Whether you’re following a loved one’s journey or want to keep an eye on an upcoming flight’s status, flight trackers are incredibly useful tools, but they usually come in the form of a third-party app – and often with a subscription in tow.
Luckily to make things easier, iPhones and iPads include a few easy ways to quickly track flights without needing to download any additional apps or pay for premium capabilities.
Keep reading to learn how to use your iPhone to track flights across Messages and Spotlight Search.
What you’ll need:
The short version:
- Find your flight number
- (To track a flight through Messages) Send or receive a flight number
- Tap the flight number
- Tap Preview Flight
- (To track a flight through Spotlight Search) Open Spotlight Search
- Enter the flight number into the search field
- Tap Top Hit
- See full information about the flight’s current status
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Step
1Find your flight number
You may receive a flight number from a message. If this is the case then you can skip this step and go directly to step two.
Otherwise, you must start by finding the flight number you want to track. A flight number can be found in many ways including your booking confirmation, boarding pass or via the airport’s website.
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Step
2(To track a flight through Messages) Send or receive a flight number
If someone sends you a message including a flight number, or you send one to someone else, you’ll see the code is underlined.
It is recommended to also include the airline name, as shown here, but the code should be enough most of the time.
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Step
3Tap the flight number
Simply tapping the flight number in the Messages app will display options to either Preview Flight or Copy Flight Code.
Alternatively, you can hold down the underlined number to bring up a real-time display of the flight map, including where the plane is currently and the full route.
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Step
4Tap Preview Flight
Tapping Preview Flight will show you full information of the flight, including its current status, arrival time and duration.
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Step
5(To track a flight through Spotlight Search) Open Spotlight Search
To open Spotlight Search, swipe down from the middle of your Home Screen, avoiding holding down any apps.
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Step
6Enter the flight number into the search field
You can either paste a copied flight number into the search bar or enter it manually.
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Step
7Tap Top Hit
You should see the flight information as a Top Hit, as shown here, which gives a brief overview of its current status. Tap here.
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Step
8See full information about the flight’s current status
Tap the flight information to bring up a more detailed look at the current status. Scroll down and you’ll see related options, including links to download offline maps for the destination and the airline’s website.
Troubleshooting
Firstly, if you haven’t already, try including the airline name alongside the flight number (for example British Airways BA344) to help iOS identify it as a flight. If this still doesn’t work, ensure the flight number is correct.
Yes you can. Simply bring up Spotlight Search by holding down the Command key and Spacebar and enter your flight number here.
