Orbit
Stay in each other’s Orbit.
Simple, inexpensive, non-invasive, privacy-respectful location sharing.
Free forever for the essentials. No card needed to start.
Why Orbit
Built to do one thing well
Most location apps grow into something else: driving reports, insurance offers, social feeds. Orbit shows where your people are, and stops there.
Inexpensive
One price for a whole circle, not one per person. Thirty days free to start, and no card asked for until you have decided.
Non-invasive
Orbit reports where you are, not what you did. No driving scores, no crash detection, no behavioural profile.
Privacy-respectful
Your location goes to the people in your circles and nowhere else. It is never sold, shared, or used to target you.
Lightweight
A position after about 75 metres of movement, not a constant stream. Orbit stops reporting entirely when you are still.
Realtime
Positions arrive as they happen over a live connection, so the map is current the moment you open it.
No clutter
A map, your circle, a timeline. No feeds, no badges, no upsells buried in the interface.
How it works
Three things to set up, then nothing
Create a circle
A circle is the small group you share with. Invite people with a short code that expires after a week.
Share when you want to
Positions update as you move and stop when you are still. Pause any circle with one switch, and everyone in it can see that you have.
Know what matters
Set a place like home or school and get told when someone arrives or leaves. Raise an SOS and every circle hears at once.
For parents
Setting up a child
A supervised member shares their location from the moment they join, and it is not theirs to switch off. Setting one up takes about a minute, and there is nothing hidden about it — they are told, and shown who set it.
Start a circle
Create it in the Orbit app. You will be asked to confirm your email address first, which is what keeps a free trial to one per person.
Make a supervised invite
On the Circle tab, under Invite, tap "Create supervised invite". You get a second code, separate from the ordinary one — which is what lets you add a partner and a child on different terms.
Send it to their phone
Share the link or read out the code. They install Orbit, make their own account, and enter it. Codes expire after seven days.
What it stops
- Enforced: They cannot pause location sharing.
- Enforced: They cannot leave the circle — only an admin can remove them.
- Enforced: They cannot join another circle, or start one of their own.
- Enforced: They cannot be made an admin of the circle while supervised.
What it does not do
- Limit: It is not hidden. The Circle screen tells them sharing is on, that an admin manages it, and who that is.
- Limit: SOS keeps working for them, and always will.
- Limit: Orbit cannot override the phone. Someone can still deny location permission in the operating system, turn the phone off, or delete the app — Orbit will show that their position has gone stale, but it cannot prevent it.
- Limit: Lifting supervision is one switch for an admin, and it hands the choice back.
Supervision is meant for someone you are responsible for. Using it on an adult who has not agreed to it is not what it is for, and Orbit tells them either way.
Privacy
Your location is not the product
Orbit makes money from subscriptions. That is the whole business model, which is what makes the commitments below possible to keep.
No data selling
Orbit has no advertising business and no data partners. Your location is not a product, and there is no arrangement under which it could become one.
No third-party tracking SDKs
The apps ship no analytics, attribution, or advertising SDKs. Nothing in Orbit reports your behaviour to a company you have never heard of.
Minimal data collection
An email address, a display name, your circles, and recent positions. Location history is kept for 90 days and then deleted.
Clear controls
Pause sharing for any circle with one switch, and others can see that you have. Nothing is hidden behind a setting that only appears to work.
Pricing
One price for the whole circle
Not one per person. A circle of six costs the same as a circle of two, and the first thirty days are free without a card.
30 days free
The whole thing, for a month. No card, no reminders to cancel.
Free
No card asked for.
- Included: Every feature below
- Included: No payment details asked for
- Included: One trial per person
A circle
One price for the whole circle, however many people are in it.
$5per month
or $50 per year
- Included: Up to 10 people in the circle
- Included: Up to 10 saved places
- Included: Realtime location on the map
- Included: Arrival and departure alerts
- Included: SOS to every circle at once
- Included: Check-ins from your phone or watch
- Included: 90 days of location history
- Included: Apple Watch and Wear OS
Subscriptions are managed here on the web. The Orbit app reads your entitlement and unlocks Plus features automatically.
Questions
Before you install it
Can someone track me without my knowing?
No. You join a circle deliberately with an invite code, and you can see everyone in it. Most members can pause sharing whenever they like. Some invites — the ones a parent uses for a child — keep sharing on instead, and Orbit says so on the circle screen, before and after joining. There is no hidden or silent mode either way.
How much battery does it use?
Orbit reports after roughly 75 metres of movement rather than continuously, and stops while you are stationary. On iOS and Android the operating system also shows you that location is in use.
What happens if I stop paying?
The circle stops showing positions and its map is replaced by a note explaining why. Nothing is deleted — its places and history come back the moment you subscribe again. SOS keeps working regardless, and you can cancel from the billing page at any time.
Can I leave a circle without anyone knowing?
Leaving is visible to the circle, because a member quietly vanishing would be worse than one who left openly. If you only want to stop sharing for a while, pause instead.