Overflight

Overflight is a live radar scope designed to identify and track every aircraft visible in the sky above you. It plots these aircraft in real-time, providing essential details such as airline, flight number, route, and altitude. The application is available for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, offering a convenient way to stay informed about the airspace around you. The inspiration behind Overflight stemmed from a personal desire to know the identity of every plane flying overhead. Traditional flight trackers often present a broad view of entire regions, which was not what the creator sought. Instead, Overflight focuses on the immediate, visible sky, offering a more localized and personal perspective on air traffic. One of the core features is the live radar scope, which displays all aircraft within your observable vicinity. For each plotted aircraft, Overflight provides detailed information, including the airline operating the flight, the specific flight number, the planned route, and the current altitude. This comprehensive data allows users to easily identify and learn about the planes they see. Another significant feature is the "which way to look" guidance. This functionality helps users orient themselves by indicating the direction of each aircraft relative to their current position. This is particularly useful for quickly locating a specific plane in the sky once it has been identified on the radar. The application also includes a "spoken traffic" feature, which audibly announces details about approaching aircraft. This hands-free option is highlighted as a particularly engaging and useful aspect of the app, allowing users to maintain awareness without constantly looking at the screen. For Apple TV users, Overflight offers an "always-on ambient display" mode. This transforms the app into a continuous, unobtrusive display of local airspace activity, ideal for an office or living space. Additionally, the Apple TV version includes a "Precise location & direction" feature, enhancing the spatial awareness of aircraft positions. Overflight operates with near real-time data, incorporating a small amount of latency from ADS-B data to ensure accuracy. The app leverages iOS system heading, which combines magnetometer data with gyro and accelerometer readings through CoreLocation to manage short-term drift and provide reliable directional information. The primary benefit for users is the ability to satisfy curiosity about overhead aircraft and gain a clear understanding of local air traffic. The iPhone and iPad versions are useful for quick lookups, while the Apple TV version provides ambient awareness and can be used for longer observation periods. Specific use cases include quickly identifying a plane flying over your house, using the Apple TV app as an ambient display in a home office to monitor local airspace, or answering the common question, "What's that plane?" The "inbound interesting" mode, while primarily for military transports, adds another layer of awareness for those interested in diverse aircraft. Overflight is available for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. The app offers a free version, with a Pro tier that unlocks additional features such as routes, spoken traffic, always-on mode, and the "inbound interesting" mode. The developer, a one-person shop, prioritizes iOS and tvOS development based on market traction. In summary, Overflight transforms your view of the sky by providing detailed, real-time information about every visible aircraft, making it easy to identify planes and understand your local airspace from your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV.