McDonald's is giving away free ice cream -- here's how to get yours

McDonald's is giving away free soft-serve ice cream cones nationwide on Sunday.

To get free cones, customers must first download the McDonald's mobile app.

The offer will appear on the app on July 16 under "my deals."

Customers must present the offer at a McDonald's drive-thru or in restaurants to redeem the deal.

McDonald's is offering the free cones to celebrate national ice cream day and highlight the recent changes that the fast-food chain made to its soft-serve recipe.

The new recipe, which McDonald's started rolling out late last year, removes artificial flavours, colours and preservatives from the soft-serve in its dessert items including McFlurries and shakes.

The chain will be promoting the day-long event with a massive Twitter campaign starting Monday. The chain will be doling out personalised compliments to Twitter users with the hashtag #SoftServed.