Young people are lonely in China. Now, there’s the ‘Are You Dead’ app for them

Not Baidu, not Douyin, not Alipay nor even TaoBao. In China, there’s a new app that’s become the most downloaded paid app, and it asks just one question — are you dead.

No, this isn’t some joke. Named ‘Are You Dead?, this app has recently gained a lot of attention in the Asian nation, sparking a wave of debate online. It also shines a spotlight on China’s rapidly changing demographics.

But what do we know of this viral app? Who’s behind it? And most importantly, why is everyone talking about it?

About the ‘Are You Dead’ app

Called ‘Are You Dead’ in English, the viral app is called Sile Me in Chinese and is a play on words based on the other successful food delivery app, E le ma. There’s very little known about the creators of this app, which was launched last May; the men behind the ‘Are You Dead App’ simply describe themselves as three who were born after 1995 in Zhengzhou in Henan.

Initially the app began as a free download, but today it is available for a mere eight yuan (a little over Rs 100). In fact, it is reported that the app took just 1,000 yuan to build.

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But what is the ‘Are You Dead’ app? All the app requires its users to do is to “check in” by pressing a button. If you don’t click on the button every two days, then on the third day, the app gets in touch with the user’s emergency contact.

The app’s English language page, where it goes by the name Demumu (don’t mistake it for Labubu), the developers describe it as a “lightweight safety tool crafted for solo dwellers,” designed to make “solitary life more reassuring.”

The page continues, “Whether you’re a solo office worker, a student living away from home, or anyone choosing a solitary lifestyle, Demumu serves as your safety companion.”

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Of the three creators of the app, one who identifies himself as Lyu, said that the app targets young users living in big cities. These people were likely to “experience a strong sense of loneliness due to the lack of people to communicate with . . . accompanied by . . . worries about unforeseen events occurring without anyone knowing”, Lyu said.

Virality of ‘Are You Dead’ App

Though the app launched last May to little fanfare, it is in recent times that the app has garnered a whole lot of attention. According to the team behind it, its growth began only in recent days and led to a download spike of more than 100 times now, bringing increased server load and operational costs, the National Business Daily reported.

And last Saturday, it topped Apple’s paid App Store ranking. Moreover, the ‘Are You Dead’ app isn’t just popular within China. It is reportedly ranking among the top paid utility apps in the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and Spain. Much of this popularity is believed to come from Chinese users living abroad.

Speaking to the virality of the app, 38-year-old Wilson Hou told the BBC that he downloaded the app so that his family, who live miles away from him, would know if something happened to him. “I worry that if something happened to me, I could die alone in the place I rent and no one would know,” said Hou, who works in Beijing. “That’s why I downloaded the app, and I set my mum as my emergency contact.”

Another social media user commented, “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.”

Many commentators note that this app would be highly beneficial to the millions of elderly people, living alone in the rural areas of China.

However, the app has garnered some backlash, particularly over its name, with many questioning the use of the word for death in its Chinese name. As Hu Xijin, a nationalist columnist, was quoted by the Financial Times as saying: “I suggest changing its name to ‘Are You Alive?’ as it would provide more psychological comfort for the elderly using it.”

However, app creator Lyu said the name was not intended to be “bad”. “It serves as a reminder for us to cherish the present,” Lyu added.

Spotlight on China’s loneliness problem

The ‘Are You Dead’ app also highlights China’s growing loneliness pandemic. In China, there’s a growing trend of a one-person household. Research reveals that by 2030 China may have up to 200 million one-person households, with a solo-living rate exceeding 30 per cent.

Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, an expert in social demography at the National University of Singapore, told the Financial Times that in such situations there was a genuine need for apps that assist people living alone.

“As fertility drops, life expectancy gets longer, marriages decline and divorce rates keep going up . . . all of these are creating the trend of one-person households,” Yeung said. “The concern is real.”

The country’s single population has been skyrocketing in recent years. According to the most recent census, the number of unmarried persons in China between the ages of 20 and 49 reached 134 million in 2020. In fact, many young adults are delaying marriage into their late 30s and prioritising careers and personal freedom.

And it is amidst this situation that the ‘Are You Dead’ app has become popular, with one social media user noting that they “sense a deep loneliness” behind the app’s success. For much of China’s history, kinship formed the basic unit of society, but “this structure has completely collapsed” in the present day, they wrote.

“In big cities, everyone is an isolated, atomised individual. People live in soundproof apartments, not knowing the surname of their neighbours,” they wrote in their post. “This creates an extremely intense fear, which is commonly known as ‘lonely death’,” they added.

We don’t know what comes next in China, but please check in.

With inputs from agencies