For macOS
Keepyourpeople.Letnewonesin.
Give everyone a rhythm, from your oldest friend to someone you met last week. Orbit reads your Messages on this Mac, never anywhere else, and tells you who has slipped behind.
The people you would drop everything for are the ones you forget to text.
Orbit sits in your menu bar. You say how often you want to keep up with someone, and it tells you when that person has slipped behind. That is the whole app.
You choose the rhythm.
Every week for the handful you cannot lose. Every month for good friends. Every three months for the ones who drift in and out and always come back.
Everyone’s in orbit
Nothing needs you today.
read locally just now lives on your Mac network: update check only
Orbit counts the days.
It reads your Messages history on this Mac and works out who you have actually spoken to. There is no account, no upload, and no server on the other end.
Mominner ring · 2 days agohow did the interview go?? i’ve been thinking about you all week
read locally just now lives on your Mac network: update check only
When someone slips behind, it says so.
One name, and the option to send or snooze.
Grandmainner ringBeen 12 days.You usually talk about weekly.
read locally just now lives on your Mac network: update check only
Everyone’s in orbit
Nothing needs you today.
read locally just now lives on your Mac network: update check only
And then it happens again next week.
Orbit is not a one-time tidy up of your contacts. It is the same quiet check, every week, for as long as you keep it. Most weeks it has nothing to say, and that is the point.
week 3
week 6Six weeks of Orbit. Two of them had a name in them.
macOS 14 or later Mac with Apple chip (M1 or newer) free beta
read locally your messages stay here network: update check only
Portraits are illustrations, not photographs.
Forty seconds of Orbit.
What Orbit asks your Mac for.
Full Disk Access.
Your texts live in one file on your Mac. Apple only lets an app read it with Full Disk Access. Orbit reads that file and nothing else.
Contacts, optional.
So you see “Maya” and not a phone number.
Calendar, optional.
Only if you want to add birthday reminders, or plans Orbit spots in a text.
The internet, once a day.
To check for a new version of Orbit. You can switch that off.
Signed and notarized by Apple. No account. Your texts never leave your Mac.
Things people ask.
Does Orbit read my messages?
Yes, but locally on your Mac. That’s how it knows who you owe a text. It never sends them anywhere. They never leave your computer.
Does it text people for me?
Never on its own. You write the reply and press Send. There is a brief pause to undo a send.
Does it work on an Intel Mac?
Not yet. Apple chips only.
Does it cost anything?
No. It’s a free beta.
How do I delete it?
Quit it and drag it to the Trash. To erase its data too, delete the Orbit folder in Application Support. Then it’s gone.