The „Are You Dead?“ App: What It Was and What Happened to It
The „Are you dead?“ app — originally „Si Le Me?“, later known as Demumu — went viral in early 2026: a tiny app that emailed one contact if you didn’t tap a button for a set time. It briefly topped the paid charts in China and was covered by the BBC and German-language press. The decisive point for anyone searching for it today: the original app has disappeared from the App Store worldwide, and copycat apps of unknown origin now occupy its name. If you’re looking for a „life-sign“ app you can actually rely on, Still OK is the stable, ad-free, GDPR-compliant answer from Europe — it alerts several trusted contacts via WhatsApp, SMS and email, in 45 languages, with all data in EU data centers.
What was the „Are you dead?“ app?
The idea was deliberately blunt. You set a timer. If you didn’t open the app and tap a button before it ran out, the app assumed something might be wrong and sent an email to one person you’d chosen. The name said the quiet part out loud: in Chinese „Si Le Me?“ literally means „Are you dead?“. Internationally it was renamed Demumu. It was built for people who live alone and worry that, if they collapsed at home, days could pass before anyone noticed.
In January 2026 it caught a viral wave. It reached number one among paid apps in China, was written up by the BBC, and then by German-language outlets including Mindener Tageblatt, FLZ, 20min and winfuture. Suddenly a whole category that had no real name in everyday speech — the „life-sign app“ — had mainstream attention. The app itself was minimal: a one-time purchase of roughly one euro, email only, a single contact, and no documented data location (it was developed in China).
What happened to it?
The original app is gone. As of June 2026, the Demumu app from its original developer (Moonscape Technologies) can no longer be found on the App Store — not in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, and not in the US or China, where it first went viral. We verified this directly through Apple’s own app-lookup data across every major storefront: the original returns nothing.
What you find instead, when you search for „Demumu“ or „are you dead app“ today, is a swarm of copycat apps from unknown individual developers — different apps under the same name, some free, some around a euro, none of them the original. The search interest the press created is still there; the app behind it is not.
A word of caution about the copycats
A life-sign app sits closer to your private life than almost any other app. It knows your daily rhythm — when you usually wake, when you check in — and it holds the contact details of the people closest to you. That’s exactly why provenance matters. With an app from an unknown developer, riding a viral name, you often can’t tell who built it, where your data goes, or whether it will still exist next month. For a tool whose entire job is to be there in an emergency, „we’ll see“ isn’t good enough.
Two simple questions help you judge any life-sign app: Who is behind it, and where is the data stored? If neither has a clear answer, it’s not a safety net you can lean on.
The viral app vs. Still OK
| The viral „Are you dead?“ app | Still OK | |
|---|---|---|
| Availability today | Original gone; copycats of unknown origin | App Store + Google Play |
| Alert channels | Email only | Email, WhatsApp & SMS |
| Emergency contacts | One | Multiple |
| Data location | Not documented (China / unknown) | EU data centers (Frankfurt), GDPR |
| Price | Was ~€1 one-time | Free + Premium (€4.99/mo) |
| Ad-free | Not documented | Yes (even free version) |
| Languages | ~10 languages | 45 languages |
Status as of June 2026. App Store availability was verified directly through Apple’s app-lookup data; prices and availability can change.
What it’s really about
Tobias, 52, lives alone in Dortmund and works mostly from home. One winter morning he slips on the cellar stairs and can’t get back up or reach his phone. He’d set up a life-sign app with a daily check-in by 9 a.m. The next morning the tap doesn’t come. Half an hour later his daughter in Essen and a neighbor each receive a message via WhatsApp and email: Tobias hasn’t checked in, with his last known location attached. His daughter calls, gets no answer, and the neighbor — who has a key — goes to look. Without that missing life sign, no one would have wondered until he failed to show up for Sunday lunch, two days later.
It’s not about being morbid, and it’s not about being watched. It’s about having a safety net — one that reaches more than a single inbox, and more than a single person.
Set up a real safety net in 60 seconds
- Download Still OK and add a trusted person as your emergency contact.
- Choose your check-in interval — from twice a day to once a month.
- Done. If you don’t check in, your contacts are automatically alerted via WhatsApp, SMS and email.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to the „Are you dead?“ app?
The original viral app — „Si Le Me?“ / Demumu, by Moonscape Technologies — has disappeared from the App Store. As of June 2026 it can no longer be found in any major storefront, including the US and China where it first went viral, verified through Apple’s own app-lookup data. The search interest remains, but the original app is gone.
Is the app still available in the App Store?
The original is not. What you’ll find under „Demumu“ or „are you dead app“ now is a set of copycat apps from unknown developers — not the app the press wrote about. If you want a life-sign app you can rely on, choose one that’s consistently available and clearly identifies who built it. Still OK is on the App Store and Google Play.
Are the Demumu copycats safe?
That’s impossible to confirm. A life-sign app knows your daily routine and your emergency contacts, so who built it and where the data is stored really matter. The copycats riding the Demumu name come from unknown developers with no documented data practices — for a safety tool, that’s a risk worth avoiding.
What is the GDPR-compliant alternative?
Still OK is developed in Europe and stores all data exclusively in EU data centers (Frankfurt), fully GDPR-compliant. Unlike the viral app, it alerts several contacts via WhatsApp, SMS and email — not just one person by email — and adds an emergency profile, GPS location on request, and 45 languages.
What does Still OK cost?
Still OK is free in its base version: one contact, alerted by email. Premium costs €4.99/month (or €34.99/year) and adds WhatsApp and SMS alerts, multiple contacts, GPS location on request, an emergency profile, and flexible check-in intervals. It’s completely ad-free, even in the free version.
Is a life-sign app a replacement for calling emergency services?
No. Still OK alerts the people you chose, not a professional dispatch centre, and it can’t detect a fall on its own. In an acute, life-threatening situation, always call your local emergency number first. A life-sign app is the safety net for the situations where you can’t call yourself — where no one would otherwise notice that something is wrong.