"Are You Dead?" Chinese App for Lonely Residents Goes Viral

Illustration of a Chinese-made app called "Are you dead?" (photo: x @habervaktigeldi)

JAKARTA - A Chinese app called "Are you dead?" which is aimed at people who live alone is suddenly viral, with a surge in downloads and widespread discussion on social media. This popularity prompted its developer to implement a subscription fee and change the name of the app for the global market.

The app is called Sileme in Mandarin, which literally means "are you dead?" The development team describes it as "a lightweight safety tool made for single residents", ranging from students, office workers living alone, to "anyone who chooses a solitary lifestyle".

This application requires users to set one emergency contact. The system will then send an automatic notification to that contact if the user does not check-in through the application for several consecutive days.

China is estimated to have up to 200 million one-person households, with a self-sufficiency rate of more than 30%, according to a report by state-run newspaper Global Times.

In a post on the official Weibo account on Tuesday, January 13, Sileme stated that he would launch the global brand name Demumu in the latest version of the app which will be released soon.

The app already uses the name Demumu in Apple's paid app list, where it is currently in second place, after having jumped to the top of the rankings earlier this week.

"Thank you to all netizens for the incredible support. We were originally a small, unknown team, founded together and run independently by three people born after 1995," wrote Sileme.

On Sunday, January 11, the company also announced that it would implement a payment scheme of 8 yuan (about Rp24 thousand) to help cover the increasing operating costs. Meanwhile, Demumu on Apple's App Store has set the download price at HK$8.

On social media, including Weibo, a number of netizens asked Sileme not to change the name of its application. Some others proposed alternatives such as "Are you alive", "Are you online", or "Are you there".

"Maybe some of the more conservative people can't accept it," wrote one user, adding that the app was useful for safety purposes. "It will make us who are not married feel more at ease in life."