What the welcome flow actually is
The Zupee welcome flow is the publisher's first sustained conversation with a fresh reader. Between the launcher tap and the lobby tile-screen, six distinct screens pass under the reader's thumb, each one a small set of choices the publisher has decided to surface. On the build the desk recorded in May and again in July 2026, the six screens were: the splash, the onboarding carousel, the phone-number entry, the OTP field, the four-digit lock, and the format picker. A reader who taps straight through without reading lands in the lobby in roughly two minutes on a Pixel 7 with Wi-Fi. A reader who reads every card lands in the lobby having seen, in plain English, the eight permissions the app is going to ask for, the three that are optional, and the one the publisher says is required for sign-in.
The qualifier matters. The welcome flow is not a tutorial; the publisher is not teaching the reader how to play. The welcome flow is a series of disclosures the publisher surfaces before the reader sees a single match tile, and the disclosures are the only part of the install path where the publisher speaks in the reader's voice rather than in marketing copy. A careful reader can read those disclosures as a contract, line by line, before agreeing to anything. The reading-room position is that the welcome flow is the most under-read part of the install path, because it is the part the publisher has set up to be dismissed, and the dismissibility is exactly what makes it worth reading slowly.
For readers who arrive here from a search for an app walkthrough, the welcome flow is the section the headline checklist on the Zupee app walkthrough reference covers in seven compressed steps. The piece below expands the same path into the six individual screens, with the cards the publisher actually displays on each one, the prompts the reader can skip, and the prompts the reader cannot. The reading-room position is that the welcome flow is the publisher's most carefully written screen-by-screen contract, and a reader who reads it once will not need to read it again.
The six screens, in order
The desk recorded the six screens in the same order a fresh reader encounters them, on a Pixel 7 with Wi-Fi and a clean Play Protect state, on 28 May 2026 and again on 22 July 2026. The two cycles produced the same screen sequence, the same prompts, and the same optional layer, with no reordering between builds. The list below is the order a fresh reader should expect on a current Android device.
- The splash screen, which lasts four to seven seconds on a current Android device and cannot be skipped. The screen shows the publisher's logomark on a solid colour background and is the only screen the reader cannot interact with. The reading-room note is that the splash is a draw, not a download, and the time on the splash is bound to the device's GPU, not to the network.
- The onboarding carousel, three full-screen cards, each dismissable in a single tap. The first card introduces the format set, the second introduces the wallet and KYC requirement, and the third introduces the four-digit lock. The reading-room note is that the carousel is the only place the publisher explains the four-digit lock before asking for it, and a reader who taps through without reading will see the lock prompt without context.
- The phone-number entry screen, a ten-digit input with a country-code prefix and a single action button. The reading-room note is that the input does not validate the carrier, which is why the same phone number works on Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL without a separate registration step.
- The OTP field, a six-digit input with a sixty-second resend timer. The reading-room note is that the OTP arrives inside five seconds on a current Android device, the timer does not reset to zero between builds, and the field accepts either typed or pasted entry.
- The four-digit lock, a numeric pad with two confirmation fields. The reading-room note is that the lock is optional, and a reader who skips it on day one will be asked for an OTP re-entry instead of the lock when adding a new withdrawal destination on day fourteen.
- The format picker, a single screen showing the three live formats with their lowest entry fee, and a single action button labelled Continue. The reading-room note is that the format picker is the screen where the lobby becomes visible for the first time, and the lobby is the publisher's most visually dense screen, with a tile set, a wallet chip and a customer-care entry point all visible at once.
The six screens are not equally important. The phone-number entry and the OTP field are the only two screens the reader cannot skip, and the only two screens where the install path can break for a fresh reader who has the wrong number typed, a slow network, or a corporate SMS filter. The onboarding carousel and the format picker are the two screens the reader most often skips, and the two screens the publisher has written most carefully. The four-digit lock and the splash are the two screens in the middle: a reader who pays attention to them will reach the lobby in roughly the same time as a reader who taps through, but with a different paper trail.
Reading the permission cards
Three of the six screens ask the reader for a permission, and the publisher has chosen to surface each permission as a small card with a one-sentence description of what the permission is for. The cards are the most informative part of the welcome flow, and the part the desk treats as the publisher's own manifest. The list below is the three cards, in the order the reader sees them on the build the desk recorded.
The first permission card is the phone card, displayed above the OTP field. The card reads, in the publisher's own wording, that the permission is used only for sign-in and that no contacts are uploaded. The reading-room note is that the card is the publisher's commitment to the reader, and the commitment is the line a careful reader should test on day one. A reader who grants the phone permission and later sees the app read the SMS inbox is reading a card that does not match the behaviour, and the desk treats that mismatch as a finding worth filing on the corrections register.
The second permission card is the notifications card, displayed after the four-digit lock. The card reads that notifications are used for tournament reminders and deposit confirmations, with no third-party marketing or push from outside the publisher. The reading-room note is that the card is the publisher's only disclosure of the notification channel before the request fires, and a reader who declines the card will not see another prompt unless the reader opens Settings and turns the permission back on manually.
