An indie app with just one operate is at the moment all the craze in China. It’s referred to as si le ma (死了吗), which interprets actually to “Are You Useless But.” The app asks customers to faucet a button as soon as day by day, and in the event that they fail to take action for 2 consecutive days, it robotically sends an e mail to a delegated emergency contact, urging them to examine on the consumer in particular person.
Guo, one of many three Gen-Z builders behind Are You Useless But, says he has been constructing social and leisure apps for a number of years. However he needed to pivot to one thing extra elementary. “Once I checked out Maslow’s hierarchy of wants, I noticed that security wants are deeper and apply to a much wider group of individuals. That felt like path,” Guo instructed WIRED in an unique interview. (He requested to be recognized solely by his final title, for privateness causes.)
The app’s sensible performance and the darkish humor its title evokes have struck a chord with younger folks in China, who swarmed to obtain it over the previous week. On the time of publication, Are You Useless But was the primary paid app within the Chinese language model of Apple’s App Retailer. It’s also climbing the rankings in abroad app retailer charts, despite the fact that Guo says he hasn’t spent a dime on paid promoting. “We don’t have that type of cash,” he says.
Guo tells WIRED that the staff has been contacted by greater than 60 traders since Are You Useless But blew up on social media, and they’re in energetic conversations about fundraising. He claims that some traders have supplied tens of millions of Chinese language yuan—tons of of 1000’s of US {dollars}—for a stake in its guardian firm, Moonscape Applied sciences, which has launched only a handful of apps. The staff expects to announce the outcomes of the fundraising talks in a number of weeks. “We knew there can be some traction, however the scale of this fully exceeded our expectations,” Guo says.
Guo and his colleagues initially charged customers a one-time cost of 1 RMB (14 cents) to make use of the app; amid the heightened consideration this week, they raised the worth to eight RMB ($1.15), nonetheless a minimal quantity contemplating there’s no subscription required. Whereas Guo declined to reveal how a lot cash the app has made or what number of energetic customers it has, he says the cash they’ve earned thus far will go towards creating the platform for the long run.
Are You Useless But has caught on notably amongst individuals who reside alone. The typical dimension of a Chinese language household has shrunk dramatically over the previous few a long time. In line with a 2020 nationwide census, 25.4 p.c of households consisted of only one particular person, up from 14.5 p.c a decade earlier. Whereas aged folks stay the almost definitely to reside alone, there’s a rising cohort of youthful folks residing a solo life-style, and Chinese language companies are more and more catering to this demographic by providing digital or bodily companionship companies.
On Tuesday, the builders introduced on Chinese language social media that Are You Useless But would formally change its title to Demumu in an effort to higher serve the worldwide market. That title, which was additionally used for the app’s abroad model beforehand, was impressed by one other Chinese language enterprise success. Guo says Demumu is a mix of the phrase “demise” and the naming sample of Labubu, the Chinese language plushie monster that went viral globally final 12 months.
Followers of the app usually are not thrilled. Even earlier than the announcement they’d been asking the builders to not change the blunt title, which was half the enchantment. On Weibo, a Chinese language social platform, essentially the most favored remark underneath the name-change announcement reads, “Child, your earlier title was the rationale you went viral.”
