Who we are
Orbitus ("we", "us") is a non-commercial project developed and run jointly by Tian Du, Ji Wang, Huanyu Dong and Hanqi Yang, private individuals based in Sweden. The four of us are joint controllers of your personal data under article 26 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- Privacy questions and requests: privacy@orbitus.se
- Everything else: support@orbitus.se
How we share responsibility. We have agreed in writing how we divide our data protection duties. In short:
- privacy@orbitus.se is the single contact point for all privacy matters; we answer every request there on behalf of all four of us;
- we decide together why and how personal data is used, and any change to this policy needs all four of us to agree;
- if a personal data breach happens, whoever notices it alerts the others at once, and we notify the authority and you as the law requires;
- each of us accesses personal data only when a task requires it and is bound to keep it confidential.
You may exercise your rights against any of us, but please always use the official addresses above — we don't handle requests through personal channels, and we don't publish personal contact details of anyone on the team.
This policy covers the Orbitus apps for iPhone and Android, including test versions, and the website orbitus.se.
Adults only
Orbitus is only for people aged 18 or over. When you set up your profile, we ask for your date of birth to check this. We don't ask for ID, so other users' ages and identities have not been verified by us. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we close it and delete its data. If you think someone under 18 is using Orbitus, please tell us at support@orbitus.se.
What we collect
| Type | What it includes | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Email address; password (stored only as a secure hash by our sign-in provider); how you sign in (email, Google or Apple); your app language, so our emails reach you in the right language. With Sign in with Apple, a token from Apple that lets us cut the link between your Apple ID and Orbitus when you delete your account. If you choose Apple's "Hide My Email", we only get a relay address. | You; Google or Apple if you use them to sign in |
| Profile | Nickname; photo or a built-in illustrated avatar; date of birth; stage of study, school and field; skills, goals and interests; languages; weekly availability; bio; public links; country, city and time zone; status; your Orbit ID; your privacy settings. On your first Google sign-in we use your Google name and photo as a starting point — you can change both. | You |
| What you do in Orbitus | Team posts, join requests and invitations; group and private messages, including photos and files; group files, notices, polls and deadlines; likes and passes in Match, your matches and friends; saved opportunities and reminders; message drafts (synced so you can carry on from another phone); chat backgrounds; badges and badge claims (text and up to 4 photos); feedback you send us; notifications we send you. | You and the people you interact with |
| Opportunity activity | Which opportunities you see, open and save, so we can sort and recommend them and learn which ones are useful. | Your use of the app |
| Safety | Reports you make, and reports about you; blocks and hidden posts; automatic content checks; restrictions and appeals; records of actions our team takes. | You, other users and our team |
| Technical | Your push notification token and app language (for push messages); whether the app is open, kept for at most 150 seconds to show you as online; server logs with your IP address, time, the request and the app or browser name your device sends; short-lived counters that limit how often an action can be repeated. | Your device, automatically |
We don't collect your contacts, your precise location, advertising IDs, or device details such as model or system version. We don't use third-party analytics, advertising or crash-reporting tools in the app. The one exception is the TestFlight beta: Apple passes us the feedback and crash reports you share through TestFlight, together with device details — see TestFlight beta.
Please don't put sensitive information — such as health, religion, political views or ID numbers — in your profile or messages. If you do, it is handled like the rest of your content.
Why we use it
The GDPR requires a legal basis for each use. Ours are:
| Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and running your account; showing your profile; Match, posts, groups, chat, opportunities, reminders and notifications | Needed to provide the service you signed up for (contract, art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Recommendations: Match scores and the order of posts and opportunities | Part of how the service works (contract). You can turn Match off at any time. |
| Checking that you are 18 or over | Contract, and our legitimate interest in keeping Orbitus adults-only (art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Keeping Orbitus safe: stopping spam, scams and abuse; checking content; handling reports and appeals; enforcing our Terms | Our legitimate interest in a safe community and in protecting users (art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Security and reliability: logs, rate limits, bot checks at sign-in, backups | Our legitimate interest in a secure, working service (art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Understanding how Orbitus is used, through statistics we compute ourselves (for example, how many teams form each week) | Our legitimate interest in improving Orbitus (art. 6(1)(f)) |
| The beta: reading TestFlight feedback and crash reports to fix problems | Our legitimate interest in improving Orbitus (art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Replying when you contact us | Contract or legitimate interest |
| Complying with the law, answering lawful requests from authorities, and dealing with legal claims | Legal obligation (art. 6(1)(c)) and legitimate interest (art. 6(1)(f)) |
You can object to any use based on legitimate interest — see Your rights.
To create an account we need a way for you to sign in and your date of birth. Everything else in your profile is optional, though a fuller profile leads to better matches.
We don't use your data for advertising, we don't sell it, we don't send marketing emails, and we don't use your messages, photos or files to train AI models.
