How can we help?

Orbit is a free chat app for friend groups. It has servers, channels, direct messages, friends, presence and voice.

Use it in your browser, or install it from there as an app.

Right-click your server's name (or open its menu) and choose Invite people. Then:

1. Copy the link that appears.
2. Send it to a friend.

The link lasts 7 days by default. The Link expires box offers 1 hour, 1 day, 7 days or Never.

Anyone with the link can make an account and join, so share it only with people you want in.

Open an invite link while you are logged in. Then:

1. Check the Join window.
2. Press Join server.

To paste a link instead, use the + beside the server rail (Create a server) and choose Join a server.

No link? Ask a member for one, or look in Discover servers for public servers.

Settings is the gear in your account strip at the bottom left. It has:

• Voice and audio
• Appearance
• Accessibility
• Status and away
• Notifications
• App
• My account
• Legal

A server's own settings are in the menu you get by clicking the server's name. You need permission to see them.

Open Direct messages, then Friends.

1. Go to the Add friend tab.
2. Type their username and send a request.
3. They accept it under Pending.

The Online and All tabs show your friends. You can also click a person's name and choose Add friend.

Not available yet: threads, forums, stickers, custom emoji, bots, server nicknames and onboarding.

Permissions greyed out in the roles screen mark features that do not exist yet.

To suggest one, email support@orbithq.chat.

Anyone can sign up. No invite is needed.

1. Open Orbit and choose Create an account.
2. Give an email, a username, a password and your date of birth. Orbit keeps only your age group from it.
3. Confirm your email with the 6-digit code.

You log in with your email and password. There is no phone-number login.

Go to Settings > My account and press Change next to your email or password.

• A new email needs a 6-digit code sent to it.
• Saving a new password logs you out of your other devices.

Forgot your password? Use Forgot password on the sign-in screen. A reset link is emailed to the address on your account.

To delete a message: open its menu and choose Delete message. You can delete your own. People with Manage messages can delete others'.

To delete your account:

1. Go to Settings > My account > Delete account.
2. Choose what happens to your messages and servers.

It is deleted in 14 days unless you log in first. With a verified email you can delete at once.

Cannot sign in? See Delete your Orbit account for the steps and how to ask by email.

Not yet. Settings > My account shows Two-step verification as Coming soon.

Until then, use a long password you use nowhere else.

Go to Settings > My account.

• Log out signs out this device.
• Where you're logged in lists your devices, each with a Log out button.
• Log out of all other devices signs out the rest.

Go to Settings > My account > About you to see your age group.

• You can move up there.
• To move down, email support@orbithq.chat.

Orbit keeps only your group from the date of birth you gave at sign-up. A birthday you add to your profile for the Birthdays app is separate and optional.

You must be 13 or older to have an account.

Go to Settings > Notifications.

• Desktop notifications covers while Orbit is open.
• To get them with Orbit closed too, press Turn on notifications under When Orbit is closed. Your browser asks for permission.

Message sounds is there as well. A Busy status mutes notifications.

Quiet hours sets a daily window with no sounds, desktop notifications or pushes. Choose From and To. It follows you to every device.

To mute a channel or a server, see How do I mute a channel? and How do I mute or ignore a server?

Notifications work while Orbit is open in Microsoft Edge, but stop once the tab is closed.

Why it happens

On Windows, Edge's push connection can go stale when the PC uses temporary IPv6 addresses. Windows rotates them, and some routers give them short lifetimes. Clearing Edge's browsing data also removes Orbit's permission.

Fix it

1. In Edge, go to Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Notifications. Check app.orbithq.chat is under Allow. Or click the bell in the address bar and choose Allow.
2. Restart the PC. Advanced: in an admin PowerShell, run Restart-Service -Name WpnService -Force.
3. In Orbit, go to Settings > Notifications. Under When Orbit is closed, press Turn on notifications. If it says notifications are on, press Turn off for this device first, then turn them on again.
4. Close the tab and check that a notification arrives.

