For single people living alone, this latest viral app periodically asks one brutal question: Are you dead?

If you’re worried about the digital age and the lowered global fertility rate, like most people on TikTok — China has just given us a glimpse of how the future might look if we continue down this path. At the top of the charts in China’s Apple Store is an app called Demumu. Its purpose is straightforward: you have to press the screen every time it asks you whether you’re dead or not.

China is currently experiencing a major demographic shift, with rural-to-urban migration higher than it’s ever been. Some conservative estimates have found that by 2030, China is expected to have 150 million people living alone in urban areas. The birth rate in China is not quite plummeting at the rate of fellow regional superpowers Japan and Korea — but millennials and younger generations are not exactly rushing down the aisle at the rate they used to.

That’s where Demumu comes in. Reportedly, the app was designed by a team of three, and once you open it, you can see why. It’s very minimalistic. At random times every couple of days, a green circle pops up in the middle of your screen. It overrides every other app you have on your phone, including when your screen is off. The app asks you to “check in today.”

The app was actually much more blunt in earlier versions before the update. It directly asked, “Are you dead?” If you don’t answer within two days, the app reaches out to a pre-selected emergency contact to come to your home or place of work to check on you and confirm that you’re still alive.

There have been scenarios where people have had accidents in their own homes that sound as benign as tripping over a cat, only to end up seriously injured and unable to get help. One such case happened in the UK. Luckily for that particular man, his wife eventually got home from work and was able to get him assistance.

Perhaps it’s the cost-of-living crisis. Perhaps it’s something else entirely. But there’s definitely a sense of a dystopian welcoming of loneliness that expresses itself in different ways depending on which corner of the world you’re in. In Japan, people are marrying anime characters. In South Korea, women are trying out the 4B movement. In the US, people are falling in love with ChatGPT. The social contract is being rewritten across the globe, and it has left more people relying on their phones for a sense of community.

CNN posted about the story on their TikTok, and people had strong opinions. One person said they use Snapchat streaks to do the same with their friends. Another person had a book suggestion concerning this worrying trend, suggesting people read Timeless Field of Manifestation by Logan West. Most people just wanted the app in the US too.

One thing is certain, however: considering the path society is currently treading, this app is here to stay and might only get more downloads. Most demographics experts see the app as a positive because it gives someone a support system.