The best thing you can give your kid is nothing to do.

Android Orbit spans ages 3–15. For little kids, hold the volume buttons and your own phone becomes instant kid mode. For 8–15 with their own Android device, Orbit replaces the home screen entirely. iPhone Orbit is built for older kids (roughly 8+) on their own iPhone — the schedule-and-shield model assumes the child uses the device unsupervised but inside guardrails you set.

Family Link is a timer. Orbit is a philosophy. Family Link limits screen time — Orbit redesigns the entire phone experience around intentional use. Deep device integration means Orbit replaces the launcher, curates the home screen, and creates a phone environment where boredom is a feature, not a bug. Also: Google profits from attention. We don't.

On Android, Orbit integrates at the system level — device admin, accessibility services, launcher replacement. Significantly harder to bypass than app-level parental controls. Settings are protected behind a parent PIN, and kiosk mode blocks access to system settings, app stores, and unapproved apps. On iPhone, the honest answer is: it's as hard to bypass as Apple's own Screen Time, no harder. With a Screen Time passcode set (Orbit's onboarding walks you through this), a kid can't revoke Orbit's permissions. Without one, a tech-savvy 10-year-old can disable it from Settings. We won't pretend otherwise — Apple's APIs are what they are.

Yes. Orbit isn't about removing every app. It's about curation. You choose which apps appear on your child's home screen. YouTube Kids? Fine. Khan Academy? Great. That one game they love? Your call. The point is intentionality: every app is there because you chose it, not because an algorithm recommended it.

Orbit is free during early access so you can experience the full Protocol. When we launch publicly, Orbit will be a paid subscription — because protecting your child's boredom is an investment, not a freebie. Early members will get exclusive founding perks. Pricing will be announced closer to public launch, but our commitment is to keep it accessible for every family.

Yes — currently in TestFlight beta. iPhone Orbit is a different product than Android Orbit, by necessity: Apple doesn't let third-party apps replace the home screen or hard-block apps the way Android does. So instead of a kiosk, iPhone Orbit is a schedule + shield product built on Apple's Screen Time API. You set time windows and per-app budgets; when an app is blocked, the child sees a Builder-tivity card instead of Apple's generic block screen. It works best when you've set a Screen Time passcode (which keeps a savvy kid from disabling it). Same Protocol, different mechanics. Join the iPhone beta.