Controversial China ‘dead or alive’ app transforms into valuable personal safety tool

A controversial Chinese app with the allegedly offensive name “dead or alive” has been transformed into a government-backed safety tool.The app, called Sileme, or “Are you dead?”, went viral in January because of its straightforward name that challenged the traditional taboo notions about death.Its function was extremely simple.The sign-in app features a giant green button on the screen. A person only needs to touch the button every day to confirm their “alive” status. If they fail to check in for two days in a row, it will send a message to the emergency contact person.It costs eight yuan (US$1.2) in the app store. Some people said it was not worth paying for.The Sileme app, pictured above, was originally sold bearing a name some people thought was offensive. Photo: HandoutBut young people liked it, finding it entertaining and meeting the needs of the country’s increasing number of solo users.The app reportedly ranked in the top paid app list in China, Singapore, Thailand and Australia.It was developed by three young Chinese men at a cost of 1,500 yuan (US$220), with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Its popularity made them increase their start-up company’s value to 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million).While some guessed that the app would just be another nine-day wonder, one of the app’s developers, who used to go by the surname Guo but later admitted that he is in fact surnamed Lu, said they would not “make fast money”, adding that their ultimate goal is to develop “China’s Life360”.Life360 is a location-sharing and family safety app released in the US in 2009.Lu, who had a full-time job in Shenzhen and lived solo, said the insecurity he experienced when walking home in the dark alleys after working late motivated him to make the app.An elderly man stares out of his kitchen window. The newly designed app could be useful to him. Photo: RedNoteHe said many solo-living female friends also shared their concerns about being stalked.Further ReadingHe said his company also fired him after discovering he was the app’s developer.To many online observers’ surprise, five months after it went viral, the app has transformed into a government-supported safety tool for the elderly.The green button has grown even bigger and the check-in procedure has been simplified with an added anti-accidental-touch design.The app was also changed to the less “offensive”, “ominous” name zaimezaime, which means “Are you here?”It was reported to have been put on trial with elderly people in the Nanxing neighbourhood in Hangzhou, eastern China’s Zhejiang province.An elderly user, surnamed Fan, said she found the simply designed app easy to use.“The other apps are complicated. The characters are too small. I cannot read them,” she said.If the user fails to check in two days in a row, the app will notify their children or the emergency contact person.An SOS button has also been added.It is unknown how long the trial period lasts.Some praised the app’s developers for adhering to their original goal and meeting a real public need.An elderly man uses his mobile phone. China has one of the world’s fastest growing ageing populations. Photo: Shutterstock“The Chinese population is increasingly ageing. Such a company that develops an app that truly benefits people needs more tolerance and support,” one said.China has one of the fastest-ageing populations in the world. It had 323 million people aged 60 and older by the end of 2025, 23 per cent of its total population, and 224 million people aged 65 and older.According to the China Research Centre of Ageing, solo-living elderly people accounted for 14.2 per cent of the population in 2021.Jiang Fenglin, a geriatric cardiologist at the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, told Chinese media outlet Health Times that loneliness increased cardiovascular health risk in the elderly.Elderly people living in isolation also reportedly tend to suffer more from depression and dementia.