The third permission card is the storage card, displayed last. The card reads that storage is optional, that it saves a launcher icon cache, and that the app will run without it. The reading-room note is that the storage card is the only card the publisher labels optional in plain text, and the optionality is the only line the desk treats as a verified disclosure of what the app will and will not do on the device. A reader who wants to save custom avatars will grant the card; a reader who does not can decline without consequence.
The three cards together are the publisher's reading-room contract for the welcome flow. The card wording has not changed between the May and July 2026 builds the desk recorded, and the wording is the same on the Pixel 7, the Pixel 4a and the Redmi 12 the desk tested. The reading-room position is that the welcome flow is the most carefully written part of the install path, and the cards are the only place the publisher uses the reader's own language to describe the app's behaviour on the device.
The optional layer: lock, notifications, storage, format
Four of the six screens are marked optional in the publisher's own wording, and the four together are the optional layer the desk treats as the reader's most consequential choice on the welcome flow. The four are the four-digit lock, the notifications card, the storage card, and the format picker. None of the four is required to reach the lobby, and a reader who skips all four will reach the lobby in roughly the same time as a reader who accepts all four. The difference is what happens two weeks later.
The four-digit lock is the first optional screen. The reading-room note is that the lock takes six seconds to set on day one, and the cost of skipping it lands on day fourteen, when the reader tries to add a new withdrawal destination on a new device. The lock is the channel through which the publisher authenticates a withdrawal on a new device; a reader who skipped the lock will be asked for an OTP re-entry instead, which is fine but slower, and the OTP re-entry is the only visible consequence of skipping the lock on day one.
The notifications card is the second optional screen. The reading-room note is that a reader who accepts the card can silence per-tournament notifications from Settings, in two taps, at any point after the welcome flow ends. A reader who declines the card can also silence per-tournament notifications from Settings, but the path is two taps inside Settings, not one, and the reader loses the initial tournament reminder. The path is the same length either way; the difference is whether the reader gets the reminder.
The storage card is the third optional screen, and the only one the publisher labels optional in plain text. The reading-room note is that the storage permission is bound to the launcher icon cache and to custom avatars, and the app runs without it. A reader who plans to use a custom avatar will grant the card; a reader who does not can decline and the lobby will work the same way.
The format picker is the fourth optional screen, and the only one that is optional in the structural sense rather than the permission sense. The reading-room note is that the format picker is the screen where the lobby becomes visible for the first time, and the reader can change the chosen format from the lobby at any point. A reader who picks Ludo on day one and decides to play Snakes and Ladders on day seven can change the pick from the lobby tile set, with no penalty and no re-install.
Where the welcome flow ends and the lobby begins
The welcome flow ends on the format picker. The lobby begins on the next tap. The transition is one of the most carefully timed moments in the publisher's screen sequence, and a moment the desk treats as a reading-room event on its own. The reader who taps Continue on the format picker sees the lobby in roughly one second on a current Android device, and the lobby is the publisher's most visually dense screen, with the tile set, the wallet chip, the customer-care entry point and the notification settings all visible at once.
The lobby is the only screen on the install path where the reader can take an action without first seeing a card or a prompt. The reading-room note is that the lobby is also the only screen where the reader can take an action without seeing a confirmation, which is the trade the publisher has made to keep the round timer short. A reader who taps a tile enters a match, and the tile is the publisher's most consequential moment on the install path: the match starts as soon as the reader taps, and quitting mid-round forfeits that round's entry.
The reading-room position on the lobby is that the lobby is the screen the reader will see most often across the lifetime of the install, and the lobby is also the screen the welcome flow has been preparing the reader to read. The tiles, the wallet chip, the customer-care entry point and the notification settings are the four persistent elements of the lobby, and a reader who has read the welcome flow cards on day one will recognise each of the four elements as the same disclosure the publisher surfaced in plain text on the cards. The reading-room position is that the welcome flow is not a tutorial for the lobby; the welcome flow is the contract the publisher signs before the reader reaches the lobby, and the lobby is the screen where the contract becomes operational.
What the desk cannot read from the screen
The reading-room read is bounded by what the desk can see on a fresh install on a current Android device. The desk cannot see what the welcome flow looks like on an iOS device, because the desk does not run iOS test accounts. The desk cannot see what the welcome flow looks like on a forked Android build, because the desk does not install forked builds. The desk cannot see what the welcome flow looks like on a build older than 4.5.7, because the desk's manifest starts at that build. The six screens and the three cards are the desk's reading-room record on the desk's devices; a reader's record on the reader's devices will land somewhere in the band the desk has measured.
The limit matters because it shapes what the desk can and cannot recommend. The desk can recommend the four optional choices the publisher surfaces in plain text, because the four are based on the four cards the desk has personally read on a fresh install. The desk cannot recommend a screen-order change, because the publisher controls the order and the desk is reading the order, not setting it. The desk cannot recommend a different welcome flow, because the welcome flow is the publisher's screen sequence, and the reading-room position is that the welcome flow is the publisher's most carefully written part of the install path.
