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It is dubbed a 'virtual bulletin board' for users withing a 1.5mile radius

However, amid fears messaging app Yik Yak is increasingly being used by schoolchildren to bully their classmates, the app makers today revealed they have banned it from being used in over 130,000 schools.

Yik Yak was launched in December by Atlanta-area entrepreneurs Brooks Buffington and Tyler Droll, two recent college graduates who designed the app using geo-fencing technology to create countless small communities.

The app has become a huge hit in schools - even though its makers are trying to stop under 17s from using it

HOW YIK YAK WORKS

Users are limited to 200 characters, and no pictures are allowed.

If a post is 'down voted' enough times by other users on the forum, the comment disappears.

Currently available for iOS and Android, Yik Yak allows users to vote on or reply to any so-called "Yak" posted anonymously using 200-character messages instead of Twitter's 140-character limit.

'We definitely did not make the app for this - we are doing everything in our power to stop that happening,' Droll told MailOnline.

The firm has already stopped the app from being open on the campus of over 130,000 schools, using the handset's GPS to pinpoint users.

'Our goal with Yik Yak was to create an open forum for mobile users to easily communicate, or Yak with one another, providing a virtual bulletin board of sorts for community engagement within a specific location,' Droll said.

The firm has also programmed the system to look for  trigger words, racial slurs and words associated with bullying, Buffington said.

Users are limited to 200 characters, and no pictures are allowed.

If a post is 'down voted' enough times by other users on the forum, the comment disappears.

Tech experts are comparing the new Atlanta-based app to a cross between SnapChat and Twitter.

However, the app has also caused major problems in schools.

One reviewer on Apple's App Store said: 'I have seen first hand that this app allows cowardly people to hide behind the anonymity of the app to bully others.

'This is exactly the kind of thing that shouldn't be happening all over college campuses but the immaturity of college boys and girls shows through with this app.'

School administrators in Chicago said teens in some of their schools have used the free app for cyberbullying - until it was blocked.

Others have made anonymous bomb threats that have led to school lockdowns.

'Students were actually coming downstairs to talk to administration, and they were mentioning remarks posted and student names that were obvious, so of course that is going to impact you,' Melvin Soto, assistant vice principal at Whitney Young High School, told CNN affiliate WLS.

The app is now being used primarily on college campuses.

Most recently, in Connecticut, parents received a message from Fairfield Public Schools warning them that Yik Yak was creating opportunities for mean-spirited, bullying behavior at some of its schools.

'Upon researching this we have learned that Yik Yak has been causing many issues at middle schools, high schools, and colleges around the country,' the message read.

'The issues range from bullying behavior, racial harassment, sexual harassment, to bomb threats and threats of physical violence.'

However, the firm says the app can also be used for good.

'On college campuses we are seeing awesome things happening,' said Buffington.

'At Vanderbilt last week we saw it used to organise a blood test drive for a pupil with a rare form of lymphoma.

'Through the app over 1100 people came to give swabs.'

Company officials announced on Monday that it had secured $1.5 million in funding, aimed at enhancing current features and expanding its user base.

It now hopes to target music festivals, and even offices with the app, which is claims could become more popular than Twitter and Facebook.

'Our network is open - not like Facebook or Twitter which are closed and you have to know people.'