If it keeps happening

Set a longer IPv6 router advertisement lifetime on your router. Advanced, with a privacy trade-off: netsh interface ipv6 set privacy state=disabled.

Right-click the channel and choose Mute channel. On a phone, long-press it in the channel list.

1. Choose how long: For 15 minutes, For 1 hour, For 3 hours, For 8 hours, For 24 hours or Until I turn it back on.
2. To bring it back, right-click the channel and choose Unmute channel.

A muted channel gives no sound, desktop notification or push, and adds nothing to the server's badge. A mention of you by name still comes through. Your choice follows you to every device.

Choose what a channel tells you about

1. Right-click the channel and choose Notification settings.
2. Under Notify me about, pick Server default, All messages, Only mentions or Nothing.
3. To hide its unread mark, choose Unfollow channel.

Mute a conversation

1. Open the ... menu in the conversation's header. On a computer you can also right-click it in Messages.
2. Choose Mute conversation, then how long.

Click the server name at the top of the channel list and choose Notification settings. On a phone, open the channel list first. You can also right-click the server in the server list, or long-press it on a phone.

1. Under Notify me about, pick Server default, All messages, Only mentions or Nothing.
2. To mute it, choose a length under Mute server: from For 15 minutes to Until I turn it back on.
3. To hide its unread marks and badges, turn on Ignore server.

Other switches

• Suppress @everyone and @here and Suppress all role mentions leave those pings out, so only mentions of you by name count.
• Mentions while muted lets a mention of you through when the server is muted or ignored. Turn it off for total quiet.
• Push notifications chooses whether this server sends notifications to your phone.

Type @ and pick a person from the list.

• They see the message highlighted.
• Their server shows an unread mention.
• They get a desktop notification if they want one.

@everyone and @here ping everyone who may use them.

Type @ and pick the role from the list. Roles are tagged Role in the suggestions.

Everyone with that role who can see the channel gets the mention, with the same highlight an @name mention gives.

A role only pings its members when it is marked Mentionable, unless the sender may mention everyone.

It reads Markdown:

• **bold**, *italic*, ~~strike~~, ||spoilers|| and `inline code`
• code blocks, quotes, lists and headings

The Formatting buttons add them for you.

• Enter sends. Shift+Enter starts a new line.
• The paperclip attaches files. The buttons beside it add a mention, a GIF or an emoji.
• On a phone these are under the + button.

Hover a message (or tap its three dots) to open its menu. It has Reply, Edit message, Quote, Forward, Copy text, Pin message, Bookmark message, Create reminder, Mark unread, Copy message link and more.

Press Up in an empty box to edit your last message.

After an edit, the author and people whose role has View edit history can open the earlier versions. Other members cannot.

Click the magnifier in the channel header and type words in any order.

To narrow it, add filters:

• from:, in:, has:, mentions:
• before:, after:, during:, pinned:

"Quoted phrases" work too. A search with no letter or number in it cannot be run.

Open a message's menu and choose Pin message. You need the Pin messages permission.

Pinned messages are behind the pin icon in the channel header. A channel holds up to 50.

Open a message's menu and choose Bookmark message.

Bookmarks collect in the Saved panel (the Saved button in the top bar). It also holds Catch up, reminders, scheduled messages and your private notes on messages.

To set a reminder:

1. Open a message's menu and choose Create reminder.
2. Pick a time, such as In 1 hour or Tomorrow.

To send a message later:

1. Write it.
2. Press the clock button (Send later) beside Send. Or right-click Send (hold it on a phone).

Scheduled messages send even if you close Orbit. Reminders and scheduled messages are listed in the Saved panel.

A channel opens with a New messages line at your first unread message.

• Mark as read is in the unread banner and the channel's menu.
• Mark all as read is in the server's menu.
• To get a message back on your list, open its menu and choose Mark unread.
• Catch up (in the Saved panel) gathers unread mentions and replies.

Press Direct messages in the left rail, then choose:

• New message for one person.
• New group for up to 10 people including you.

You can message friends and people you share a server with.

In a group, click its name in the header to rename it or change its picture. The x beside it in the list leaves it.

