Overview
- The minimalist app asks users to check in regularly and emails an emergency contact if check-ins are missed for several days.
- After topping Apple’s paid chart, the app was reported to have disappeared from mainland China’s Apple and Android stores, while versions remained visible in some overseas stores including Hong Kong.
- Developers renamed the app Demumu and set the price at 8 yuan, after initially offering it at a lower cost including a 1‑yuan option.
- A co-founder said the three post‑1995 creators built the app for under $150 and now estimate its value at about $15 million.
- Coverage links the phenomenon to rising solo households in China, with projections of 200 million by 2030, and cites WHO research tying loneliness to roughly 871,000 deaths a year, as users on Weibo described feeling seen.