What is the ‘Are you Dead?’ app and what does it show about isolation?

For relatives of the millions of people living alone, a missed phone call or unanswered message can quickly turn into a worry.

In China, a mobile app tracking whether users are still alive is climbing Apple’s paid App Store charts, tapping into growing concern about what happens when people live alone.

The app, called ‘Are You Dead?’ and known in Mandarin Chinese, asks users to confirm they are safe each day by tapping a large green button.

If no check-in is recorded for two consecutive days, the system automatically sends an email to the user’s emergency contact.

On the Apple store, developers describe the app as a "lightweight safety tool" made for people living alone to "establish invisible safety protection through check-in monitoring and emergency contact mechanisms to make solitary life more reassuring".

Launched last year as a free app, it gradually climbed the charts in Apple’s paid category, becoming the top paid app in China in the first week of January, currently priced at 8 yuan (about €1).

Listed internationally under the name ‘Demumu’, the app has also risen into the top two paid utility apps in the United States, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Its overseas popularity has been driven largely by Chinese immigrants, according to media reports.

Its popularity comes as China sees a sharp rise in the number of people living alone.

According to a report from Beike Research Institute, cited in China Daily, the number of people living alone in China is expected to reach 150 million to 200 million by 2030.

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”, one of the founding trio who called himself Mr Lyu told the Financial Times newspaper.

The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies social isolation as a risk factor for anxiety, poor mental health, and mortality among older people.

Loneliness is also a widespread issue in Europe. According to the 2022 EU loneliness survey, more than a third of Europeans feel lonely.

Meanwhile, 2024 EU data shows that over 75 million households consist of single adults without children.