Question 1

What is Delulu Kart?

Accepted Answer

Delulu Kart is a mock-shopping app for Android where nothing is ever sold. You browse a catalogue of luxury and lifestyle products, add them to a cart, and complete a checkout that charges you nothing. The app then tracks the money you didn't spend and rewards you for it with a Delulu Score, ten tiers and 82 badges. It's shopping, reframed as a game about restraint.

Question 2

Is Delulu Kart free?

Accepted Answer

Completely. Free to download, no in-app purchases, no subscription, no premium tier. It never takes payment because nothing in it is for sale.

Question 3

Does it actually charge my card?

Accepted Answer

No. There is no payment gateway in the app at all - no card number, UPI ID or bank detail is ever requested, transmitted or stored. The checkout is a performance. The total always comes to ₹0.

Question 4

Do the products get delivered?

Accepted Answer

No. Nothing ships, because nothing is bought. The app shows a delivery status that updates over time, going nowhere with tremendous commitment. The address is invented by the app as part of the joke.

Question 5

What's the point of a shopping app where I can't buy anything?

Accepted Answer

Research on reward suggests much of the enjoyment of shopping sits in the anticipation rather than the acquisition. Delulu Kart keeps the browsing, choosing and checkout, deletes the charge, and turns what you didn't spend into a score. There's a longer, referenced version of this on the science page.

Question 6

What is the Delulu Score?

Accepted Answer

Your running total of money not spent. Every phantom checkout adds the cart value to your lifetime capital preserved, and that total drives your tier. It is the only score in retail that goes up when you behave.

Question 7

What are the tiers?

Accepted Answer

Ten of them, climbing with capital preserved: Window Shopper, Professional Cart Abandoner, Almost-Buyer Extraordinaire, Impulse Dodger, Restraint Rookie, Savings Sensei, Wealth Whisperer, Keeper of the Vault, Certified Dragon Hoarder, and finally Enlightened Monk of Money.

Question 8

How many badges are there?

Accepted Answer

82, across five groups - Shopping, Dream Cart, Challenges, Hall of Fame and Good Citizen - each in bronze, silver and gold. They're derived from your activity rather than stored, so they update themselves and can never go out of sync.

Question 9

What is a Dream Cart?

Accepted Answer

A themed public competition. Each round has a budget and a theme - say ₹2,00,000 for a dream wedding. You build the best cart you can within it, name it, and submit it publicly. Others vote on what kind of dream it is: most practical, most luxurious, most minimalist, and so on.

Question 10

What is a Challenge?

Accepted Answer

A Dream Cart with a brief and a clock. "Build the ultimate gaming setup for two lakh. Seven days." Same machinery, more pressure. Some Challenges also require at least one item from a specific category - you'll see the requirement ticking off while you build.

Question 11

Can I vote for my own cart?

Accepted Answer

No. Nice try, though. Self-voting is blocked in the app and on the server.

Question 12

Can I change my vote?

Accepted Answer

Yes. One vote per cart per device, and tapping a different vote type swaps it. Tapping the same one again clears it.

Question 13

Do I need an account?

Accepted Answer

No. No sign-up, no email, no phone number, no password, no "continue with" anything. You pick a display name and you're in.

Question 14

How does it know who I am without an account?

Accepted Answer

It doesn't. Your identity is a random ID your phone generates on first use - not your IMEI, not an Android ID, not an advertising ID, just a random number your device invented. It says nothing about you.

Question 15

Can I use the same account on two phones?

Accepted Answer

No. There are no accounts to share. Each install is its own separate identity.

Question 16

What if I uninstall and reinstall?

Accepted Answer

You come back as a brand-new person. Your score, badges and orders are gone, and there's no way to recover them. That's the trade-off of having no accounts.

Question 17

What data does Delulu Kart collect?

Accepted Answer

Two things leave your device. Anonymous usage counts - that the app was opened, and that a product was viewed. These carry only a random device ID used to avoid double-counting, and the raw records are deleted within 48 hours, leaving nothing but anonymous daily totals. And anything you post publicly - carts, reviews, comments - stored under your alias.

Question 18

Do you collect my name, email or phone number?

Accepted Answer

No. There is no screen in the app that asks for any of them. We never learn who you are, and we'd like to keep it that way.

Question 19

Do you track my location?

Accepted Answer

No. The app never requests location permission and holds no location data of any kind.

Question 20

Why do you collect anything at all?

Accepted Answer

To know how many people use the app and which products interest them. The device ID exists purely so one person viewing something ten times counts as one person, not ten - a deduplication buffer, not a profile. It's deleted after 48 hours.

Question 21

How is content moderated?

Accepted Answer

Three layers. Submitted text passes automated moderation before publishing, is checked against a banned-terms list, and can be reported by any user. Content reported by enough people is hidden automatically.

Question 22

Why can't I post links?

Accepted Answer

Links, email addresses, social handles and phone numbers are blocked in all user-posted text. It keeps the place free of spam and stops anyone publishing contact details - theirs or someone else's.

Question 23

Someone posted something awful. What do I do?

Accepted Answer

Tap the report flag on the review, cart or comment. Enough reports hide it automatically, and reported content is reviewable.

Question 24

Can I delete a review or comment I posted?

Accepted Answer

Public posts are tied only to a random ID. Use your secure code (Account → Delulu Identity) and email us what you'd like removed.

Question 25

Can I win real prizes?

Accepted Answer

Some Challenges may carry prizes, announced with each Challenge. Full terms are on the prize terms page inside the app.

Question 26

How do I claim a prize?

Accepted Answer

Open Account → Delulu Identity, tap to reveal your secure code, and email it to us with the Challenge name. We match the code to your entry and confirm once the Challenge has closed.

Question 27

Is it first-come, first-served?

Accepted Answer

No. Winners are confirmed after the deadline, never first-come. There's no rush, and if two people claim the same entry we resolve it manually before anything is awarded.

Question 28

What if I lose my secure code?

Accepted Answer

If you've uninstalled or deleted your data, it's gone and the claim goes with it. Reveal it and keep it somewhere safe - ideally not your camera roll.

Question 29

Which devices does it work on?

Accepted Answer

Android phones running Android 8.0 (Oreo) or newer.

Question 30

Is there an iPhone version?

Accepted Answer

Not at launch. Delulu Kart is Android only for now. An iOS version is being considered based on how the Android release goes.

Question 31

Which countries is it available in?

Accepted Answer

India-first, priced in rupees, distributed via the Google Play Store.

Question 32

Why is everything priced in rupees?

Accepted Answer

Because the app was built in India, for India, and a fantasy priced in someone else's currency isn't much of a fantasy.

Every question about an app that sells nothing

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