Who is behind Orbi?

Why I built it

I was tired of depending on Facebook to keep track of what I do with my friends. The groups and the events were why I stayed — that is where the plans were made, where the invitations came, and where the communities lived. I wanted an alternative where I could keep all the practical parts without having to take the advertising and the algorithmic feed along with them.

What I was missing was somewhere to talk and plan something without ending up scrolling. Who’s coming on Saturday? Whose birthday is tomorrow? Where was it we said we’d meet? Those were the things I needed, and they were the ones that kept getting lost in the noise.

So I built Orbi: an alternative to what I used Facebook for. A place for messages, events and birthdays, about the people you actually know. No advertising or tracking, no algorithmic feed, and no strangers in your inbox.

I also wanted to build a European alternative. A communication tool made here, with respect for privacy, answerable to the people using it. It should be possible to opt out of Big Tech and still be part of the community.

What I did before

I have a master’s in Design and Innovation Engineering (cand.polyt.) from the Technical University of Denmark, including an exchange year at Queen Mary University of London, and I’ve spent my working life designing digital products.

At the National Genome Center I was working as the UX designer on tools used in Danish healthcare, where the data people hand over is about as personal as it gets, and trust comes from how the thing actually works, not from what you say about it. At the LEGO Group I designed internal products together with IT teams and product owners, and learned how software gets built, maintained and kept coherent when a lot of people depend on it. Orbi draws on both: the care that personal data demands, and the discipline of building something meant to last.

Write to me

If something’s broken, or you think Orbi gets something wrong, I’d like to hear it: anna@orbichat.io. For trouble with your account, the support page is the faster way in.