A quick tour of Orbit on Android, and where to go after it

Orbit puts several different questions in one Android app: where the space station is, which launch is next, what the solar system looks like and what might be worth looking for tonight. This short recording shows four of those paths on a real phone.

Watch it once for the overview. Then use the sections below to pick a first task. You do not need to learn every screen before the app becomes useful.

What happens in the 35-second video?

The opening introduces Orbit, followed by the 3D solar system and a closer look at Earth. The middle shows Time Machine moving the simulation forward, then a launch countdown. The final phone sequence opens the ISS card and its station and crew information.

The app footage was captured on 21 September 2026. A date on a countdown, a station coordinate or a crew list in this video is a historical example. It is not today's schedule. The decorative Earth image in the opening is artwork; the interactive screens are recordings of the app.

There is music and on-screen text, with no spoken narration. The written tour below explains the sequence if you would rather read it.

Start with the solar system if you want to explore

In the first app sequence, the planets appear around the Sun. Selecting Earth moves the view closer so you can inspect it. This is the part of Orbit to open when you want to explore at your own pace: choose an object, look around, then move to another.

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Orbit's 3D solar system with the Sun at the centre and selectable planets along their orbital paths.

Try that before changing time. It makes it easier to notice which part of the scene changes when you use the next control. A simulation is useful because it lets you move around a scene that a photograph cannot show from every angle. It is still a visual model, rather than a live camera pointed at a planet.

If your immediate question is “can I see the ISS tonight?”, you can skip this section of the app and go straight to the station's passes. The solar system tour and an observing plan serve different purposes.

Use Time Machine, then return to Now

The next sequence accelerates the simulated date so the planets move through their orbits. The recording uses the one week per second setting. Watch the displayed date as well as the motion: that date is what tells you which moment you are exploring.

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Orbit Time Machine with the one-week-per-second speed selected and the Now control beside the other playback speeds.

After experimenting, return the simulation to Now before using it to think about tonight. This is an easy detail to miss when you have been scrubbing through time. A scene set to another date can be perfectly valid for that date and still be the wrong reference for the sky outside your window.

Time Machine is good for seeing change. A visible-pass prediction is the more direct tool for deciding when to step outside. For the reason those predictions cluster around twilight, read why the ISS is visible around dawn and dusk.

Open a launch to understand the countdown

The launch sequence shows a countdown and the details behind it. Read both. A number ticking down makes a schedule feel settled, but the schedule comes from a public feed and can change.

Use a launch's current status and any available webcast link before planning around it. If the app says data is cached or stale, treat that as useful information about the source. A previously downloaded launch time does not become a fresh confirmation because its countdown is still moving.

The particular mission and countdown visible in our recording are there to demonstrate the screen. They are not a recommendation to watch that mission today. Open Orbit for the current list.

The ISS map answers a different question from the pass list

Near the end, the video opens the International Space Station card. The map and station details help answer “where is the ISS now?” The list of visible passes answers “when might I see it from here?”

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Orbit's ISS card showing a station marker on the world map, a cached-data label, altitude and velocity.

Those questions are related, but they are not interchangeable. A station position on a world map does not tell you whether your sky is dark, whether the station is sunlit or whether your horizon is blocked. That is why an observing plan needs a location and a visible-pass prediction.

For a first attempt, choose a predicted pass with a comfortable view above nearby buildings, check the prediction again that day and get outside before it starts. Our ISS viewing guide for India walks through directions, height above the horizon and what to expect. Any dated examples in a guide remain examples; use a refreshed prediction for the night you go out.

What this recording leaves out

We did not record Live Sky, the view where you point the phone at the sky, for this promo. The phone was face down during capture, so showing it would have made a poor demonstration. The video is a tour of selected features, not a complete operating manual.

For sky guidance on your own phone, location, sensor calibration and a clear view matter. For source-fed information, freshness matters. The current Google Play listing describes the Android release and its permissions; our product page gives the broader overview.

If you want the sky to sit quietly behind your work instead, see the Mac wallpaper walkthrough. That is a different Orbit experience, with its own purchase and desktop interface.