin star, Mena Massoud, as an ambassador.

The app is available on Android, though there’s no news on an iOS version.