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Flight-tracking apps locate aircraft mainly by receiving radio broadcasts from aircraft equipment—not by using your phone’s GPS. The app combines those signals with other tracking feeds and flight information to build a near-current map, but coverage and timing vary by provider and region, so no public map guarantees that every aircraft is visible at every moment.
How an aircraft’s position reaches your screen
- Onboard equipment determines position. Aircraft avionics use navigation sources such as GNSS to calculate the aircraft’s position. With ADS-B Out, the aircraft broadcasts its position and other information, including altitude and ground speed, about once per second, according to the FAA.
- Receivers pick up the broadcast. The aircraft sends radio messages that can be heard by suitable receivers within range. Ground reception depends on factors such as line of sight, altitude, terrain, transmitter power and receiver sensitivity. In the United States, ADS-B uses 978 MHz UAT or 1090 MHz extended squitter, as described in the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual.
- A tracking service gathers and combines data. Receivers send signals to a service, which may supplement terrestrial ADS-B with satellite ADS-B, radar, MLAT, UAT or other feeds. The source mix differs among providers and regions. For example, Flightradar24 describes using several of these sources; that is a provider-specific account, not a description of every app.
- The service links tracks to flight details. A position signal may be matched with transmitted identifiers, flight plans, schedules and aircraft records. The FAA notes that a mismatch between a transmitted flight identification and a filed flight plan can interfere with association in its air traffic control automation.
- The app displays the processed result. The map is the output of signal reception, position calculation, data matching and display. “Real time” means near-current, not instantaneous: reception and processing take time, and the resulting feed can have latency.
Which tracking methods do apps use?
ADS-B: the main public-facing source
ADS-B stands for Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast. “Dependent” means the aircraft’s avionics derive its position from navigation sources; “broadcast” means the aircraft sends information outward for receivers to pick up. The FAA says ADS-B broadcasts position and other information about once per second, compared with radar position updates every five to 12 seconds in its overview.
ADS-B is not a phone locating a plane. The app receives aircraft transmissions through a network of receivers. ADS-B Out requirements apply to specified airspace under U.S. rules, rather than universally to every aircraft everywhere; the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual explains the relevant equipment and airspace context.
MLAT: estimating position from signal timing
Multilateration, or MLAT, can estimate an aircraft’s position from transponder signals that do not themselves carry ADS-B position. It compares the time at which a signal reaches multiple receivers; a service needs enough receivers to hear the same transmission. Flightradar24 says its MLAT uses time differences of arrival across three or more receivers.
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Flightradar24 reports optimal MLAT positional accuracy of 10–20 meters, gives 10–100 meters as a more typical range, and says rare errors can reach 1,000 meters. These are the provider’s figures, not independent measurements or a guarantee for other services. It also says MLAT coverage often requires an aircraft to be around 5,000–10,000 feet or higher, depending on local receiver coverage. The service warns that calculated speed can be wrong, especially during turns.
Satellite ADS-B and other feeds
Satellite receivers can pick up ADS-B transmissions in areas beyond terrestrial receiver coverage, then relay them to a service. Providers may also use radar, UAT, FLARM or other sources. A provider’s combination of feeds does not mean all remote or oceanic areas have uniform coverage.
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Why do some aircraft disappear from the map when using MLAT?
MLAT only works when enough receivers hear the same aircraft signal. If an aircraft descends below the local level at which three receivers can receive it, Flightradar24 says its MLAT track may disappear from that service’s map. Terrain, aircraft altitude, receiver placement and signal conditions can all affect reception.
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A gap on a consumer map is not proof that air traffic control has lost track of the aircraft. The public app and ATC surveillance are different systems, with different feeds and purposes. Without checking the specific flight and service, a map gap does not establish its cause.
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Why else might a plane be missing or misidentified?
- Limited reception: Ground receiver range is affected by line of sight, terrain, altitude, transmitter power and receiver sensitivity.
- Aircraft equipment or feed differences: Aircraft do not all transmit the same kinds of transponder data, and services do not all use the same feeds or coverage.
- Processing delay: Position calculation and display take time. The FAA defines uncompensated latency as delay between calculating a position and broadcasting it that avionics do not correct through extrapolation.
- Identification matching: A flight number or aircraft identity displayed on the map can depend on matching a transmitted identifier with schedule or flight-plan records. A mismatch can prevent a clean association.
What a flight-tracking map can—and cannot—tell you
A tracker is a useful informational view of aircraft signals and associated flight data, not an authoritative air traffic control display or a safety tool. The FAA says ADS-B information received air-to-air and ground-to-air is for situational awareness. Consumer apps aggregate feeds and can have gaps, so the map should not be treated as a complete picture of all aircraft.
The FAA notes that ADS-B ground stations can be placed more flexibly than radar and can provide surveillance in some areas that lacked radar coverage. That aviation-system benefit does not guarantee complete reception by a consumer app in any particular location.
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How to compare flight-tracking services
There is no established head-to-head performance ranking here. To judge whether a service suits your needs, compare the specifics that shape its map:
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- Which inputs it uses, such as ADS-B, MLAT, radar, UAT or glider tracking.
- Whether it labels estimated, delayed or MLAT-derived tracks.
- How it associates positions with flight status, schedules and aircraft details.
For scale, Flightradar24 says its network includes more than 50,000 receivers on seven continents and in space, and its database contains more than 1.5 million aircraft. Those are company-reported figures from its current service description; they do not establish that every aircraft is visible or that another service has comparable coverage.
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Can you receive aircraft broadcasts yourself?
Yes. As an optional educational project, you can build a local ADS-B receiver. Flightradar24’s setup guide specifies a Raspberry Pi 3B+ or newer, a microSD card, a power supply and an ADS-B USB receiver dongle with antenna; it recommends an RTL2832/R820T2-based dongle. A local receiver’s range is not fixed: the FAA identifies altitude, terrain, transmitter power and receiver sensitivity as factors that affect reception.
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