Linking a bank account to any finance app raises a fair question: what exactly can this app see, and what can it do? Here is how Orbit uses Plaid to import your transactions without ever holding your banking credentials.

What actually happens when you connect a bank

You are not typing your username and password into Orbit's servers.

Plaid opens a secure, bank-hosted login flow, authenticates you directly with your bank, and hands Orbit a token that can only read data. It cannot move money or change account settings.

What that read-only token lets Orbit do

See your transactions and balances
Build your dashboard and reports
Cannot initiate a transfer or payment
Cannot change anything on your actual account
Revoking access takes effect immediately

What happens after you connect

Orbit imports new transactions on a regular schedule and matches them against your existing categories and rules.

Manual accounts, linked accounts, and multiple currencies all sit side by side in the same view.

Takeaway: The goal is to remove the tedious part, typing in every transaction by hand, without asking you to hand over more access than the job actually requires.