Click GIF in the message box to search KLIPY and send one.

• Keep one with Add to favourites in its message menu.
• Show GIFs in Settings > Appearance turns them off.

Server owners can turn GIFs off for their server.

Hover a message for its quick reactions. Or choose Add reaction in its menu for the emoji picker.

Click a reaction you added again to take it back.

Use the paperclip in the message box. You can attach:

• Pictures (PNG, JPG, GIF or WebP) up to 10 MB
• Videos (MP4, MOV or WebM) up to 20 MB
• .txt text files up to 1 MB

A message can carry up to 4 files.

Attach it like a picture.

A video over 20 MB is compressed in your browser first. The tile shows how far it has got, and its x cancels. If it already fits, Send original skips compressing.

Older Safari and Firefox on Android cannot compress, so there a video must be 20 MB or less.

Videos play in the chat with full screen and a download button.

Click a voice channel to join.

• The dots next to people show who is talking.
• Your account strip has the mute and deafen buttons.
• Disconnect leaves.

People who manage channels set audio quality in the channel's settings, and an AFK channel can move idle people.

A moderator has used Mute members or Deafen members on you in that server's voice channels.

• Server muted: nobody hears you.
• Server deafened: you hear nobody and cannot speak.

Your voice bar says so, and you cannot undo it yourself. It stays when you leave and rejoin until a moderator lifts it.

Moderators do it from a member's profile card (hold Shift on the voice buttons, or Manage) or by right-clicking them: Server mute, Server deafen, and Disconnect from voice with Move members.

Open a conversation, then press:

• the phone button in its header for a voice call
• the video button for a video call

When someone calls a conversation you are in, an incoming-call banner appears with Join and Dismiss.

In a voice channel or call, use the buttons on the call view (and above your account strip) to turn on your camera or Share your screen.

Other people only receive a screen share once they press Watch.

Go to Settings > Voice and audio.

• Pick input and output devices and adjust volumes.
• Choose Noise suppression. Strong (RNNoise) filters keyboards and fans in your browser. Standard uses the browser's own.

The mic test and Hear myself let you check the result.

Click your picture at the bottom left, then Your profile. Or go to Settings > My account > Edit profile.

You can set:

• display name, pronouns and status message
• About me
• name colour and card accent
• profile picture, background (the picture at the top of your card) and user banner
• avatar frame and badges

Press Save changes when you are done.

Settings > Appearance picks the app's background colour for this device.

Your username cannot change. Orbit has no per-server nicknames.

1. Click your picture at the bottom left, then Your profile.
2. Write it in About me, under your status message.
3. Press Save changes.

It is plain text, up to 190 characters and 5 lines. It shows in an About section on your profile card.

Clear the box and save to remove it.

Your status is separate: the short line beside your picture.

User banners (once called user tabs) are pictures behind your row in member lists. Get them in the Dust store, then pick them in Your profile.

Backgrounds (once called banners) sit at the top of your profile card. They are not sold in the Dust store. In Your profile, upload your own or choose a free one from the library.

A server's own background is set by its owner in Server settings > Overview.

Dust is Orbit's in-app currency. Open the Dust button in the top bar for the store.

• Earn it by taking part: messages, time in voice and a daily check-in streak.
• Spend it on user banners and avatar frames. Some items are free.

Backgrounds are not in the store: upload your own, or pick one of the free backgrounds in Your profile.

The Orbit team gives badges to people. They cannot be bought.

Pick up to five you have in Your profile to show on your profile card.

Go to Settings > Status and away. Pick one:

• Online
• Away: turns on by itself after your idle time, only while you are Online.
• Busy: mutes sounds and notifications.
• Offline: hides you while you can still use everything.

An avatar frame is artwork drawn around your profile picture wherever it shows.

1. Get one in the Dust store, in the Avatar frames section. Free ones just need Use. Others cost Dust: press Buy.
2. Open Your profile.
3. Pick it under Avatar frame (or None to remove it).
4. Press Save changes.

Some frames reach past the edge of your picture. In tight places such as the member list they are drawn a little smaller so they never cover a name.

