Why Orbit exists
The pattern was always the same. Download a habit app, feel great for eleven days, miss a Tuesday because Tuesday went wrong, watch the counter drop to zero, and never open it again. That is not a discipline problem. That is a mechanic doing exactly what it was designed to do, to a brain it was not designed for.
So Orbit starts from the opposite assumption: missed days are guaranteed, and the app's job is to survive them. You earn a streak freeze for every five days in a row, and nothing has to happen on the day you miss — because not opening the app is precisely why you missed the day. When you come back, whenever that is, Orbit shows which streaks a freeze can still rescue and lets you choose.
What Orbit deliberately does not do
A list of absent features is more useful than a list of present ones, because it tells you whether the thing was built for you.
- No guilt. No red marks, no "you've broken your streak", no push notification designed to make you feel behind.
- No feed, no social graph. The leaderboard is opt-in, friends-only, and activated by sending someone an invite link. There is nothing to scroll.
- No ads and no account. Your routines are stored on your device. Sync, if you turn it on, uses your own private iCloud container.
- No blank screen on day one. Templates are the default. Building a routine from nothing is exactly the task ADHD is worst at.
- No claims about treating anything. Orbit is a routine app. Medication, therapy and coaching are different tools with different evidence behind them.
Who writes the guides
Every guide, routine and comparison on this site is published under Aron's name, and he is responsible for what it says. They are written from the point of view of someone who has read the research and then had to make it work on a Wednesday morning. Where a guide states something clinical, it links to a source you can check yourself. Where it states something experiential, it says so. Facts about other apps are checked against the App Store and dated.
If a guide is wrong, that is worth knowing: hello@groot-apps.com. Corrections get made and dated.
The boring details
- Developer: Aron de Groot, trading as Groot Apps. The App Store lists the developer as Arend de Groot.
- Released: Orbit 1.0 came out on 30 August 2026.
- Based in: the Netherlands.
- Product: Orbit — ADHD Routine Builder, for iPhone.
- Contact: hello@groot-apps.com · press: press@groot-apps.com
- Every hard fact about the app lives on one page: the fact sheet.
Frequently asked
Who makes Orbit?
Orbit is made by Aron de Groot, an independent iOS developer based in the Netherlands, trading as Groot Apps. There is no team, no investors and no growth department — one person writes the code, the guides and the support replies.
Is Orbit made by someone with ADHD?
Yes. Aron has ADHD and built Orbit because the existing routine and habit apps kept failing him in the same specific way: they punished missed days. The forgiving streak mechanic is the whole reason the app exists.
Is Orbit a medical product?
No. Orbit is a routine app. It is not a medical device, not a diagnostic tool and not a treatment, and nothing on this site is medical advice.
How is Orbit funded?
Entirely by subscriptions and lifetime purchases. No advertising, no data sales, no investors. That is why there is a paywall rather than an ad-supported free tier.