What other people can see
- Your profile — nickname, photo and the details you fill in — is shown to other users in Match, in groups and to your friends. Your email address and date of birth are never shown; others see your age, unless you hide it.
- You're in control. In Settings → Privacy you can hide your age, school or region, show your full profile only to yourself, turn off Match, choose who can find you by Orbit ID, and manage blocked users. Your nickname and photo stay visible where you take part, for example in your groups.
- Hiding your region only hides it from view. Being close to someone still counts in Match.
- Team posts are visible to all users. Group messages are visible to the group's members, and private messages to the two of you. People can screenshot or forward what you send, so share with care.
- We don't read your conversations. Messages are protected in transit and access is restricted, but they are not end-to-end encrypted. One of us may look at specific content only when needed to handle a report, a support request, a security incident or a legal requirement, and that access is logged.
Safety and automatic checks
- Content checks. Text you enter or send — profiles, team posts and group details, chat messages (including polls, deadlines and file and folder names), friend requests and badge claims — is automatically compared against word lists for things like harassment and scams before it goes out. This happens on our server, one text at a time, without anyone reading it. If it matches, it isn't sent, and you'll be asked to change it. We record only which rule was triggered and when, not the text that was blocked. Photos and the contents of files are not checked automatically.
- Automatic restrictions. If within a set period an account is blocked by many different people, reported by many different people (rejected reports don't count) or repeatedly fails content checks, it can be restricted automatically. You'll see the reason and when it ends, and you can appeal in the app. A person reviews every appeal.
- Reports are reviewed by our team. We don't tell the reported person who reported them.
- Where the law requires it, we report content to the authorities — for example child sexual abuse material or a threat to someone's life.
Phone permissions
Orbitus asks for a permission only when you use the feature that needs it. You can change these in your phone's settings at any time.
- Location — only when you tap "Locate" while editing your profile. Your phone looks up the city using Apple's or Google's location service; the coordinates stay on your device and only the city name is saved to your profile. Never in the background. You can always choose the city yourself.
- Photos and camera — only for the photos you pick or take (profile photo, chats, chat backgrounds, badge claims), and to save images to your library when you ask.
- Calendar — only to open your phone's "new event" screen so you can add a deadline. We never read your calendar.
- Notifications — optional. If you turn off message details in the app, a push doesn't say what it's about.
- We don't use Face ID, the microphone, your contacts or your reminders.
Who helps us run Orbitus
We use a small number of service providers, each only for the work listed here. Except where noted, they act on our instructions under data processing terms.
| Provider | What they do for us | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase, Inc. | Database, sign-in, file storage and real-time messaging | EU (Paris, France) |
| OVH SAS (OVHcloud) | Hosts our application server | France |
| Cloudflare, Inc. | Delivers our website and app traffic securely (encryption, network, attack protection); the bot check at sign-in (Turnstile); forwards email sent to our @orbitus.se addresses | Global network; US company |
| Resend (Plus Five Five, Inc.) | Sends sign-up verification codes and email-change messages | United States |
| Expo (650 Industries, Inc.) | Delivers push notifications and app updates | United States |
| Google (Gmail) | Hosts our team mailbox: emails you send to our addresses are forwarded there. Google provides this under its own terms. | United States and other countries |
Apple and Google also handle data when you use their services with Orbitus — Sign in with Apple or Google, push notifications, the app stores and the TestFlight beta, and the location lookup on your phone. They do this under their own privacy policies.
Other users see what you share, as described above. In addition:
- if you report someone, we tell you what we decided; if someone reports you, we may tell them what action we took, but never who reported;
- if another user asks us for a copy of their data, it may include messages you sent them.
Authorities and legal claims. We may preserve or disclose data when we believe in good faith that it is necessary to comply with the law or a valid order from a court or authority; to prevent or detect crime or fraud; to protect the life, safety or rights of any person, including our users and team; or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. We share only what the specific case requires.
If Orbitus changes hands. We intend to set up a non-profit association to run Orbitus. If Orbitus is handed over to it, or to anyone else, your data would move with it under this policy, and we'll tell you beforehand.
TestFlight beta
If you install the Orbitus beta through Apple's TestFlight, Apple handles your testing data under the TestFlight terms and its own privacy policy, and shows us the following in its developer console (App Store Connect):
- Testing status: whether you accepted the invitation, which build you installed and when, and how many sessions and crashes there were. Testers who join through the public link appear to us as anonymous; we see your name and email only if we invite you by email.
- Feedback you send: screenshots, what you write, and technical details Apple adds automatically, such as device model, system version, language, time zone, battery level, free storage and network type.
- Crash reports: when the app crashes, Apple passes us a crash report according to your settings in TestFlight and in your phone's Analytics & Improvements, including the device model, system version and any comment you choose to add.
We use this only to fix problems and improve the beta, and we don't try to match it to your Orbitus account. If you'd rather not share, don't send feedback or crash reports; you can also stop testing in TestFlight at any time.
