“Are You Dead”, Chinese viral application, changes its name

The Chinese mobile application “Are You Dead?” ” which sounds the alarm if a user does not register every 48 hours, announced that it would abandon its catchy name, after attracting international media attention.

It rose to the top of the ranking of paid applications on the Apple App Store in China, attracting widespread media coverage in the Chinese and foreign press.

The application, whose name “Sileme” in Mandarin translates to “Are you dead?” allows people living alone to save the name and email address of an emergency contact person.

If the user does not log into the application regularly, the system automatically sends an alert to the emergency contact to warn them of a possible problem.

“After careful review, the ‘Sileme’ app will officially adopt the global brand name ‘Demumu’ in its next version,” the company said in a statement late Tuesday.

The application has “experienced explosive growth abroad” since the publication of an article by the British channel BBC. Other foreign media, including AFP, also reported on the success of the application.

“Demumu” was already the name of the international version of the application, and “Are You Dead?” the Chinese version.

“Going forward, Demumu will remain true to its founding mission of safeguarding security, bringing Chinese-originated protection solutions to the world and serving more lonely individuals around the world,” the company statement added.

Users expressed surprise online at the rebranding, even though its blunt name had divided public opinion.

“Don’t you think that your virality is precisely because of your name? Without it, no one would have installed this app unless in an absolute emergency,” said one Weibo user.

“With this new name, it loses its flavor,” adds another.

The name “Sileme” was a pun on the name of a popular food delivery app, “Eleme”.

By 2024, people living alone accounted for about a fifth of all Chinese households, up from 15% ten years earlier, according to official data.