By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries

Fans at the Winter Olympics have long used cowbells to cheer for athletes, and now a new iPhone app allows you to recreate the experience even if you don’t have a brass bell handy.

The cowbell can be decorated with one of 35 flags.

Cowbell2010, available for 99 cents, turns your iPhone into a virtual cowbell that makes a convincing clanking sound when you shake the phone. Ted Guggenheim, CEO of app maker Rage Digital, said he tried about 10 different bell tones and spent 10 to 12 hours perfecting the sound for the app.

According to this article in the Vail Daily, the cowbell tradition began when Alpine herders took bells ordinarily worn by their animals and incorporated them into cheers for skiers. It’s tough to clap loudly when you’re wearing mittens, so the cowbells caught on. The virtual version of the cowbell adds a couple of 21st-century features to the tradition: A Twitter feed follows hundreds of athletes who are tweeting from the games, and a Facebook-style wall lets users post photos and text to share with other app users or Facebook friends. Users can decorate their bell with one of 35 flags provided on the app, and a schedule of events and medal count also are available.

In a test of the app, the cowbell itself was a fun conversation starter and sounded remarkably like the bells heard on the slopes. The Twitter feed and wall were nice additions, although the wall required a very good 3G connection or Wi-Fi to work without a hitch.

Until now, Rage Digital, a three-employee firm in Boulder, Colo., has made apps only for clients. “We had always contemplated doing a direct-to-consumer app but hadn’t found the right niche. You have to do something pretty unique if you want to compete,” Mr. Guggenheim said. The team decided just before Christmas that the Olympics offered them a good opportunity to do something different that could reach an international audience. With the company being based in Colorado, Mr. Guggenheim said, “Winter sports are big here. We definitely feel a strong connection to the Games.”

The developers at Rage Digital put the app together in about a month. “This is a test to see how we could compete in a very crowded app store,” Mr. Guggenheim said, adding that he and his staff have so far been pleased with the results. Cowbell2010 is currently the No. 1 paid sports app in the iTunes app store, and Mr. Guggenheim said it had been downloaded 12,600 times as of Monday.