Press the + in the server rail (Create a server). Then choose to:

• start fresh
• start from a template like Friends hangout or Gaming squad
• import a Discord template

In a server, Create channel and Create category are in the server's menu. You need Manage channels.

Channels are Text, Voice or Board, and you can drag them to reorder.

Server settings has a Roles tab. Create roles, order them and tick what each may do.

• Channel permissions: open a channel's Edit channel > Permissions to allow or deny a role or person there. Denying View channels makes it private.
• Moderators: make a role with Manage messages, Kick, Ban or Timeout and give it from the Members tab. A person's menu has Kick, Ban and Timeout too.

Discover servers (the compass in the left rail) lists public servers to join.

To list yours:

1. Open Server settings > Overview.
2. Turn on Show in Discover.

Anyone on Orbit can then join without an invite. Staff can take a server out of Discover.

Open Server settings > Overview. Set the name, description, icon and background, then save.

Icons and backgrounds are PNG, JPG, GIF or WebP.

Both are in Server settings > Overview, and only the owner sees them.

• Transfer ownership asks for your password (and an emailed code if the server has more than 10 members). You stay as a member.
• Delete server cannot be undone. A server over 10 members is deleted only after you confirm from an emailed link.

Yes, from a Discord template.

1. Choose Create a server, then Import a Discord template.
2. Paste the template link.
3. Check the review screen.

Channels and roles come across.

Click the server's name, choose Leave server and confirm.

You need a new invite link to come back, or find it in Discover if it is public.

An owner cannot leave. Transfer ownership first, or delete the server in Server settings > Overview.

With the Temporary roles app on (Server settings > Apps):

1. Right-click a member and choose Give temp role.
2. Pick a role below your highest role.
3. Pick how long: 1 hour to a week, or a date.
4. Add a staff-only reason if you like.

It is removed on time and logged in the app's Log tab. The role chip on their profile card shows a countdown. Staff can extend it, change the end, make it permanent or end it now.

If the server turned on Self-assign roles, you can pick roles three ways:

• Open the server menu and choose Pick roles.
• Press the + after your roles on your own profile card.
• Tap chips on a Role shelf card in a channel.

Some roles are pick one, some have a limit, and some need another role or days in the server first. Some last a while and then end by themselves. You can extend or end those from the chip.

With the Welcome app on, each newcomer gets an arrival card in the welcome channel. It shows their avatar frame, name glow and a member number they keep.

• Press Wave to greet them. Any reaction counts, and they get one quiet notice.
• Newcomers see a private checklist inside their own card. Finishing stamps the card and may give a role.
• Close it with its x, or hide your own card with the ... button.

Staff set it up in Server settings > Apps > Welcome.

Open Server settings > Apps. You need Manage server.

• Each app has a switch to turn it on or off.
• Settings opens its page. Changes save by themselves and a Saved chip shows they are kept.
• Greyed cards marked Coming soon can't be turned on yet.

Apps post with an APP tag, only in channels you pick.

Ready now: Birthdays, Events and polls, Starboard, Counting game, Giveaways, Welcome, Self-assign roles and Temporary roles.

Polls come with the Events and polls app. You need Create polls.

1. In a channel, click the paperclip in the message box and choose Create poll. On a phone, use + then Poll.
2. Add a question and 2 to 10 answers.
3. Choose One answer or Several answers, and when it ends.

Hide who voted makes it anonymous for good.

Click an answer to vote. Remove my vote takes it back, and See who voted shows who picked what.

Events come with the Events and polls app. You need Create events.

1. Open Events in the server's channel list (or use the paperclip in the message box).
2. Press Create event.

Members answer Going, Maybe or Can't. Remind me sets a reminder for you. An event can ping the people who said Going before it starts.

Afterwards its host sees Who came. 10 minutes in the event's voice channel counts by itself, and anyone else can be ticked.

Servers need the Birthdays app.

1. Open Edit profile.
2. Fill in Birthday. The year is optional and never shown.
3. Press Save birthday.

You can change it freely for an hour. After that a change is a request Orbit reviews. Removing it is always allowed.

