This policy covers ORBIT: WiFi Signal Heatmap (“ORBIT”), the Android app on Google Play. ORBIT maps the Wi‑Fi coverage of a home or office, checks whether nearby networks are crowding your Wi‑Fi channel, and suggests practical next steps. This policy explains, in plain terms, what ORBIT does with information on your device.
When you run a survey, ORBIT stores the following on your device:
Surveys and floor‑plan images are stored in ORBIT’s private storage on your device. They are excluded from Android cloud backup and from device‑to‑device transfer, so they are not copied to a backup or moved to a new phone.
In a camera scan, ORBIT uses the camera to follow the floor while you walk, so it can place each reading where it was taken. No photo, video or camera image is recorded, saved or shared. Floor‑plan surveys do not use the camera.
Android requires the Precise Location permission, with the device Location setting switched on, before it will tell any app which Wi‑Fi access point the phone is connected to, and before it will share the list of nearby Wi‑Fi networks on some Android versions. ORBIT asks for it only for those reasons: to tell your access points apart, so that readings from two units in a mesh network are not blended into one misleading map, and to check nearby channels.
Android asks for Precise and Approximate location together, because on Android 12 and later a request for Precise on its own is ignored. ORBIT does not use the Approximate permission for anything. If you choose Approximate, ORBIT tells you that it cannot tell your access points apart rather than carrying on as though it could.
ORBIT does not determine, use or store your physical location. It does not use GPS or any location service, does not request background location, and never records geographic coordinates.
When you tap to check your channel, or at the channel step after a survey, ORBIT asks Android for a fresh look at the Wi‑Fi networks around you. It only does this when you ask. There is no background or scheduled scanning.
On Android 13 and later, Android shows the permission for this as Nearby devices. ORBIT uses it, together with its Wi‑Fi permissions, to read the channel numbers, channel widths and signal strengths of nearby networks, and to ask which channels your phone may use. That is how it can tell you whether your channel is crowded and suggest a clearer one. ORBIT does not use this information to work out where you are, and does not track your whereabouts. The list of nearby networks is analysed on your phone and is not saved with your surveys.
ORBIT also holds Android’s standard Wi‑Fi and network‑state permissions. ORBIT uses them only to read your connection and to request a scan when you ask for one. It never joins, changes or configures any network.
ORBIT does not automatically upload anything. The app has no Internet permission, so it is not able to send your surveys to Matterlane Studio or to anyone else. There is no account, no sign‑in, no advertising, no analytics and no crash reporting.
You can choose Share Wi‑Fi report on a survey, for example to send it to your Internet provider, an installer, a landlord or a family member. When you do:
The report contains the type and date of the survey, the floor name if you gave one, how many spots were measured and estimated, what ORBIT found and suggests, and how to check whether a change worked. It does not contain your Wi‑Fi network name, access point addresses, raw signal readings, your location, or your floor‑plan image.
If you also tick Include troubleshooting details, a second text file is attached with your phone model, Android version and a set of counts from the survey. It contains no network names, addresses or raw readings, and you can read every line before you send it.
The shared files are kept in temporary storage on your phone. Each new share replaces the previous one, and Android may clear them at any time.
Your surveys stay on your device until you delete them or uninstall ORBIT. Nothing is kept by us, because nothing is sent to us.
For camera scans, ORBIT uses Google Play Services for AR to follow the floor as you walk. That is a separate application provided by Google LLC and governed by Google’s own privacy policy. ORBIT uses it only to follow the floor, and not to determine your location. ORBIT uses no other third‑party service to process your information.
Before public release, invitation‑only test versions of ORBIT could send a diagnostic report when a tester chose to. That reporting service has been shut down and no longer receives anything. The public version of ORBIT does not include it. If you took part in testing and have a question about a report you sent, contact us at the address below.
ORBIT is a general‑audience utility. It is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect information from them.
If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at this address with a new “last updated” date.
Questions about this policy: orbit.matterlane@gmail.com