MODERN
Napoleon
How did a Corsican artillery officer become Emperor of the French by 1804?
1769–1821France
History for iPhone
The past, one swipe at a time.
Delva is a swipeable feed of history. Bite-sized cards, with the depth of an encyclopedia behind every one. Built for the curious, not the classroom.
Free to download. £7.99/month or £59.99/year to keep swiping, cancel any time.
MEDIEVAL
Genghis Khan
A 10,000-man Keshig, raids to the Caspian, and Jin tribute horses — the scale of his rise.
1162–1227Mongolia
EARLY MODERN
Dancing Plague of 1518
In July 1518 a woman began dancing in a Strasbourg street. Within a month, dozens had joined her — and could not stop.
1518Strasbourg
ANCIENT
Pangaea
Magnetic minerals in ancient rocks let geologists rebuild Pangaea's lost shorelines.
335–200 MaGlobal
MEDIEVAL
War of the Bucket
Modena and Bologna went to war in 1325. The trophy was an oak bucket — and Modena keeps it still.
1325Northern Italy
SourcedEvery topic starts from Wikipedia and Wikidata, then gets rebuilt for the feed.
Under a minuteA card front reads in seconds. The depth is there when you want it.
Ranked for youThe feed learns what grips you and serves more of it.
Made in LondonBy a two-person team who wanted this app to exist.
How it works
Swipe. Go deep. Play.
Two directions, two meanings. Up and down moves between topics. Left and right takes you deeper into the one in front of you.
1
Swipe
A vertical feed of the past — emperors, plagues, ideas, geology, revolutions. Each card opens with one hook that earns the next second of your attention.
2
Go deep
Swipe sideways and the card unfolds: chapters, quotes, timelines, the odd fact you'll repeat at dinner. Encyclopedia depth, built to be read on a phone.
3
Play
Quizzes and comparison games built from the cards you've read. Not homework — a way to find out what stuck.
Inside a card
Napoleon, unfolded.
This is what sits behind one card front. Every widget is written from the sources, in a register that fits the subject — a grave topic is never played for laughs.
Content shown is a real Delva card, lightly trimmed to fit this page.
What's in the feed
From Pangaea to the Cold War.
Five eras, every continent, and a growing library that widens every week. Not just kings and battles — the ideas, the plagues, the rocks and the bucket wars too.
AncientMedievalEarly modernModernContemporary
Ancient Rome
Cold War
French Revolution
Silk Road
Genghis Khan
Pangaea
Dancing Plague of 1518
Stoicism
Ottoman Empire
War of the Bucket
Cadaver Synod
Meiji Restoration
Great Emu War
Black Death
Cleopatra
The Enlightenment
Pricing
One subscription. All of it.
Delva is free to download. A subscription unlocks the full feed, every card back, and the games. Prices include VAT.
Monthly
£7.99 / month
Billed monthly. Renews automatically.
- The full feed, unlimited swipes
- Every card back — chapters, quotes, timelines
- Quizzes and comparison games
Save 37%
Annual
£59.99 / year
Billed annually — about £5.00 a month. Renews automatically.
- Everything in Monthly
- Two months' worth cheaper than paying monthly
- One renewal a year to think about
Subscriptions are charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase and renew automatically at the same price unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel any time in iPhone Settings → your name → Subscriptions. See the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
What exactly is Delva?
A history app shaped like a feed. You scroll through cards — one topic each — and swipe sideways into the ones that catch you. Behind every front is an encyclopedia-depth read broken into chapters, quotes, timelines and facts, then quizzes to see what stayed.
Is it free?
Downloading Delva is free and lets you see what the feed is like. Keeping the full feed, every card back and the games needs a subscription: £7.99 a month or £59.99 a year, including VAT.
How do I cancel?
Subscriptions are handled by Apple, so cancelling takes a few taps and never requires emailing anyone: open Settings on your iPhone, tap your name, then Subscriptions, choose Delva and tap Cancel Subscription. You keep access until the end of the period you've paid for. Refund requests also go to Apple, at reportaproblem.apple.com.
Where does the content come from?
Every topic begins with its Wikipedia article and Wikidata record. From there the card is rebuilt for the feed — a hook on the front, chapters and widgets behind — and checked against the source. Quotes are only used when they are attested. If you ever spot an error, tell us and we'll fix the card.
Is there an Android version?
Not yet. Delva is iPhone-only for now. Android is on the list; the fastest way to hear when it lands is to email us and ask.
How is the feed personalised?
Delva watches what you do inside the app — which cards you linger on, swipe past, save or read to the end — and ranks the next cards accordingly. It uses nothing from outside the app. The details are in the Privacy Policy.
Who is Delva for?
Anyone curious. You need to be 13 or over to use it, and history is history — some cards deal with grave subjects, and they are written with the weight they deserve.
Who makes it?
A two-person team in London, trading as Episteme Labs Ltd. You can reach us any time at [email protected].
Your next rabbit hole is one swipe away.
Download Delva on the App Store. Free to try, £7.99 a month or £59.99 a year to keep going.
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