An app with a brutally honest name has taken China’s app stores by storm and is now spreading worldwide. The application, called “Are You Dead?” (Sileme in Chinese), has become the top paid app on China’s Apple App Store by addressing a fear that millions of people living alone share but rarely talk about.
- Users check in daily by tapping a green button with a cartoon ghost, and if they miss two consecutive days, the app emails their emergency contact on day three.
- China is expected to have 200 million one-person households by 2030, with the solo-living rate surpassing 30 percent.
- Users outside China can download the app under its global name, Demumu, which is currently the #6 top paid app in the US App Store at $0.99.
How the Are You Dead? App Works
The app called Sileme in Chinese, which translates to “Are you dead?” in English, is “a lightweight safety tool created for solo dwellers” from students to solo office workers or “anyone choosing a solitary lifestyle,” says its development team. You need to check in with it every two days by clicking a large button to confirm that you are alive. If not, it will get in touch with your appointed emergency contact and inform them that you may be in trouble.
Demumu works without registration or login. Just download the app, enter your emergency contact’s name and email address, and start checking in. The entire setup takes less than 30 seconds. Demumu uses end-to-end encryption for all data. They never track your location, access your contacts beyond what you provide, or share your information with third parties. Your emergency contact information is stored locally on your device, not on their servers.
Why Millions Are Downloading This App
It’s a simple idea, but one meant to offer a sense of safety to the millions of people in China who live alone. The app arrives as the country grapples with an aging population, the long-term effects of its one-child policies, and rapid urbanization that has resulted in more people moving into cities and away from their families.
The app “taps into this feeling of atomization, being stuck on your own, being isolated in terms of very long working hours,” said Stuart Gietel-Basten, a professor of social science and public policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He noted that “a lot of young people have not been able to have the social life that they would want to.”
Social media users have been vocal about the app’s appeal. “People who live alone at any stage of their life need something like this, as do introverts, those with depression, the unemployed and others in vulnerable situations,” said one user on Chinese social media. Another wrote, “There is a fear that people living alone might die unnoticed, with no one to call for help. I sometimes wonder, if I died alone, who would collect my body?”
From Student Project to Global Phenomenon
The app was launched in May last year to not much fanfare, but attention around it has exploded in recent weeks with many young people who live alone in Chinese cities downloading it in droves. Little is known about the founders of Are You Dead?, but they say they are three people who were born after 1995 who built the app from Zhengzhou in Henan with a small team.
One of these men, who goes by the name Mr. Guo, told Chinese media that they intended to raise money by selling 10% of the company for a million yuan. That is a lot more than the 1,000 yuan ($140) they say it cost to build the app.
The company behind the Are You Dead? app, targeted at people living alone, has introduced a subscription fee and changed its name for a global audience after it went viral in China. Sileme said on its official Weibo platform that the company will launch the global brand name Demumu in its new version, stating, “After extensive consideration, the ‘Sileme’ app will officially adopt the global brand name ‘Demumu’ in its forthcoming new release.”
The viral safety app has now expanded from iOS to a fully functional web platform accessible on any browser, designed for digital nomads and desktop-heavy users who want safety check-ins across all their devices.
What This App Says About Modern Life
“Are You Dead?” succeeds because it addresses a fear many people rarely say out loud. As more people live alone, they worry about loneliness, but they also fear invisibility. A simple tap every two days becomes a quiet signal that someone still knows you are here.
Professor Gietel-Basten shared his thoughts on what the app represents. “If an app or a piece of technology like this can prevent one person from dying alone, or from taking their own life, and to have just one small piece of connection, of course that is a positive,” he said.
The trend extends far beyond China. According to the most recent U.S. Census data, more than a quarter (27.6%) of all occupied U.S. households were one-person households in 2020, up from just 7.7% in 1940. The Are You Dead? app’s global spread suggests that the anxieties driving its success aren’t unique to any one country.
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