Walmart gave away Samsung phones to its 740,000 employees

New York (CNN Business) – Walmart She launched a new app for her employees and gave them a new phone Samsung to use.

The retailer equips nearly half of its 740,000 US workforce with a toll-free phone for personal and business use. The phone, the Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro, retails for $499. Walmart also offers its employees a bag and protection plan.

Walmart said the primary use of the phone is for employees to use its new app called Me@Walmart, which the company explained in a statement that aims to “simplify daily tasks, serve our customers, and plan for life outside of work.”

Some of the app’s features include scheduling and recording your shift and a voice-activated personal job assistant that “ saves time by allowing assistants to ask app questions to quickly locate merchandise and get answers to customers.

A Walmart employee uses his new phone.

Walmart (WMT) claims it can’t access any personal data from phones and employees can only access the app when they’re working. Prior to this program, Walmart employees had to share company-owned smartphones, and the response after initial testing of personal phones was “good.”

“As retail continues to evolve – and rapidly – it is more important than ever to provide our employees with the tools and technology they need to succeed,” the company said in the statement.

Smartphones are Walmart’s latest technology advancement. The nation’s largest retailer recently announced plans to build automated mini warehouses in dozens of its stores to speed up the delivery of online customer orders and curbside pickups.