An award winning iOS app that has been praised as a "wonderful tool" to help Christians pray is celebrating its 4,000th download.

PrayerMate, the brainchild of British software developer Andy Geers, prompts users of iPhones, iPads and iPods to pray for both personal and global issues.

Despite endorsements from Church Society and rave reviews in Apple's App Store, thousands of smartphone and tablet users are unable to access the App because PrayerMate is not yet available on Android.

In a response to repeated calls for an Android version, Geers has launched a crowdfunding campaign with a target of raising £2,500 before 27 November.

The campaign has reached 80% of the funding needed in a little over two weeks, however Andy says a "final push" will be needed in order to make the app a reality for Android users.

With 15 days of the campaign left, Andy is encouraging fans to visit http://kickstarter.prayermate.net/ and give generously.

"Prayer is one of the greatest privileges of the Christian life, but it's something we all find hard work, and we can all use all the help we can get," he said.

"Please support this campaign, and give people all around the world a little extra help to be faithful in prayer."

PrayerMate has twice been shortlisted for the Christian New Media Awards. This year it won runner up in the "Christian Mobile/Tablet App of the Year" category.

"Coming second to
 a huge household name like Bible Gateway is a real honour 
for an independent developer like me, developing PrayerMate
in my spare time," said Geers.

One user, Char Davies commented: "[PrayerMate is] an absolutely brilliant app for organising your prayer life and accessing 
info to help you pray for others. The great thing is I can see opportunities 
for it to get even better too!"

PrayerMate is available on the iOS store for £1.99. If the Android campaign is successful, users can expect the first version of the App to be available from the beginning of April 2014.