How reliable is your internet connection—really? Traditional speed tests like Speedtest.net can give you a quick glance at your download and upload speeds, maybe a little latency data, but they don’t tell the full story. That’s the gap Orb, a new app launched today by the founders of Ookla (the company behind Speedtest), is aiming to fill. Orb is available now for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, and it’s designed to offer a more comprehensive and continuous picture of your internet quality—far beyond just speed.
Orb provides real-time, always-on monitoring of your internet connection with three main score categories: responsiveness (latency, jitter, and packet loss), reliability (ongoing stability and packet loss over time), and speed (download/upload performance). Each category is rated on a 0–100 scale, giving you an intuitive at-a-glance score, while the app still shows the raw performance metrics for more technical users.
Beyond just metrics, Orb stands out by offering multi-device visibility when you’re logged in—letting you monitor multiple networks or devices at once, even if they’re on different connections. For instance, you could watch your home desktop’s fiber link and your phone’s mobile 5G data at the same time. Power users can go even further by deploying Orb on devices like a Raspberry Pi, turning it into a 24/7 local network monitor. There’s even a “keep awake” toggle in the Android app that turns your phone into a portable, always-on internet watchdog.
Orb’s roadmap also includes “recipes” for service-specific connection tests—so instead of just generic results, you’ll be able to see how well your connection handles specific apps like YouTube, Microsoft Teams, or potentially Steam, Xbox Live, and other high-demand services. This would be a game-changer for users who want real-world insights on whether their ISP can keep up with their daily needs.
Orb is free to download and use, and while an account isn’t required to get started, logging in unlocks those advanced multi-device features. For users who care about internet quality beyond just “it seems fast,” Orb looks like a powerful, flexible new tool for keeping tabs on what really matters.
