Frequently asked questions about CatchFlights

CatchFlights is a real-world aircraft collecting game for iPhone and Android. A radar shows the aircraft actually flying near you. Catching one adds it to your personal collection of aircraft types, registrations, airlines, airports and routes, and earns XP, levels, streaks and progress towards curated sets. Every catch is kept in a personal spotting logbook.

CatchFlights is free to download on the App Store for iPhone. On Android it is in closed testing on Google Play: join the testers group with your Google account, then install it from Google Play. The steps are explained at catchflights.net/android-beta/.

No. CatchFlights only shows airborne aircraft near your current location, within your radar range, and turns them into a game. It has no global map, no flight status or delays, and it is not a navigation or safety tool. Aircraft, route and photo details come from third-party data and can be incomplete or delayed.

Open the radar and allow location access while the app is in use. Tap an airborne aircraft inside your radar range to see its type, registration, operator, route, distance, altitude and speed where available, wait a moment for the route lookup, then tap Catch. Perks such as Fast Catch, Catch All and Automatic Catch unlock as you level up.

The radar starts with a 15 km radius. Building the Radar Range track of the tech tree extends it in stages up to 50 km, and a Long Range pass adds up to 25 km on top while it is active. Distances can be shown in kilometres or nautical miles.

Any airborne aircraft that the radar receives near you: airliners, cargo aircraft, business jets, light aircraft, helicopters and military aircraft that broadcast their position. Aircraft that do not broadcast via ADS-B, or that no receiver nearby picks up, do not appear. Each aircraft type has an editorial rarity tier from Common to Legendary.

Positions come from community networks of ADS-B receivers. Routes are derived from observed flight tracks and open route databases, aircraft photos from Planespotters.net and Wikimedia Commons. The app shows a detail only when it is known and never invents missing information. Every source is credited on the data credits page.

It works wherever you have an internet connection and the receiver networks cover the sky. Coverage is dense around most cities and airports in Europe and North America and thinner over remote areas and oceans, so the number of aircraft on the radar varies by place and time.

No. CatchFlights does not use the camera or the microphone. It identifies aircraft from the positions they broadcast, so you see which aircraft is near you even when it is too high or too far away to recognise.

They are the daily challenges. Type Rating is a quiz on real aircraft photos that earns you a type rating for each aircraft family. Dispatch gives you daily and weekly assignments that pay out in perks. In the Fly-off you place six aircraft in the category where each one does best, and you can challenge friends on the aircraft you have both caught.

Yes. Add friends with an invite link or a QR code. When a friend catches the same aircraft as you within a day, wherever they are, it counts as a relay and earns you both XP. Friends, invites and the leaderboard use the optional Community account.

Skywatch is a free watch post that keeps looking while the app is closed and notifies you when an aircraft you are still missing reaches your radar range. It follows the place where you last had the app open, rounded to about a kilometre, or stays pinned to a spot you choose. It starts when you build its first node in the tech tree, needs the Community account, and can be switched off at any time.

No. CatchFlights works without an account or sign-up. An optional Community account adds friends, the leaderboard and Skywatch; it is identified by a generated key and never asks for an email address, a phone number or a password.

CatchFlights uses your location only while the app is open, to find aircraft near you, to work out their distance and whether you can catch them, and to save where a catch happened in your logbook. Shared catch cards never include your precise location. Only if you start Skywatch is the place where you last had the app open kept on the server, rounded to about a kilometre.

CatchFlights runs on iPhone (iOS 16.4 or later) and is in closed testing on Android phones. The app is available in English and German, with light and dark appearance, and the radar can be shown north-up or rotated with your compass.