Adamya Sharma / Android Authority
TL;DR
- An iOS app called “Are you Dead?” is going viral for its morbid name and brutally straightforward concept.
- The app presents a big green button, tapping which tells your emergency contacts that you’re alive. Failing to tap the button tells people you may be dead.
- Android already offers similar apps and tools with less drama.
A grim, new iPhone app called “Are You Dead?” is going viral by tapping into the very real fear of dying unnoticed.
The app’s concept is brutally straightforward. Users must tap a big green button every two days to confirm if they’re still alive. If they don’t, the app alerts their chosen emergency contact that something may be wrong. That’s it. There’s no health tracking, no sensors, just a digital “Are you dead” button.
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Are You Dead? is a paid app and also available internationally as “Demumu.” As BBC notes in this article, it has become extremely popular among young people living alone in Chinese cities, where millions work far away from their family. With China expected to have around 200 million one-person households by 2030, the fear of dying alone has turned this morbid app into a cultural hit.
But while Are You Dead? feels new, Android users already have something very similar, and in many cases, much better.
On Android phones, users can download Google’s Personal Safety app and its built-in Safety Check feature for the same purpose. It’s just not as grimly named, but Safety Check lets you set a check-in timer to confirm if you’re safe. If you don’t confirm you’re okay, your phone will automatically share your location and send an alert to your emergency contacts. No app download required. The only limitation here is that you can’t set up a recurring Safety Check with Google’s Personal Safety app; it’s a one-off timer that you must manually start each time. Once you set up the Are You Dead? app, you don’t have to re-arm it like Safety Check.
However, there are other Android apps that offer similar features, like Snug Safety or Life360, both of which trigger alerts if someone misses a scheduled check-in. The difference is that Are You Dead? makes the fear explicit, while Android’s tools have been quietly doing the same job, just with friendlier names.
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