Flight Tracker: Live Radar

Review by eFreeware

If you have ever stood in an arrivals hall waiting for a delayed flight, or wanted to know whether a plane had actually left the gate before driving to the airport, this app is built for that moment. Flight Tracker: Live Radar, from GPS soft Labs, is a free Android app in the Travel & Local category that gathers live flight tracking, status details and airport boards into one place. It has been installed more than 10,000 times since its release in January 2025, and the developer has kept it updated, with the most recent changes arriving in August 2026.

The pitch here is breadth without clutter. You can search for a flight by number, airport or route, watch its progress on a live map, and check the details that usually matter most: scheduled and estimated departure and arrival times, how far along the journey the flight is, and gate information when it is available. Airport arrivals and departures are covered too, so you can see what is coming in and going out of a given airport rather than tracking flights one at a time.

It is worth saying early that this is a free app supported by advertising, and it also offers in-app purchases. The developer also notes that flight information, availability and how often it updates can vary depending on the data sources behind it. That is a reasonable caveat for any tracking tool, and it shapes what you should expect: this is a convenient window into flight data, not a guarantee of minute-by-minute certainty.

Following a flight while it is in the air

The core of the app is the live map. Once you have found a flight, you can follow its route and see where it sits along the journey, which is more useful than a static status line when you are trying to judge timing. The recent updates added live flight duration and time remaining, so the map view now pairs position with a countdown of sorts, and a pre-arrival notification that the developer says will alert you before the plane lands.

That combination covers two different needs. If you are the one flying, you can check your own flight's progress and estimated arrival without hunting through an airline site. If you are meeting someone, the pre-arrival alert and the live position give you a better sense of when to leave for the airport than a scheduled time alone. Neither replaces the airline's own communication, but as a second screen on the same question, it is a sensible arrangement.

Search is the other half of the experience. You can look up a flight by its number, by airport, or by entering a departure and destination pair to find flights on that route. That last option is the one I would reach for when plans are still loose, since it lets you see what is flying between two cities rather than needing a specific flight number in hand.

Status details, gates and delays

A tracker is only as good as the details it surfaces, and the developer lists a fair set here: departure and arrival information, scheduled and estimated times, flight progress, and gate details where they are available. The app also shows aircraft details when they are available. For anyone who likes to know what type of plane is operating a route, that is a small but welcome addition.

Delays and status changes are handled through updates, so you can stay informed when a flight's situation shifts. The word to hold onto is "available" — the developer is explicit that gate information and aircraft details appear when the underlying sources supply them, and that update frequency can vary. In practice, that means the app is most reliable for the broad picture and less so for the last-minute gate change that only the airport board knows about.

I would treat this as a planning aid rather than a source of record. Checking it before you leave home, and again while you are on the way, fits how the app is designed. Expecting it to be the final word on a flight that is actively being rerouted is asking more of it than it can deliver.

Airport boards in your pocket

The arrivals and departures view is the part that works even when you do not have a flight number. You pick an airport and see what is arriving and departing, along with schedules, statuses, gates, delays and destinations where that information is available. For someone waiting on a passenger who has not shared their flight details, this is the practical way in.

It is also the feature that makes the app useful beyond a single trip. Frequent flyers can keep an eye on the airports they use most, and aviation enthusiasts can browse activity rather than tracking one aircraft at a time. The app is aimed at travelers, people meeting friends or family, frequent flyers and enthusiasts, and the airport view is what ties those groups together.

The same caveat applies here as elsewhere: what you see depends on what the data sources provide. A busy international hub will generally offer more than a small regional field, and the app reflects that rather than filling in blanks.

What you need to get going

There is not much to set up. You install the app, search for a flight or an airport, and start following. The search options — flight number, airport, route — are the entry points rather than a menu of tools to configure. That low friction is a point in its favor for an app you might open twice a year.

The requirements are the ordinary ones for an app of this kind. Flight data has to come from somewhere, and this app draws on external flight data sources. Beyond that, the app is free to install, carries advertising, and includes in-app purchases. The content rating is Everyone, so there is nothing here that would give me pause about handing it to a younger aviation fan.

The developer also provides an email address for support questions, which is a small thing but a useful one if a flight you are tracking does not appear as expected.

Where this app fits best

I would point this at people who need flight information occasionally rather than professionally. If you fly a few times a year, meet people at the airport now and then, or enjoy watching what is in the sky, the mix of live map, status details and airport boards covers the ground well. The pre-arrival notification in particular is the sort of feature that earns its keep on the days you actually need it.

Frequent flyers monitoring several trips will get more out of the search-by-route option and the airport views, since those let you survey options rather than committing to a single flight number. Enthusiasts who like aircraft details will find them here when the data is available, though that is a bonus rather than the main event.

What I would not expect is a specialist tool for people who need operational-grade accuracy or historical analysis. The app is built around live, current information drawn from third-party sources, and the developer's own note about varying availability sets the ceiling. Within that frame, it does what it sets out to do.

A free tracker worth keeping on your phone

Flight Tracker: Live Radar is a straightforward, free Android app that covers the common questions about a flight: where it is, when it lands, whether it is delayed and which gate to head for. The live map, the search options and the airport arrivals and departures boards form a coherent set, and the 2026 updates added genuinely useful touches in the time-remaining display and the pre-arrival notification.

The trade-offs are the ones the developer acknowledges. Information depends on external data sources and may not always be complete or current, advertising and in-app purchases are part of the package, and the app is a companion to official airline information rather than a substitute for it.

If you want a single place to check a flight before leaving the house and follow it on the way, this is a reasonable install. Travelers, airport pickups and aviation watchers are the people most likely to keep it around after the first trip.

What's new in version 3.0.5

- Track Live Plane on Map - Track Live Flight Progress - Live Flight Duration, Live Flight Time Remaining - Pre-Arrival Notification (Get Notification Before Plane Landing) - Improve UI & User Experience - Fix Crashes