How the Rebrand of China’s Viral ‘Are You Dead App?’ Is Making Millions

A name change is turning out to be profitable for a Chinese app. It’s making a grab for the eldercare market. Above, two older residents of Beijing. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Key Points

• The Chinese app Sileme, which translates to “Are you dead?”, has returned to app stores under the new name Zaime Zaime.
• The app is now targeting China’s elderly population and is working with officials in Hangzhou on services for seniors living alone.
• Founder Lü Gongchen said the company completed a financing round in April that raised about $1.4 million in exchange for roughly a 10% stake.

China’s viral “Are You Dead?” app disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared. Now it is back—with a friendlier name, venture funding and a giant new market: China’s elderly.

The app became an internet sensation in January by addressing an uncomfortable question for China’s growing population of people living alone: If something happened to me, how long would it take anyone to notice?

Its solution was simple. Users checked in regularly, and after repeated missed check-ins the app alerted an emergency contact. The morbid Chinese name, Sileme —”Are you dead?”—helped propel it to the top of Apple’s paid-app rankings before it abruptly disappeared from Chinese app stores days later.

Four months later, it resurfaced as Zaime Zaime, roughly “Are You There? Are You There?” The bigger change is whom it is targeting.

The company is now working with officials in Hangzhou on services for elderly people living alone. The new version can register normal smartphone use as a check-in, alert family or community workers when someone fails to check in, and provide one-touch emergency help.

For residents, the problem it addresses is straightforward.

“My husband and I are both old. He’s 90 and has trouble getting around,” resident Fan Meili in Hangzhou’s Nanxing subdistrict said. “Our children aren’t nearby. What I fear most isn’t getting sick—it’s falling or something happening and nobody knowing.”

China had more than 323 million people aged 60 or older at the end of 2025, accounting for 23% of its population.

The app’s developers are trying to turn that demographic into a business. Founder Lü Gongchen said the company completed a financing round in April that raised roughly 10 million yuan, or about $1.4 million, in exchange for around a 10% stake.

In June, the company said it was seeking another 10 million yuan for 5%, implying a valuation of about 200 million yuan.

The company has pitched basic eldercare services costing roughly 20 yuan per person annually and hopes to expand its government-backed community model.

The idea fits a broader push to use technology to address China’s rapidly aging population. Wei Chenyang, director of the China Insurance and Pension Finance Research Center at Tsinghua University’s PBC School of Finance, said the use of digital technology in community and home-based eldercare is “imperative,” with “vast room” for development.

That is a long way from three young developers building a cheekily named app for people worried about dying alone.

“Are You Dead?” may have been a viral joke. The problem it stumbled onto may end up a business.

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