Handcrafted economy: from small tools to big ideas

At the start of 2026, an unglamorous app quietly went viral. Its function was simple, almost childlike: users had to confirm every day that they were "alive". Miss two consecutive check-ins and the app would alert a preselected emergency contact. The app was launched for free, later rose to one yuan and then to eight ($1.16). Despite the rise in price, it still stormed to the top of the paid charts on Apple App Store.