China’s solo-living reality goes digital with a check-in app

China’s Sile Me app, nicknamed “Are You Dead?,” lets users living alone check in and alerts a designated emergency contact if they miss two consecutive days, and it has become China’s top paid Apple Store download. The app’s rise mirrors rapid demographic shifts: more one-person households, a growing elderly population, and a declining birth rate, all set against urban migration. While some commentators view it as a practical tool for the isolated elderly, others see it as a social barometer of loneliness and anxiety among younger urbanites in a slowing economy.