Drivers in downtown Wilmington can now pay for parking with their phones, city officials announced on Tuesday.

The Parkmobile app will allow drivers to add money to the meter remotely and receive a warning when the time on their meter is about to expire. It will work with approximately 1,000 metered spaces in the downtown district.

"This is an important step in modernizing our city's on-street parking systems, which will in turn help attract customers to our shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and other businesses in and around the downtown corridor," said Mayor Mike Purzycki.

With the app, Wilmington is following the lead of other cities across the country and in Delaware. Rehoboth Beach started using Parkmobile in 2012. Bethany Beach and Lewes started in 2014, and Dewey Beach got it in 2015.

Wilmington partnered with Conduent and Parkmobile LLC to make the app available to city drivers.

"This did not cost the city of Wilmington, the taxpayers, a penny," said Finance Director Patrick Carter.

Parkmobile charges a 30-cent transaction fee for meter payments. Drivers adding time to a meter they've already paid will not cost an additional fee, the city said.

Parking enforcement officers will use their handheld devices to confirm whether customers have paid with Parkmobile.

Drivers can register for free on Parkmobile.com and use the mobile app on iPhone, Android, and Windows 7 devices. Users will input their parking zone, license plate, card information and length of stay.

"Customers will no longer need to worry about keeping coins on hand or running into stores to request change for the meters," Purzycki said. "On-street parking is one of the more common interactions that people have with the city of Wilmington, and we want to improve that experience."

The app addresses a longtime sore subject of residents and visitors.

Drivers have complained for years about what they feel is overzealous enforcement by parking officers. Of the 2,246 tickets that went through the appeals process last year, 23 percent were dismissed. Parking ticket officer errors were the top reason for dismissal, followed by the complainant proving they had a valid residential parking permit, The News Journal reported last year. Broken meters were the reason 71 tickets –– which would be dismissed – were written in the first place.

BACKGROUND: Audit shows Wilmington parking ticket headaches

MORE: Wilmington clerk dismissed dozens of parking tickets for himself, others

Drivers challenging parking tickets in the city have endured months of waiting, according to a city audit that analyzed data in 2014.

Bad parking experiences have convinced some drivers that visiting downtown just isn't worth it.

"I just don't want to play the game," Joe del Tufo told The News Journal last year after a frustrating ticket appeal process. "Clearly the process isn't working."

The area's reputation for parking is a detriment to economic growth, some say.

"By fixing parking problems, we can be paving the way for a better quality of life for residents and visitors, enabling economic development, and creating a more efficient, citizen-friendly city government,” said Cathy Rossi, vice president of public and government affairs at AAA Mid-Atlantic, last year.

The app succeeds other steps Wilmington has taken to modernize parking in recent years, which according to City Council President Hanifa Shabazz, began with a parking summit in 2009.

In 2010, Wilmington purchased 16 parking kiosks for the Riverfront that allow drivers to pay by credit card, print a time-stamped ticket and leave it on their dashboard. In 2013, the city installed 200 “smart” meters that accept credit cards and coins on Market Street.

Christina Jedra reports on Wilmington and transportation in Delaware. Contact her at cjedra@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2837 or on Twitter @ChristinaJedra.