With a population of 320,000, Iceland has a unique issue on its hands at a time where other countries worry about overpopulation. Because of the relatively small population in this north-Atlantic island nation it is unique in that almost everyone is distantly related.

The problem comes when you have chemistry with someone and kissing your cousin is an ever present danger.

''Everyone has heard the story of going to a family event and running into a girl you hooked up with some time ago,'' said Einar Magnusson, a graphic designer in Iceland's capital, Reykjavik. ''It's not a good feeling when you realize that girl is a second cousin. People may think it's funny, but (the app) is a necessity.''

The Islendiga App or "App of Icelanders" allows people to bump their android phones together and it will sound an alarm if the two people are too closely related. "Bump the app before you bump in bed" the slogan goes.

The app was developed as part of a contest by deCODE Genetics, a biotechnology company based in Iceland. The company had previously organized and digitized census data, church records, family archives and other information sources. deCODE says that it has data on 95 percent of all Icelanders who have lived in the last 300 years.

The contest was started to make 'new creative uses'' of the Islendingabok, or Book of Icelanders, the online database of residents and their family trees.

The app has been downloaded over 4,000 times for android and the developers, three University of Iceland software engineering students, hope to release a iPhone version soon.

The family proximity alert isn't the only thing that the app can do. It can also remind you of family members birthdays, avoiding another type of unneeded embarrassment.