Opens to students November 19

Find your orbit.

Thousands of communities. Real conversation. Every sign-up checked for bots. Download Orby now to hold your spot: students get in first, then everyone else.

Download on the App Store Join the waiting list
Free · iOS 26 or later · No invite code needed
General public waiting list
3
humans on the list
0
joined today
3
joined in the last 7 days
The product

Made for people, not the algorithm.

Every design decision in Orby starts from one question: does this make the conversation better? If it only makes the number go up, it doesn’t ship.

01 — COMMUNITIES

Communities that feel like home.

Over a hundred thousand communities, each with a purpose. Orbit the ones you care about and your feed is built from them, nothing else.

  • Every community can set its own rules and name its own moderators
  • Your feed is only what you orbit, in the order you choose
  • Leave any time; nothing follows you around
Suggested for you
o/astrophotographySpace photos & gear
Orbiting
o/sourdoughBread & baking
Orbit
o/nycYour city
Orbit
o/mechkeyboardsKeyboards & builds
Orbit
4 friends orbit this
and 1,204 people from your school
02 — CONVERSATION

Threads worth reading to the end.

Replies are threaded, votes surface the best answer instead of the loudest one, and the person who asked can mark what actually helped. No autoplay, no infinite feed, no bait.

  • Sort any thread by best, newest, or most discussed
  • The original poster can pin the answer that worked
  • Load more when you want more, never by accident
Best267 replies
tomás_k· 4h
the crumb on this is unreal. what hydration are you at?
412Reply
maya.kOP· 3h
78%. and I finally stopped over-proofing.
96Reply
ren_· 2h
score at a 30° angle, one confident motion. changed everything for me.
41Reply
03 — TRUST

Moderation that’s actually there.

Automated screening catches the obvious, humans decide the rest, and any appeal a machine turns down can go to a person if you ask. Moderators get real tools, and every sign-up has to pass an anti-bot check.

  • Three tiers: automated screening, human review, and appeals
  • Mod queues with context, history, and one-tap actions
  • Report any post, comment, message, profile or community
Mod queue · o/nyc 3
Spam3 reports · posted 12 min ago
RemoveKeep
HarassmentEscalated to Orby Trust & Safety
In review
Off-topic1 report · 41 min ago
RemoveKeep
Communities

Whatever you’re into, there’s an orbit for it.

Thousands of communities are ready on day one, from sourdough to astrophotography. Be one of the first to join one, or start your own.

0
communities, seeded before launch
0
tiers of moderation: automated, human, appeal
0
of appeals a machine turns down can go to a person
0
hours before a new account can DM strangers
The story

Four years in the making.

Orby was built slowly, on purpose. Here is how a deck and a prototype became the social network we wanted to exist.

  1. 2022

    The first check

    Sam Altman invested in Orby when it was a deck and a prototype. That check bought something rare in social software: four years to build without chasing a growth number.

  2. 2023

    A private alpha

    Two hundred people and one rule: conversation over engagement. Most of what they asked for is still in the app. Most of what we assumed is not.

  3. 2024

    Safety before scale

    We built the moderation stack first: automated screening, human review, and appeals that can reach a person. Moderators got real tools before we had real traffic.

  4. 2025

    The communities

    Over a hundred thousand communities seeded, each with a purpose, so that nobody ever arrives to an empty room.

  5. 2026

    Students first

    Orby opens to students on November 19, then to everyone else on January 1, 2027. Every sign-up is checked for bots, and any account that slips through can be reported.

I didn’t want to build the fastest-growing social network. I wanted to build the one people are still glad they joined ten years from now.
DDavis · Founder, Orby
Rollout

Students first. Then everyone.

A social network is only as good as the people in it. So we’re opening the doors in order, and checking every sign-up for bots on the way in.

Phase 1 ·November 19

Students

Download Orby and sign up with your school email. Every current student with an active .edu address gets in on opening day, no invite code needed.

  • An active .edu address at a US college or university
  • Undergraduate or graduate, any year, any major
  • Alumni addresses (alum., alumni., alumnus. and the like) join in the general rollout

Join the waiting list

Orby opens to current students on November 19 and to everyone else on January 1. Enter your email to hold your place for January 1. If you’re a current student, we’ll point you straight to the app.

When you join, we keep the email you enter to hold your place and to email you when Orby opens for you, and delete it a year after that. Privacy policy
FAQ

Questions, answered.

Anything else, email support@orbysocial.com. A human will reply.

Current students with an active .edu address at a US college or university get in on November 19: download Orby and sign up with your school email. Everyone else gets in on January 1, 2027, and more countries follow: join the waiting list on this page.

No. There are no invite codes. Sign up in the app, and Orby opens on its own when it’s your group’s turn. Turn on notifications and we’ll tell you the moment it does.

Not on November 19. Alumni addresses such as alumni.school.edu or alum.school.edu belong to people who have graduated, and the first opening is for people on campus now. That goes for every alumni variant: alum., alumni., alumnus., alumnae. and the like, at any school. Join the waiting list on this page, and you’ll get in on January 1, 2027 with everyone else.

Yes. Join the waiting list on this page with any email, and we’ll email you when Orby opens to everyone on January 1, 2027.

No. You don’t need a government ID or a selfie to join Orby. You sign up in the app, and every sign-up has to pass an anti-bot check.

Yes. Orby is free, and there are no ads during the rollout. An optional Premium tier comes later, with extras that never gate the conversation itself.

After the general rollout. iPhone first, then iPad and the web.

No. We don’t sell personal data, and we don’t share it with advertisers: no customer lists, no website tracking, nothing that follows you across other apps. When ads start, they never use other companies’ data, and personalized ads stay off unless you turn them on. The Privacy Policy explains it in plain language, and it’s short enough to read.

Get Orby.

Free on iPhone. Sign up now; students get in on November 19.

Download on the App Store