The Best Free Apps For Tracking Flights, According To Users

Flight tracking can be a fun hobby or a useful tool to stay up-to-date on a loved one's travels. When traveling, a flight-tracking app can help to make sure you're notified about your flight details and any changes that might happen -– oftentimes even faster than the official app of the airline in charge of your flight. The apps also keep your details in one place, which can help to reduce your stress and help you find what you need quickly. Whether you want to make your trip easier, keep track of your flights, or just watch where airplanes travel for fun, apps like Flight Tracker and Plane Finder offer plenty of information and tools to help you find everything you need. The following apps were chosen based on their positive reviews and recommendations to ensure that they are just what readers are looking for — without paywalls or too many annoying errors. 

However, there are a fair number of apps on the market to choose from, and all of them cater to slightly different needs. After all, you don't need to know the details of gate numbers if you're just curious about where the plane above you is going. Instead of downloading and testing out all of these apps individually to find your favorite, this short list of apps available on both Android and iOS offers you a wide range of highly-rated options to choose from and provides a quick overview based on an in-depth dive into reviews, as discussed later. A flight-tracking app may not be one of the best apps for making your travel plans, according to Rick Steves, but it is useful to have all the same.

Plane Finder has high ratings on both the Apple App Store (4.7) and the Google Play store (4.5). This app is great for the casual flier, as it provides live information on your flights, letting you know when something has been delayed or changed without warning. It's worth downloading, as anticipating smooth flights is a rookie mistake you don't want to make as a first-time flier  -– or as an experienced one. There are many more features as well, including weather reports, tracking traffic patterns, and altitudes.

There is a premium subscription available for roughly $25 a year, which not only stops ads, but provides additional features, like tracking several flights at once. It's made more for aviation enthusiasts, but anyone who wants to can download the paid version. However, many of the negative reviews focus on the change in premium payments, without grandfathering previous members into the new system.

On the Apple App Store, a reviewer using the name Stevey McSteverson explained in great detail what they love about the app, as well as features they would like to see. This is just a small portion of what they had to say: "This app is fantastic, and in my opinion blows all the other big flight tracker players out of the water in terms of features and the user interface experience. The coolest feature for me is the filtering system. I'm a casual aviation enthusiast who mostly likes to see what's happening over cities with police helicopter traffic, and with this app I can finally do that with ease!"

Flightradar24 is available on the two major smartphone services and is very highly rated for both. On the Google Play Store, it has a 4.5, and on the App Store, it has a 4.8. There is a free version, but you can also upgrade for a monthly fee to get rid of ads and get more features.

Ollie on the Google Play Store offers up why it's their favorite app: "FANTASTIC app. Best flight tracking app by far So so brilliant for tracking all live flights and life information for airports, such as delays. Being able to see the most tracked flights in the world shows you special planes and aircraft. Brilliant feature by getting notifications for special flights or aircraft declaring emergencies. Lots of information you can look into and you can get even more with a subscription, I have the silver plan which I pay annually and it's 100% worth it."

This is a great app for those who just want to keep track of how busy their airport is, and the basic details of their flight, including status and length. It is also a great way to spot signs of overtourism before you book, as you can see how often flights arrive at that destination in a day. However, Flightradar24 is an even better app for people who just enjoy learning more about aviation. It's easy to see how many flights are in the air at the same time, all over the world, and it shows you basic data for all of them. You can use this feature on your phone or their website easily.

Users on the Apple App Store seem to appreciate FlightAware a little more than their fellow Android users, as it has an average score of 4.9 from iOS users while it is only rated a 3.9 on the Google Play Store, thanks to a few bugs and a rather complicated login process for an app that doesn't store any data. However, it's an incredibly useful app to have if you've got multiple legs of your flight, as it will keep you alerted to any delays over the course of your entire trip. It's a great way to avoid the time-wasting mistake many travelers make when their flight is canceled or delayed, and can help you get to your destination on time.

Lauren Anderson on the Google Play Store explained what they liked about the app, "The very best of the free flight trackers. The flight search is intuitive and useful. You don't have to know arcane airline codes or airport codes. You can just use the airline name and flight number, and it prompts you with a list to pick from. You can mark multiple flights as favorites so you can track them all from one page. I've tried a couple of other flight trackers with better ratings or more downloads. This one is better."

While the free app is great, it may not be worth upgrading to the paid version, at least if you use an Android. According to reviews on the Google Play Store, sometimes these upgrades you pay for don't actually work, or do so infrequently. So if you're willing to pay for an app with more features, perhaps choose a different one on this list.

This app is called Flight Tracker + on the Apple App Store, where it has a 4.7, and The Flight Tracker on the Google Play Store, where it has a 4.2. It is created by Impala Studios. This is a good app to keep track of your flights and any changes to your departure. One of the top travel tips to learn from Rick Steves is that problems arise, and you need to move on, but that's easier to do if you have real-time information about these arising issues. It's one of the best apps to track your own flight, but also one of the best to track the flight of a family member so you know they made it safely to their destination. It's easy to search for any flight, and the app shows users updated flight paths.

Clifford Sennello left a review on the Google Play Store explaining why the app is so great: "This app is easy to use, and very convenient. You can search by Airline and flight number, or Airline and departure/arrival airports. It will update you for changes. In fact, I just got a notification for a change on a flight. This is very useful for tracking flights of family members. Ads are not a big problem. For a free app, it's really very good. With a little trial and error, you can easily figure out how to do what you want. A favorite!"

Trip Plans is not only a flight tracker, but an all-in-one planner for any vacation. It walks you through your day-to-day schedule so you never have to worry about losing information. Included in this is a flight tracker. In the app, you can see which airports you will be flying through, the terminals and gate numbers, the airline, and live updates on your flight so you know if you're still going to make it on time to your next destination. You can also use it to easily track and share information about your trip with others, so they know your schedule. And if you go offline, you can still have most of your schedule available. 

While this isn't the greatest app for aviation enthusiasts, for people constantly traveling and needing to keep track of their schedule, Trip Plans is a great option. It's highly rated, with a 4.7 on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. However, it does have one major downside, which is that it really only works with vacations scheduled via a travel professional. If you are handling your own trip planning and booking, this app won't be useful, as it requires a mobile app link from your travel agent to work. 

Bigcove in the App Store explained some of their favorite parts of using Trip Plans, "Great app especially for a longer trip. Easy to use. Lots of details. I liked that it real time updated the airline flights with on time or not and gate information. Icons were helpful for a quick glance of what was happening that day (flight, hotel check in/out, tour)."

To determine which apps were the best and offered the most features, Islands searched through app stores to find the highest-rated flight-tracking apps. Discussion boards and websites such as Reddit were also scoured to determine the pros and cons of the apps to deliver an honest and well-rounded review. It's important to have an app that works when you need it, as even Delta, the US Airline that suffers the fewest delays, does occasionally have problems. Without a flight tracking app, you can sometimes get the information even sooner than from the airport or airline itself, which is incredibly useful when you're on a tight deadline. 

Since people are using the apps for various reasons, and not necessarily just for tracking their flights, it's good to fully look over the reviews, and not just trust the ratings. After all, while some of the scores are a little lower on one store or the other, it may be due to small issues that won't affect another user.