Orbit Live user guide

Everything the app can do, in the same words as the in-app help. Questions? support@nellieo.com.

• Getting started
• Moving around the globe
• Weather for any spot
• The settings menu
• Pause, Drift and Play
• Clock, date and data sources
• Live wallpaper (Android)
• Screensaver (Android)
• Orbit Live Pro
• Tips and troubleshooting
• Privacy

Getting started

Orbit Live shows Earth as a live 3D globe built from satellite imagery, cloud cover and rain data. Drag to look around, pinch to zoom and double-tap anywhere for the local weather. Everything else is in the settings menu: tap the sliders button in the bottom-right corner. The buttons and the clock fade out after a few seconds without activity; touch the screen to bring them back.

Moving around the globe

• Rotate: drag with one finger (or the mouse). The further you zoom in, the finer the movement gets.
• Zoom: pinch with two fingers or use the mouse wheel, from the whole planet down to a regional view.
• Hold still: while your finger is on the globe, any automatic rotation waits for you.

Weather for any spot

Double-tap the globe, or press and hold for about half a second. A yellow ring marks the spot and a weather box shows:

• the temperature and a short description, such as "Partly cloudy"
• wind speed in m/s and cloud cover in %
• the expected rain for the next hour, in mm
• what the rain map shows at that spot
• the coordinates of the spot

The weather comes from MET Norway. Tap the box to close it. If it says the weather could not be loaded, check your internet connection and try again.

The settings menu

Tap the sliders button to open the menu. It closes when you touch the globe. Your zoom, view, rotation and layer choices are remembered the next time you open the app.

• My location – asks for permission to read your approximate location, turns the globe to your position, zooms in, marks the spot and shows the weather there. The location is not stored. If you say no, everything else still works.
• Borders: on/off – shows or hides country borders.
• Rain: on/off – shows or hides the rain layer, which combines NASA IMERG satellite data, EUMETSAT precipitation and radar from Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
• Clouds: on / raw / off – each tap steps to the next mode. "On" shows the EUMETSAT cloud layer, "raw" shows it unprocessed, and "off" hides the clouds so you see the surface.
• Pause / Drift / Play – see the next section.
• Direction – "counterclockwise" is Earth's real direction of rotation; "clockwise" reverses it.
• Fullscreen – switches full screen on or off where the device allows it, and keeps the screen awake while it is on.
• Set as wallpaper – Android app only. Opens Android's wallpaper picker with Orbit Live selected (see Live wallpaper).
• Sources – credits and licences for all data, a note about Pro and the privacy policy.
• How to use – this guide.

Pause, Drift and Play

One button with three states, in this order:

• Pause (shown while the globe is turning) stops the rotation so you can hold a view.
• Drift (shown only when the globe is paused and zoomed in) makes the picture glide slowly in a small circle, one lap in about 40 seconds, so a held view never looks frozen. You can still drag and zoom while it drifts.
• Play starts the rotation again.

If you are zoomed out, Pause goes straight to Play. Using My location, or zooming back out, ends the drift.

Clock, date and data sources

The top-left corner shows the time and date. Tap "Data sources" to see which satellite image and cloud time stamps are currently displayed and which rain sources have been loaded.

Live wallpaper (Android)

1. Open the settings menu and tap Set as wallpaper.
2. Android's wallpaper picker opens with Orbit Live. Tap to set it and choose the home screen, the lock screen or both (the exact wording varies between phones).

• Free: the wallpaper shows the default view, the whole Earth turning slowly with borders, rain and clouds on. A Get Pro button is drawn near the bottom.
• Pro: the wallpaper uses the view you set in the app: zoom, position, borders, rain, clouds, direction, and whether it rotates, is paused or drifts. Change the view in the app at any time and the wallpaper picks it up the next time it is shown.
• A living close-up: zoom in, tap Pause, then tap Drift, then set the wallpaper.
• The wallpaper only animates while it is visible on the screen.

Screensaver (Android)

Orbit Live can also be a screensaver. Open Android Settings, find Screen saver (usually under Display; the path varies by phone), and choose Orbit Live. It shows the default view.

Orbit Live Pro

Pro is a single one-time purchase through Google Play. In the free version a Get Pro button sits at the bottom of the screen and on the wallpaper. Pro saves your own settings to the live wallpaper and removes the button. Pro belongs to your Google account. If a payment is still pending, Pro is activated as soon as it completes.

Tips and troubleshooting

• First start: an internet connection is needed to download the satellite image from NASA.
• Clouds or rain missing: a message tells you when a layer could not be loaded. Check your connection and reopen the app.
• No weather: the weather service may be unreachable. Try again in a moment.
• My location fails: allow location access for Orbit Live in your phone's settings. Indoors it can take up to about ten seconds.
• Buttons disappeared: they hide when idle. Touch the screen.
• No Drift button: zoom in and tap Pause first.

Privacy

Orbit Live has no accounts, no ads and no analytics. Your location is used only when you tap My location and is not stored. The map and weather services you connect to can see your IP address, as with any web traffic. Read the full privacy policy. Questions: support@nellieo.com.