Groups

Groups are shared media libraries where you and the people you invite can upload, organize, and discover memories together. Think of a group as a private circle - your family’s photo archive, a friend trip chronicle, or any shared collection that belongs to everyone in it.

What are Groups?

A group is a separate media library that lives alongside your personal library. When you create a group, you become its owner. You can invite family, friends, or colleagues to join as members. Everyone in the group uploads to the same shared library, and everyone can browse everything that’s been uploaded. It’s like a private social network for people who actually know each other.

Your personal library stays completely separate. Unless you explicitly share something to a group, only you can see it. Groups only contain what members intentionally add.

Creating a Group

Creating a group takes about a minute. From your Orbyte home, go to Groups and tap Create Group. Give it a name that makes sense to you - “Family Archive,” “2025 Road Trip,” “Team Photos,” whatever fits.

Once it’s created, you’ll see the group in your sidebar. You’re automatically the owner, which means you manage invitations and members.

How It Works

When a group member uploads photos or videos, they’re stored in the group’s library. Everyone in the group can search, browse, and discover those files. If someone uploads a photo of the whole group, you don’t need to ask them to share it separately - it’s already there for everyone to see.

Each member works from their own device, but everything flows into the same shared space. No copying, no syncing troubles - just upload and it appears.

Group-Scoped Features

Everything you do in Orbyte - Capsules, Faces, Search, Duplicates, Stowaways - works within a group’s context too. When you create a Capsule from group photos, it’s a group Capsule. When you tag faces in group images, those tags stay within the group.

You flip between your personal library and any group library using the Space Switcher in the sidebar. It’s a clean switch - same interface, different collection. For a full explanation of how spaces work, see Spaces and the Space Switcher.

Privacy & Control

Your personal media is yours alone. Groups are opt-in - you decide what to share and with whom. Once something’s in a group, all members can see it, so only add photos you’re comfortable being group-visible.

As the owner, you control who joins and can remove members if needed. Removing someone keeps the group intact - their past uploads stay, but they lose access going forward.