Wingtrace: Live Plane Tracker

Wingtrace shows you the aircraft above you — right now.

WHAT IS THAT PLANE UP THERE?

Point your phone at the sky and Wingtrace draws the aircraft onto the camera

image with callsign, altitude and distance — and a photo of that exact

aircraft. Only the ones you can actually see: the app accounts for the

curvature of the Earth and for how large the aircraft appears from where you

are standing, so an airliner 46 km away is included while a dot at 100 km is

not.

THE WORLD MAP IS BUILT IN

The whole map lives inside the app — coastlines, lakes, borders, 34,000 towns

and 14,844 runways. There are no map tiles to download, so the map is there

the moment you open it, and the only thing that costs data is the aircraft

positions themselves. You will notice it on roaming. Turn on "Detailed map"

if you want roads and more place names while you are online.

EVERY FLIGHT, THE WHOLE STORY

Tap an aircraft for the strip: callsign, type, altitude and speed. Pull it

all the way up for the full picture — a photo of the aircraft, the route

drawn as a great circle with how far there is left to go, and the raw numbers

from the transponder: the altitude selected on the autopilot, indicated and

true airspeed, mach, and the wind and temperature at the aircraft's altitude.

Other apps charge a subscription for that data.

THE AIRPORTS

Tap an airport to see what it looks like, how long the runways are, what they

are surfaced with, and which radio frequencies are in use. More than 2,000

airports have a photo.

FOLLOW A FLIGHT

Put a star on an aircraft and be told when it takes off or lands — even while

the app is in the background.

NEAR ME

See the closest aircraft with distance and bearing. Your location stays on

the phone and is not sent to anyone.

ENGLISH AND DANISH

Wingtrace speaks English. If you would rather have Danish, you can choose it

for this app alone, without changing your phone's language.

FREE — AND HONEST ABOUT IT

Wingtrace is free and paid for by ads. There is no paywall, no account, and

nothing locked away.

WHERE DOES THE DATA COME FROM?

Aircraft broadcast their own position over ADS-B. The signals are picked up

by a network of volunteers with antennas on their roofs and made available by

adsb.lol under the Open Database License. Airport data comes from OurAirports

(public domain), route data from VRS standing data, departure and arrival

times for Norwegian airports from Avinor, aircraft photos from Planespotters

and airport photos from Wikimedia Commons.

PLEASE NOTE

Aircraft positions are fetched over the network. Without a connection the map

is still there, but there are no aircraft on it.

Coverage is uneven. Aircraft below a couple of thousand feet and aircraft

without ADS-B are missing. Military aircraft appear only when they broadcast,

and as a rule they do not. Positions may be delayed, incomplete or wrong.

Wingtrace is not affiliated with any airline, airport or authority, and must

not be used for navigation, flight planning or any other operational purpose.