Comparison

Orbit vs Closer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Orbit

Connect with your closest friends and partner through live widgets on your Home Screen. Share photos, doodles, notes, music, and even play games together in real-time without opening the app. Stay close, even when apart, with shared countdowns, distance, and weather.

Highlights
  • Live widgets for Home Screen
  • Share photos, doodles, notes, music
  • Play games like Tic-Tac-Toe and Connect Four
  • Real-time activity sharing
  • Countdown timers and distance tracking
  • Customizable widget designs
Features
Read full description

Your favorite people, one glance away. Orbit connects you with your partner and your best friends through live widgets. Whatever they send — a photo, a doodle, a note, a mood — appears right on your Home Screen, moments after they send it. No feed, no followers, no noise. Just the people you choose. HOW IT WORKS 1. Invite up to five friends, each with a private invite code 2. Add the Orbit widget to your Home or Lock Screen and pick whose it is 3. Send something — to one friend or several at once — and it lands on their screen in seconds SEND MOMENTS, NOT MESSAGES • Photos that show up right on their Home Screen • Hand-drawn doodles (bad drawings strongly encouraged) • Sticky notes, big-text notes, tiny love notes • Emoji moods with hundreds of style combinations • Voice mails they can play — and react to — from the widget • Songs from Apple Music, with the cover, title and artist • A remote shutter that snaps and prints straight onto their screen PLAY ON YOUR WIDGETS • Tic-Tac-Toe and Connect Four — take your turn without opening the app • Step races and Activity Ring battles, powered by Apple Health • Cheer each other on mid-workout, in real time • Playground: a table of photo cutouts you move around together — with one friend, or in a Circle of up to six STAY CLOSE, EVEN FAR APART • Count down to the days you share — trips, anniversaries, birthdays • My Day: today's events and reminders, one glance away • See the live distance between you • Peek at each other's weather • Share your heartbeat • Keep a shared list you can both check off from the widget • Schedule surprises to appear on their day, right on time MAKE IT YOURS 20+ widget types and hundreds of designs to mix. Browse the gallery, bookmark the looks you love, publish your own — and pick shared themes together, because their widget is half yours. For Me adds free clocks, calendars, the moon and more, just for your own Home Screen. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Orbit is for a few people, on purpose: up to five friends, each with a space of your own. What you share with one friend stays between the two of you — when you disconnect, that space is deleted, and if you ever delete your account, everything you shared goes with it. Permanently. FREE TO START Sending emoji widgets is free, forever. Orbit Plus unlocks every widget type and experience; subscriptions auto-renew until canceled and can be managed in your App Store settings. MADE BY ONE PERSON Orbit is an indie app, built with a lot of love and an unreasonable number of late nights. Something wrong? Email me from the app — I'll fix it. Your people are closer than you think. Pull them into Orbit. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Closer

Features
Read full description

Closer helps couples feel connected throughout the day with private moments shared right on the Home Screen. Whether you’re apart or simply busy, small updates make it easier to stay emotionally close. • See how your partner is feeling at a glance • Share photos, music and little moments instantly • Celebrate anniversaries, birthdays and future plans together • Spark natural conversations without opening a chat • Keep your relationship private, with no public feed or followers Connect with your partner in a few taps, then add a Closer widget to your Home Screen. Share a mood, photo, countdown, song or message, and it appears for your partner to see. You can even capture real dual-camera moments that show both your view and your face at once. Closer is made for couples in long-distance relationships, partners with busy schedules, and anyone who wants more meaningful connection in the small moments of everyday life. Download Closer and invite your partner to feel closer, wherever you are. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Orbit4 screens
Closer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Orbit at none against Closer's shown. Orbit also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). Closer's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Orbit sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Closer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Orbit against 5.0 for Closer. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Orbit ships an update every 4 days, Closer every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on November 9, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Orbit versus Closer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOrbitCloser
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size267 MB66 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMayak Labs LLCYannick Westermann

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Orbit

Subscriptions2
  • View Access3 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Plus3 Days trial$6.991 Month
3 purchases

Closer

Subscriptions2
  • Closer Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Closer Pro Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Closer Pro Lifetime$59.99

Questions

Is Orbit free?
Orbit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Closer free?
Closer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Orbit or Closer?
Orbit and Closer are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Orbit or Closer have ads?
Closer shows ads; Orbit does not.
Which is updated more often, Orbit or Closer?
Orbit ships an update every 4 days, and Closer every 2 weeks. Most recently, Orbit was updated on November 9, 2026 and Closer on November 9, 2026.

Other comparisons