"Are You Dead?" App (Demumu): How It Works & US Alternatives

The “Are You Dead?” app (Sileme in China, Demumu internationally) asked you to tap one button a day, and if you missed about two days in a row, it emailed a single emergency contact. It went viral in January 2026, but as of October 2026 it is no longer listed in the US App Store, so anything you find under that name today is a clone.

If you came here because the idea made sense to you, you are not alone. The app’s dark-humored name hit a nerve because the worry behind it is real: if you live by yourself and something happens, how long before anyone notices? Below is how the app worked, what happened to it, and the US alternatives that answer the same question faster.

What Is the “Are You Dead?” App?

“Are You Dead?” is the literal English translation of 死了么 (Sǐ le me, often written Sileme), a Chinese app built by a three-person team of founders born after 1995. The name is a pun on Ele.me (饿了么, “Are you hungry?”), one of China’s biggest food delivery apps. According to the Global Times and Yicai, the team built it part time for under 1,500 yuan, roughly $215.

The pitch was blunt. Young people moving to big cities often live alone, far from family. CBS News, citing AFP, reported that one-person households made up about a fifth of all Chinese households in 2024, up from 15% a decade earlier. The app offered a simple promise: if you stop showing up, someone will find out.

Outside China the same app was sold as Demumu, a name the company said came from “death” with “mumu” added to sound cute.

How the Demumu App Works

The original app was about as simple as a safety tool can get. There was no account and no password.

A January update added daily reminders, and the developer said text-message alerts were coming. We could not confirm they ever reached the Demumu version before it disappeared. App Store reviews from the spring of 2026 included complaints that you could not change the contact’s email address and that the app was “too simple.”

Why It Went Viral

The app launched quietly in mid-2025. In early January 2026 it suddenly exploded on Chinese social media, hit number one on China’s paid App Store chart for several days, and saw downloads jump more than 100-fold. The team raised the price from 1 yuan to 8 yuan (about $1.15) to cover messaging and server costs.

The buzz spilled overseas. Demumu briefly ranked near the top of the paid Utilities chart in the US, Singapore and Hong Kong, and outlets from CNN to NPR covered it. NPR’s February piece found American users too, people living alone who liked having a daily tap as a backstop.

Part of the appeal was the name itself. It says out loud what most safety products dance around. Part of it was price: a one-time purchase of a dollar or so, compared with monthly subscriptions for most check-in services.

What Happened to Demumu?

The app’s fame turned into a run of renames and removals within weeks.

Lawyers quoted in Chinese media had flagged the Ele.me pun as a trademark risk, but the company never said why the app was pulled. The May relaunch reframed it as an eldercare tool, with a government pilot in Hangzhou where community staff respond to alerts.

A newer app called EverEver appeared in the US App Store in June 2026 from a publisher with a near-identical name to Demumu’s, and its website carries the Zaimezaime brand. It looks like the international successor, though we could not find an announcement saying so.

The Problem With an Email After Two Days

Credit where it is due: the app made millions of people think about a risk they had been ignoring, and it cost almost nothing. But the design had a big gap.

Consider what it means in practice. You check in Monday morning and fall Monday afternoon. Tuesday passes with no tap. Wednesday passes. On Thursday, one person gets an email, and only if they happen to read it. Falls are the leading cause of injury for adults 65 and older, according to the CDC, and the time someone spends on the floor before help arrives is a big part of how serious the outcome is.

Three things would have made it far stronger:

• A faster trigger. Hours, not days.
• A reminder to you first. Most missed check-ins are a forgotten tap, not an emergency. A nudge filters those out before anyone panics.
• Alerts that are hard to miss. A phone call or a text gets noticed. An email to one person can sit unread.

US Alternatives to the “Are You Dead?” App

These are the closest options available in the US today, with prices re-checked in October 2026. We build CheckRise, so treat our take on it as informed rather than neutral.

CheckRise — The Same Idea, Without the App

CheckRise sends you a text message check-in at the time you choose, up to three times a day. A quick OK or YES means you are fine. If you do not answer, you get a reminder text after 30 minutes and an automated phone call after an hour. If there is still nothing, your care circle (up to five people) is texted and called one at a time until someone confirms they are on it. It works on any cell phone, including flip phones, and nobody installs anything. It costs $1 for a 7-day trial, then $14.99 a month, which is more than a one-time $1 app, and that is the honest trade-off: you are paying for family alerts that start about 75 minutes after a missed check-in. See exactly how it works on our daily check-in service for seniors page.

Snug Safety — The Free US Option

Snug Safety is the best-known US check-in app, and its CEO, Preet Anand, was interviewed in NPR’s coverage of the “Are You Dead?” trend. The free plan gives you one check-in a day by tapping the app or calling a toll-free number, and texts your contacts if you miss it. A paid plan, Snug Dispatch, adds a professional dispatcher for $19.99 a month. Our Snug Safety review covers the complaints and the fine print, and our Snug app alternatives roundup compares six other services.

Circle Alert — Cheapest App With Location

Circle Alert is the closest in spirit to Demumu: an app you tap at check-in times you set. It is faster and richer, though. Missed check-ins send your followers a push notification or a text with your last known location and any emergency notes you saved. It costs $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year after a free week. It needs a smartphone, and there is no call to you before your contacts hear. Our Circle Alert review goes deeper.

IAmFine — If You’d Rather Get a Phone Call

IAmFine calls you once or twice a day and you press 1 to confirm. It has run for more than 14 years and works on landlines. Read our IAmFine review.

Free Options Worth Knowing

If you use an Android phone, Google’s Personal Safety app has a free “Safety check” timer that shares your location with emergency contacts if you do not respond. It is designed for a single walk or date rather than a daily routine, but it costs nothing. Some states and counties also run free daily call programs for older residents, like Maryland’s Senior Call Check; see our list of free daily check-in calls for seniors by state.

For the full field, including AssureOkay, ConfirmOK and CheckinBee, see our roundup of the best safety check-in apps for people living alone.

Which Alternative Fits You?

You loved the one-tap simplicity and use a smartphone daily → Circle Alert or Snug Safety’s free plan.

You want family alerted within about 75 minutes, on any phone → CheckRise.

You prefer a voice call or use a landline → IAmFine.

You are setting this up for a parent who will not install an app → a text-based service. Our guide to daily check-in apps for seniors explains why you often do not need an app at all.

Whatever you pick, do one thing the “Are You Dead?” app never asked of you: test it. Skip a check-in on purpose during the first week and see what your contacts actually receive, and how fast.