Privacy
Your orbit, your data.
Last updated 9 November 2026
Orbit is a private beta made by Nicole Deschamps. This page explains what Orbit keeps about you, who can see it, and how to have it removed.
The short version
- We keep only what Orbit needs to show your orbit and your friends' orbits.
- We never sell your data or use it for advertising.
- Your birth details and "only me" rings stay private to you.
- Hand-tracking camera video never leaves your device.
- You can ask us to delete everything at any time.
What Orbit keeps
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Email address and password | To sign you in and help you get back into your account. Passwords are stored scrambled, never as you typed them. |
| Username | So friends can find you and so your orbit has a name. |
| Birth date, time and place | To draw the real night sky from the day you were born. Optional. |
| Your portrait | The cutout photo at the centre of your orbit. |
| Photos you upload | To show them in your rings. |
| Links to your boards | The Pinterest, Are.na, Cosmos, Behance, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Shopify or Instagram pages you add, plus ring names and settings. |
| Friends and activity | Who you follow, who follows you, what you save, your notifications, and when you last opened Orbit. |
| Feedback and invite requests | Anything you send us, including your name and note when you ask for an invite. |
| Reports and blocks | Who you report, why, and your note, so we can look into it. Only Orbit admins see reports; the person you report is never told it was you. Who you block, so you stay out of each other’s orbit. |
| Instagram connection | If you connect Instagram, a locked access key so Orbit can read your posts. Ask us and we will remove it. |
Orbit does not use advertising or tracking tools, and it does not keep a copy of images from other platforms. For those it saves only the link, and the image loads from the platform it came from.
What stays on your device
- Camera. Hand gestures are read from your camera inside your browser. The video is never recorded or sent anywhere.
- Portrait cutouts. The background is removed on your device. Only the finished cutout is saved.
- Drafts and preferences. An unfinished setup is kept in your browser for up to 30 days, along with small preferences such as the last page you opened.
Who can see what
Only you
- Your email, password and birth details.
- Rings and photos you set to "only me".
People who follow you
- Your username, portrait, and the rings and photos you share with everyone.
- During the beta, anyone with an Orbit account can follow you, unless you block them.
People in the Ether and search
- Your username can be found in search, and images from the boards you share with everyone can drift into the Ether. Both are on by default, and you can turn each off in Settings.
- Your uploaded photos, private rings and birth details never appear in the Ether.
The person running Orbit
- Nicole can see account details, including saved orbit settings, to run the beta, fix problems and answer feedback. She does not share them with anyone else.
Where your data is kept
Accounts, orbits and uploaded photos are stored with Supabase on servers in the eastern United States. Photos sit in a private store: each person has their own folder, and no photo has a public web address. Rules inside the database make sure each person can only read their own data and what others have chosen to share with them.
The app itself is served by GitHub Pages.
Other services Orbit talks to
When you use Orbit, your browser connects to some outside services. They can see your device's internet address, as any website can, and each has its own privacy policy.
- The platforms you add, such as Pinterest, Are.na, Cosmos and Behance, when your rings load their images.
- Spotify and Apple, when you play a song preview.
- Open-Meteo, when you look up your birth place. Only the place name you type is sent.
- Anthropic, when you tap "break it down" on a photo. Orbit's server sends Anthropic's Claude a link to that photo, nothing else about you, and saves the reading so anyone who opens that photo later sees the same one.
- Museum and library collections (The Met, Cleveland Museum of Art, the V&A, NASA, the Library of Congress and others) when the Ether shows their images.
- Google and jsDelivr, which provide the fonts, 3D tools and on-device image tools Orbit downloads.
Changing or deleting your data
- You can change your username, password, rings and sharing at any time in Settings.
- Removing a photo from your orbit stops others from seeing it.
- To delete your whole account, go to Settings, then Account, then Delete account. Your login, orbit, photos, follows, saved images and feedback are removed right away and cannot be recovered. If you can't sign in, email nicole.deschamps1@gmail.com from the address you signed up with and we will delete it within 30 days.
- You can also ask for a copy of everything we keep about you.
Age
Orbit is for people aged 16 and over. If you believe someone younger has an account, tell us and we will remove it.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes in a way that matters, we will tell you in Orbit before it takes effect. Questions go to nicole.deschamps1@gmail.com.