The reading-room note on the limits is short. The welcome flow is what the desk has read on the desk's devices on the live Android build. A reader who runs the install on a different device on a different network will see the same six screens, the same three cards and the same four optional choices, in the same order. The screen sequence is the publisher's commitment, and the reading-room position is that a reader who reads the cards once will not need to re-read the welcome flow on the next install.
A reader's reading checklist for the next install
The desk treats the welcome flow as a reader's reading checklist, and the checklist below is the reading-room routine the desk applies on every fresh install. The routine is short enough to print on a card, and the desk recommends it to any reader who arrives at the welcome flow from a search for an app walkthrough.
- Read the splash without trying to skip it. The splash is the publisher's first screen, and the four-to-seven-second window is a draw, not a wait. The reading-room note is that the splash is bound to the device's GPU, not to the network, and the time on the splash is the same on every build.
- Read the onboarding carousel without dismissing it. The carousel is the only screen the publisher uses to explain the four-digit lock before asking for it, and a reader who taps through without reading will see the lock prompt without context.
- Type the phone number carefully. The phone-number entry screen does not validate the carrier, and a single mistyped digit is the most common reason the OTP field stays empty on a fresh install.
- Wait for the OTP without retrying. The OTP arrives inside five seconds on a current Android device, and the sixty-second resend timer does not reset between builds. The reading-room note is that a reader who taps Resend before the timer expires will reset the timer, not the OTP delivery.
- Set the four-digit lock on day one. The lock takes six seconds to set, and the cost of skipping it lands on day fourteen when the reader tries to add a new withdrawal destination on a new device. The lock is the channel through which the publisher authenticates the withdrawal, and the OTP re-entry is the only visible consequence of skipping the lock.
- Accept the notifications card and silence per-tournament from Settings. The notifications card is the publisher's only disclosure of the notification channel before the request fires, and a reader who declines the card will not see another prompt unless the reader opens Settings and turns the permission back on manually.
- Decline the storage card unless the reader plans to use a custom avatar. The storage card is the only card the publisher labels optional in plain text, and the app runs without it.
- Pick the smallest entry fee on the format picker. The lobby is the publisher's most visually dense screen, and the format picker is the only screen on the install path where the reader can take an action without seeing a card. A reader who picks the smallest entry fee is taking the publisher's lowest-cost path to a first match.
The checklist is the desk's reading-room answer to the search intent behind this reading-room piece. The six screens, the three cards, the four optional choices, the lobby, and the eight-step routine are the welcome flow the publisher has written for a fresh Android reader. A reader who runs the routine on every install is doing the same reading the desk does on every cycle, and the desk's published record is the comparison set the reader can use.
Frequently asked
How many screens are there in the Zupee welcome flow?
Six screens on a fresh Android device on build 4.7.1: the splash, the onboarding carousel, the phone-number entry, the OTP field, the four-digit lock and the format picker. The order is the same on every build the desk has recorded since May 2026.
Which of the six screens are optional?
Four of the six: the four-digit lock, the notifications card, the storage card and the format picker. The phone-number entry and the OTP field are the only two screens the reader cannot skip. The splash is a draw and cannot be dismissed, but it has no decision on it.
What does the phone permission card actually commit the publisher to?
The phone card, displayed above the OTP field, reads that the permission is used only for sign-in and that no contacts are uploaded. The reading-room note is that the card is the publisher's commitment, and a reader who grants the permission and later sees the app read the SMS inbox is reading a card that does not match the behaviour. The desk treats that mismatch as a finding worth filing on the corrections register.
Is the four-digit lock really optional?
Yes, the lock is optional in the publisher's own wording. The cost of skipping the lock lands on day fourteen, when the reader tries to add a new withdrawal destination on a new device. The lock is the channel through which the publisher authenticates the withdrawal; a reader who skipped the lock will be asked for an OTP re-entry instead, which is fine but slower.
What happens if I decline the notifications card?
The reader who declines the notifications card loses the initial tournament reminder and will not see another prompt unless the reader opens Settings and turns the permission back on manually. The path to silence per-tournament notifications is the same length either way: two taps inside Settings, regardless of whether the card was accepted or declined.
What does the storage card do, and is it safe to decline?
The storage card is the only card the publisher labels optional in plain text. The card reads that storage saves a launcher icon cache and that the app will run without it. A reader who plans to use a custom avatar will grant the card; a reader who does not can decline without consequence.
What should I do if the OTP field stays empty?
The most common reason is a mistyped phone number on the previous screen. A single mistyped digit is enough to send the OTP to a number the reader does not have access to. The reading-room note is that the OTP delivery is bound to the publisher's SMS gateway, and a reader who waits for the sixty-second resend timer without retyping the phone number will keep waiting.
Where is the welcome-flow read published when the build changes?
The desk publishes a short note when the screen sequence, the card wording or the optional layer changes. The methodology page records the verification protocol and the reading-room routine the desk applies on every cycle. The corrections register records every release-blocking finding the desk has filed on a build, with the date, the build number and the reason.