The same idea, built twice
Most apps in this space are trackers: you do the thing, then you tell the app you did it. Routinery and Orbit are both in the smaller category that does the opposite — the app holds the sequence and moves through it with you, so the running of the routine is the product rather than the record of it.
Because they agree on the fundamental idea, the comparison is unusually narrow. It comes down to reach, to what happens when you fail, and to where your data lives.
Side by side
| Routinery | Orbit | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Routinery Corp. | Aron de Groot (Groot Apps), Netherlands |
| Apple devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone only |
| Minimum iOS | 15.5 | 26 |
| Download | Free, paid subscription | Free, paid subscription |
| Runs the routine step by step | Yes | Yes |
| Streak on a missed day | — | Freeze spent automatically |
| Account required | Yes | No |
| Storage | Cloud account | On device, optional private iCloud |
Platform facts checked against each app's App Store listing on 6 September 2026.
Where Routinery is genuinely better
Reach. iPad and Apple Watch support are real advantages if you want a routine on your wrist rather than in your hand.
Templates. Routinery ships a large library of ready-made routines, which is genuinely useful when the blank-screen problem is what stops you.
Maturity. It has been on the App Store for years with a large body of reviews behind it. Orbit is new.
Older devices. Routinery runs on iOS 15.5; Orbit needs iOS 26, which rules out anything that cannot run this year's release.
Where Orbit is genuinely better
The missed day. This is the whole reason Orbit exists. Freezes are granted automatically as your streak grows and spent automatically when you miss, so the count survives a bad Tuesday and the record still shows what really happened.
No account. Orbit asks for nothing to start — no email, no sign-up screen between you and the first routine.
Data stays on the device. Routines live in local storage and sync, if you enable it, through your own private iCloud container rather than a company's servers.
Presence outside the app. The current step shows on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, which is where you actually look when you get lost mid-routine.
How to choose
If you need Apple Watch or iPad, the decision is made for you: Routinery.
If you have abandoned a routine app before because a broken streak made opening it feel bad, that is the pattern Orbit is designed around, and it is worth trying the one that treats a missed day as expected rather than as a failure state.
If neither of those is decisive, install both — they are free to download — and notice which one you still open in the second week. That is a more reliable answer than any comparison table.