The app that checks if you are dead

A Chinese app that requires you to regularly check in to prove you’re alright has soared in popularity, thanks to the number of people living on their own.

Are You Dead? (Sileme in Mandarin) this week became the most downloaded paid app in the China’s history, and has put the spotlight on the ballooning numbers of single-person households in the country.

Droves of downloads

“The concept is simple”: you must check in every two days by “clicking a large button to confirm that you are alive”, said the BBC. If you don’t, “it will get in touch with your appointed emergency contact”. Launched last year to “not much fanfare”, the app’s notoriety has since “exploded” as young people who live alone in Chinese cities have begun “downloading it in droves”.

In an interview with Chinese media, Guo Mengchu, one of the app’s founders, said he planned to sell a tenth of his shares for one million yuan (£106,000). Based on this, the app’s value has been estimated at more than 10 million yuan (£1 million).

Its popularity rests largely on how many people live alone in China. In 2024, those who lived alone accounted for about 20% of all Chinese households, compared with 15% a decade earlier. It’s forecast that, by 2030, there may be up to 200 million one-person households in China.

What’s in a name?

Sileme is a pun on the popular food delivery app Ele.me (“Are you hungry?” in English). But some people were “quick to bash the app’s less than cheery name”, said the BBC, suggesting it should be changed to “Are you OK?” or something else “with a more positive spin”.

Two days ago, the company said that “after extensive consideration”, the app will adopt its current overseas name, Demumu, in the app’s next Chinese iteration.

Guo explained that “de” was an abbreviation for death, while “mumu” was a cute-sounding, nonsense word. But some Chinese users think the change is a mistake, arguing that the app’s striking name was part of its viral appeal.