BEIJING — One of the hottest new apps China asks a delicate question: “Are you dead?”
An app with that name has gone viral as a digital “check-in” aimed primarily at the growing number of young people living alone in China’s sprawling cities. The idea is to designate an emergency contact person, who will be alerted if a user goes a few days without confirming their well-being on the app.
The app, which was free when it launched last May but now costs 8 yuan ($1.14), was the most downloaded paid app on Apple’s App Store for China in recent days – although after its viral popularity, it appears to have since disappeared from the Chinese App Store under unclear circumstances.
The app describes itself as a personal security assistant, “whether you’re a professional living alone, a student studying away from home, or anyone choosing an independent lifestyle.”
Ian Guo, one of the founders, told NBC News he was surprised by the success of the app, which cost less than $150 to create and is now valued at around $15 million.
He said he and his two co-founders, who like him are members of China’s “post-95 generation,” were inspired by social media commenters who said it was something they needed.
“We saw this opportunity and wondered if we could launch a product quickly,” Guo said. But they also believed the app “could genuinely offer people more security and protection.”
“I personally lived alone in Shenzhen for a long time, so I understand the different problems one faces when living alone,” he said, adding that the feeling of loneliness and insecurity “is constant.”
While the concept may seem morbid, the app’s popularity is a reflection of demographic changes in China, where urbanization, falling marriage rates and long working hours have left many people isolated.
By 2030, China – a nation of 1.4 billion people – could have 200 million single-person households, according to the report. State-backed Global Times newspaper, which cited real estate research institutes.
The app’s name in Mandarin, “Si Le Ma”, appears to be a play on the name of one of China’s most popular food delivery apps, “E Le Ma”, which means “Are you hungry?” Some found the focus on death too dark, and the app has now been renamed Demumu, which Guo called “cuter.”
“‘Are you dead?’ it seems more like a joke,” says Lisa Li, a 23-year-old English teacher, “But are you alive? It looks like you’re resurrected from the dead and that would be even weirder.”
Li, 23, said she found the app “a bit absurd.”
“I would be afraid that if I forgot and missed a recording, people would think I was dead,” she said.
She said she thinks most people download the app out of curiosity. “Some people are really worried that if they die, no one will find them,” she added, pointing to a recent spate of high-profile cases of young Chinese professionals, particularly at tech companies, dying suddenly after being killed. long periods of intense work.
Cui Xiyue, an exhibition organizer in Beijing, said she downloaded the app when she was “going through a period of depression and mental health issues.”
“At the time, it wasn’t easy to last just one day,” Cui, 23, said.
“When I first got it, I checked in every day, but I didn’t stick with it for very long,” she said. “I probably don’t need it anymore because I stopped thinking about those dark things.”
Loneliness has long been a concern for older people in China, where more than a fifth of the population is over 60. When younger family members migrate from rural areas to cities, they are often left behind.
But social isolation is also a problem for young Chinese, who are increasingly reluctant to marry and have children amid rising costs of living and competition for jobs.
Yuying Tong, a sociology professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said she believed the app would be useful for young people living alone.
“Of course, to some extent they are joking, it’s more sarcastic,” said Tong, co-director of the university’s Center for Chinese Family Studies. On the other hand, she said, the app might get people thinking about their single lives.
Some commenters on Chinese social media were skeptical about the app’s usefulness.
“Do people really use apps like this? If I get busy and forget to check in, wouldn’t I end up ‘dying’ every other day?” read a comment on Weibo.
Others rejected the idea of having yet another place to show up.
“You have to clock in at school, at work, and now you have to clock in just to prove you’re not dead,” one commenter said. “The Chinese spend their lives “pointing”.
Tong said loneliness was less of a problem for younger people than older people because they are “more adaptive” when it comes to using the internet to connect with the outside world.
“Some activities can be transferred offline,” she said, pointing to the thousands of people who showed up in a village outside the Chinese city of Chongqing to help a young woman and her father slaughter pigs for a traditional banquet after posting an ad last week on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
“Young people can find a way to overcome their own loneliness,” Tong said, “if they really want to.”
Janis Mackey Frayer and Dawn Liu reported from Beijing, and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.
Janis Mackey Frayer
Janis Mackey Frayer is an NBC News correspondent based in Beijing.
Dawn Liu
Dawn Liu is a researcher for NBC News based in Beijing.
Jennifer Jett is Asia digital editor for NBC News, based in Hong Kong.
