What Is Pulsar?

Orbitr runs entirely on your own server and your own device — no company sits in the middle. Pulsar is an optional cloud companion, run by Orbitr, that smooths over the few rough edges of going fully self-hosted. You can use Orbitr forever without ever touching it.

🤔 Do I need Pulsar?

No. Every core feature — messaging, voice, video, files, your identity — works without Pulsar. It’s a convenience layer for the parts that are awkward when there’s no central server: short invite links that keep working, finding a friend’s server after its address changes, and keeping a cloud copy of your identity. Turn it on if those help you; leave it off if they don’t.

What Pulsar Does

• Resolves friendly invite links. Instead of sharing a raw IP address, you share a short Orbitr invite link. Pulsar maps that link to your server’s current address when a friend opens it.
• Keeps friends connected when your address changes. Home IP addresses change. If your server moves, Pulsar lets people who already joined re-find it without you re-sending anything.
• Adds abuse protection. Rate limiting and lookup throttling on invite resolution, so a public link can’t be hammered.
• Optional identity backup & sync. With the paid Pulse tier, Pulsar keeps an always-current encrypted copy of your identity and syncs it across your devices. See Back Up Your Profile.

The Three Tiers

Pulsar layers features by how much you opt in. You only sign in when you want the higher tiers.

Tier	What you need	What you get
Anonymous	Nothing	Open Orbitr invite links — no account required.
Free account	A free Pulsar account	Report bugs, suggest features, and vote on the roadmap.
Pulse	A paid Pulse plan	Cross-device identity backup and live sync.

What Pulsar Can’t See

⚙ What discovery actually sends

When a server opts into Pulsar-assisted discovery, it sends a lightweight heartbeat — its current public IP (only when that IP changes, plus once at startup), display name, public fingerprint, software version, listening port, and a count of connected users. No message content, no member identities, and no per-member activity ever reach Pulsar. Discovery is opt-in: a server connecting over its own custom domain can skip Pulsar entirely. See the Custom Domain guide.

Turning Pulsar On or Off

In the Orbitr app, open Settings → Pulsar. The Enable Pulsar toggle turns the whole companion on or off — switching it off hides Pulsar everywhere, and you can re-enable it anytime from Settings → Modules. Signing in with a free or Pulse account is a separate, explicit step from there.

Want the full picture of the service, pricing, and the principles behind it? Visit the Pulsar page.