An indie app with only one function is currently all the rage in China. It's called si le ma (死了吗), which literally translates to “Are you dead yet.” The app asks users to tap a button once every day, and if they don't do so for two consecutive days, the app automatically sends an email to a designated emergency contact, asking them to contact the user personally.
Guo, one of three Gen-Z developers behind Are You Dead Yet, says he's been building social and entertainment apps for a few years. But he wanted to focus on something more fundamental. “When I looked at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I saw that safety needs are deeper and apply to a much broader group of people. That felt like a good direction,” Guo told WIRED in an exclusive interview. (For privacy reasons, he asked to be identified only by his last name.)
The app's practical functionality and the dark humor its name evokes have struck a chord with young people in China, who flocked to download the app over the past week. At the time of publication, Are You Dead Yet was the number one paid app on the Chinese version of Apple's App Store. It is also climbing the rankings on the foreign app store charts, even though Guo says he hasn't spent a dime on paid advertising. “We don't have that kind of money,” he says.
Guo tells WIRED that the team has been contacted by more than 60 investors since Are You Dead Yet blew up on social media, and that they are actively discussing fundraising. He claims that some investors have offered millions of Chinese yuan (hundreds of thousands of dollars) for a stake in parent company Moonscape Technologies, which has only released a handful of apps. The team expects to announce the results of the fundraising discussions within the next few weeks. “We knew there would be some traction, but the magnitude of this completely exceeded our expectations,” Guo says.
Guo and his colleagues initially charged users a one-time payment of 1 RMB (14 cents) to use the app; Amid the increased attention this week, they have increased the price to 8 RMB ($1.15), still a minimum amount since no subscription is required. Although Guo declined to reveal how much money the app has raised or how many active users the app has, he says the money they have made so far will go towards developing the platform for the long term.
Are You Dead Yet has particularly resonated with people who live alone. The average size of a Chinese family has shrunk dramatically in recent decades. According to a 2020 national census, 25.4 percent of households consisted of just one person, up from 14.5 percent a decade earlier. While the elderly are the most likely to live alone, there is a growing number of young people living a solo lifestyle, and Chinese companies are increasingly targeting this demographic by offering digital or physical companionship services.
On Tuesday, the developers announced on Chinese social media that Are You Dead Yet would officially change its name to Demumu to better serve the global market. That name, previously also used for the overseas version of the app, was inspired by another Chinese business success. Guo says Demumu is a combination of the word “death” and the name pattern of Labubu, the Chinese stuffed monster that went viral worldwide last year.
Fans of the app are not happy. Even before the announcement, they had asked the developers not to change the blunt name, which was half the appeal. On Weibo, a Chinese social platform, the most liked comment under the name change announcement reads: “Honey, your previous name was the reason you went viral.”
