This app asks 'Are You Dead?' Every 48 hours, and millions are downloading it

Dubai: You open your phone. There's a notification. It asks: "Are you dead?"

No, this isn't a prank. It's the app that's breaking the internet right now and the conversation it's starting is making people stop and think about how we're really living.

"Are You Dead?" launched in May 2025, but it's blown up in the past few weeks. The concept? Dead simple. Every two days, you tap a button to prove you're still alive. Skip it twice, and the app alerts someone you've chosen that something might be wrong.

Cost? Just 8 yuan, about $1.15. Right now, it's the most downloaded paid app in China.

Because it hit a nerve nobody wanted to admit was exposed. On Chinese social media, one user wrote something that stopped people mid-scroll: "There is a fear that people living alone might die unnoticed, with no one to call for help. I sometimes wonder, if I died alone, who would collect my body?"

Wilson Hou, 38, living in Beijing, told BBC he downloaded it immediately. Living alone in a rental, working long hours, if something happened, who would know? He set his mom as his emergency contact.

Reddit and forums everywhere are losing it. Some think it's brilliant. Others think it's the saddest thing they've ever heard.

One user joked: "If I'm alive I don't need it. If I'm dead I'm too busy to care"

Another dropped this gem: "Singapore have it, it is called IRAS, check on you once a year"

But underneath the dark humor, people are genuinely debating whether their cities need this, with concerns about data privacy and who'd actually pay for monitoring services.

Here's the stat that explains everything: China could have up to 200 million one-person households by 2030. That's rapid urbanisation, aging populations, and young people moving to cities for work, living in tiny apartments, going days without real human contact.

The three developers who built this app (all born after 1995) created it for around $140. Now they're trying to sell a 10% stake for $140,000 and planning versions for elderly users.

The name is intentionally provocative, a play on a food delivery app called "Are You Hungry?" Critics say it invites bad luck, and the developers might rebrand to "Are You Okay?" Internationally, it's listed as "Demumu" and climbing charts in the US, Singapore, Australia, and Spain.

Strip away the morbid branding and you're left with something uncomfortable: This app has turned remembrance into a commodity. It's not trying to steal your attention or sell you stuff. It's just quietly waiting to make sure you're still here.

We've built a world where millions of people are so disconnected that a $1.15 app to prove you're alive becomes a necessity, not a joke.

Whether you think "Are You Dead?" is genius, depressing, or both, it's started a conversation we needed to have. The app isn't the problem, it's a symptom. And right now, millions are looking at that "I'm alive" button and realising just how much they needed someone to ask.