Data outside the EU
Your account and content are stored in the EU. Some providers above are US companies or may access data from outside the EU/EEA, for example for support. For those transfers we rely on the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, and otherwise on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses in the provider's data processing terms. Ask us at privacy@orbitus.se for details or a copy.
How long we keep data
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Account, profile and settings | Until you delete your account. Erased when the 7-day grace period ends — normally within 8 days of your request. |
| Messages and files in chats; group files | As long as the conversation exists. You can recall a message within 15 minutes of sending it. If you delete your account, see what stays. |
| Team posts | Leave the public list 3 days after their deadline; stay available to the group's members while the group exists. |
| Opportunity activity | 365 days |
| Online status | At most 150 seconds |
| Verification codes | 1 hour |
| Server logs, including IP addresses | 14 days |
| Backups | Made about every 3 days and kept for about 30 days, then overwritten. Deleted data can stay in a backup until then; backups are used only to recover from failures. |
| Reports, restrictions, appeals and records of team actions | As long as needed for safety and to deal with legal claims. We review them at least once a year and delete what is no longer needed. They are kept after an account is deleted, but no longer linked to a profile. |
| Emails you send us | Up to 12 months after your question is resolved, unless needed longer for a legal claim. |
| TestFlight feedback | Up to 12 months after the problem is resolved, then we delete it in App Store Connect. Testing status and crash reports are kept and deleted by Apple. |
| Record that an account was deleted | Kept, so we can show the deletion happened. |
| Data subject to a legal hold | If we receive a valid legal request to preserve data, or data is needed for an open dispute or investigation, we keep that data until the matter is closed. |
Deleting your account
- In the app, go to Me → Settings → Account & security → Delete account.
- You're signed out on every device straight away. Your profile is hidden and you leave Match.
- You have 7 days to change your mind: sign in again and choose Keep my account. Just signing in doesn't cancel the deletion.
- When the 7 days are over, we erase your profile, settings, matches, likes and passes, friends, saved items, reminders, notifications, drafts, push tokens, chat backgrounds, badges and photos, and your sign-in account itself, including your email address. If you used Sign in with Apple, we also revoke Orbitus's access with Apple.
What stays. Messages and files you sent remain in the other members' conversations, and what you created for a group — the team post, notices, polls, deadlines, group files and group picture — stays with the group. They are shown as coming from an unnamed user, and the group passes to another member. Safety records stay as described in How long we keep data.
Can't use the app? Email privacy@orbitus.se from the address you signed up with, and we'll delete the account for you. Uninstalling the app doesn't delete your account.
Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask us to:
- give you a copy of your data, including in a machine-readable format;
- correct data that is wrong — you can change most of it yourself in the app; for your date of birth, write to us;
- delete your data;
- restrict how we use your data;
- stop using your data where we rely on legitimate interest (objection);
- have a person look at a decision that was made automatically, such as an automatic restriction — appeal in the app or write to us.
Email privacy@orbitus.se, ideally from the address on your account. We may ask you to confirm it's you — we don't want anyone else to get your data. It's free, and we reply within one month; if a request is complex we may need up to two more months, and we'll tell you within the first month.
We may refuse a request, fully or in part, if we can't verify your identity, if it is manifestly unfounded or excessive, or if answering it would reveal other people's personal data or harm their rights. If we refuse, we explain why and how you can complain. To get data about another user, that person has to ask us themselves.
Please come to us first. If you're unhappy with how we handle your personal data, please write to privacy@orbitus.se first. We'll look into it carefully and reply as soon as we can — most concerns can be resolved directly. You also have the right to complain at any time to the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, imy.se), or to the data protection authority in the EU country where you live, work or where the alleged infringement took place; you don't need to contact us first.
Security
All connections use encryption (HTTPS). Database access is restricted per user, so one account can't read another's data. Only the four of us can reach our servers and admin tools, behind extra sign-in protection, and our actions are logged. Backups stay on our own server in France.
We access personal data only when a task requires it, and we are bound to keep it confidential.
No service is perfectly secure. If a breach puts your data at risk, we'll tell the supervisory authority within 72 hours where the law requires it, and tell you directly if the risk to you is high.
This website
orbitus.se uses no cookies of its own, no analytics and no trackers, and loads its fonts from our own server. To deliver pages and keep the site secure, Cloudflare and our server process your IP address; our server logs are kept for 14 days. Cloudflare may set a strictly necessary security cookie to tell people from bots. The beta button on the home page opens Apple's TestFlight page; what happens next is described under TestFlight beta. If you email us to ask for beta access, we use your message only to reply and invite you.
Changes and languages
When we change this policy, we update the version and date at the top. If a change matters, we'll tell you in the app before it takes effect. This policy is available in Chinese and English, and both versions are equally valid. If they differ, the meaning that is more favourable to you applies.
Contact
Privacy: privacy@orbitus.se · Everything else: support@orbitus.se