BEIJING: "Are You Dead?", an app that sounds the alarm if a user doesn't check in every 48 hours, was one of China's top-selling paid apps on Tuesday as the country's growing class of solo dwellers flocked to download it.
More and more people in the world's second largest economy are living alone as marriage rates decline and the number of elderly empty-nesters grows.
Created by Moonscape Technologies, the app pitches itself as a "safety tool crafted for solo dwellers... to make solitary life more reassuring".
Although its blunt name has divided opinion, it had still shot to the top of the Chinese iOS store's list of paid apps by Sunday, and remained there Tuesday.
The Chinese name "sileme", a play on the name of a popular food delivery app, is a curt phrasing that translates to "are you dead" or simply "dead?".
With a ghost as its icon, the app takes users to a landing page where they are asked to enter their name and an emergency contact's email.
"If you haven't checked in for two days, the system will send an email to your emergency contact," a version available internationally tells users.
On the streets of Beijing on Tuesday, some of the app's target market were dubious.
Yaya Song, a 27-year-old IT worker who lives alone, said she was intrigued but that it cost too much.
"If it were free, I'd download it to try out -- even charging one yuan ($0.14) would be reasonable for a trial -- but eight yuan ($1.15) feels a bit expensive."
If the worst happened, employed people's workplaces would generally realise something was wrong before family and friends, she said, adding that the app's name "feels a bit too violent".
Student Huang Zixuan agreed.
"If I wanted my grandparents to download this app, I probably wouldn't be able to bring myself to say the name," the 20-year-old said.
Are you alive?
Others saw the appeal.
In 2024, people who lived alone accounted for around one fifth of all Chinese households, compared to 15 percent a decade earlier, official data shows.
"I guess as we reach middle age, everyone starts to worry about their own affairs after death," said 36-year-old office worker Sasa Wang.
On Saturday, the former editor of state-backed tabloid Global Times, Hu Xijin, praised the app's potential, especially for the elderly.
He suggested changing its name to "Are you alive?"
"This way it will give elderly people who use it more psychological comfort," he wrote on social media.
The app's account responded on social media that it would "seriously look into and consider" changing the name.
But others begged them to keep it.
"It's good to face the issue of death," the top-liked comment read.