Nothing is shared until you switch a server on under Shared with (or Share my birthday in the server's menu). Your age shows only if you turn on Show my age and the server turns on Show ages.

With the Counting game app on, its channel counts up together.

• Each message is the next number.
• Nobody may count twice in a row.
• Maths like 6*7 counts. Chat that isn't a number is ignored, unless the server changes that.

By default a wrong number breaks the streak and the count starts again at 1, unless a save absorbs it. The server earns one save every 100 numbers.

Stats shows the best streak, top counters and the Hall of shame.

Starboard is an app. When a message gets enough reactions of the server's chosen emoji (a star and 3 by default), it is reposted in the starboard channel with a live count and Jump back to the original.

• Admins pick the emoji, the number and channels to leave out.
• Age-restricted channels are always left out. Private ones are too, unless an admin includes them.
• By default your own reaction on your message doesn't count.

Giveaways are in the server's Giveaways channel. It gets a pink badge when there is one you can enter.

1. Check the card. It shows the prizes and Who can enter.
2. Press Enter giveaway. You get one entry each.
3. To take your entry back, press You're in.

Who qualifies is fixed when it starts. When it ends, Orbit draws the winners at random, one per prize in order.

People with Manage giveaways start one with Create giveaway.

If you won, your prize arrives as a message to you from the server. The giveaway card has Open message.

1. Press Click to redeem before the Redeem by date, or it goes to someone else.
2. Your code shows with Copy. Only you can see it, so never share it.
3. Once you have used it, press Mark as claimed. The code is then gone for good.

A prize without a code has Accept prize, and the server contacts you.

Prizes come from the server, not Orbit.

A server's admins can exclude a member or role from one app. They use Exclude from app in a member's menu, or Excluded on the app's page.

You still see everything, but the app shows a line such as "You can't vote in this server's polls." It can have an end date, and you are never told why.

In a giveaway you may just not meet Who can enter. The card lists what is missing.

Ask the server's admins if you think it's a mistake.

Messages are visible to people in the channels they are posted in. Site staff cannot read private conversations through the tools.

• Voice, camera and screen sharing are end-to-end encrypted. Text messages are not.
• Deleting an account removes personal data. Deleted data leaves backups within 14 days.

The privacy policy is in Settings > Legal.

1. Open the message's menu and choose Report message.
2. Pick a reason.
3. Add a note if you like.

The report goes to Orbit staff, not the server's moderators, with a copy of the message and the 30 minutes before it.

Orbit has no blocking yet. In a call, Mute for me in someone's menu silences them for you alone.

You can also email support@orbithq.chat.

1. Go to Settings > My account > Your data.
2. Press Download.

You get one file with your account, servers and messages. You can download up to 3 times a day.

Settings > Legal has:

• the Terms of Service, with a Read button and the date you agreed
• the privacy policy
• the open-source licences

You agree to the Terms when you sign up. People with older accounts see a one-time notice and agree by carrying on.

You must be 13 or older.

Windows: get Orbit from the Microsoft Store.

Any device: install it from the browser. Go to Settings > App > Install Orbit. On iPhone, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.

Android: the app is in a closed test. Follow the steps on the Get Orbit on Android page to join.

It is a test build, so you may run into rough edges. Feedback is welcome in Settings in the app or in the official Orbit server.

iPhone: the app is coming soon.

Email support@orbithq.chat and say what you were doing.

For a bug, also add Settings > App > Device info. It has a Copy button for support.

Orby is Orbit's support assistant. She lives in the official Orbit server.

Mention @Orby there with your question and she answers from her notes on using Orbit. For anything else she points you to support@orbithq.chat.

Go to Settings > Accessibility. It is saved on this device. You can change:

• Reduce motion (follow your system, on or off)
• Chat text size
• Message spacing (Cosy or Compact)
• Higher contrast
• Larger click targets
• Show extra buttons
• Always show message actions
• Underline links
• Keep notices until dismissed
• Show sound alerts on screen
• Pause animated pictures