App Archives - ShaneMcDonald.ie

FlightRadar24 Vs Plane Finder, Flight Tracking iPhone Apps

by Shane McDonald | Mar 6, 2019 | Internet & Technology, iPod / iPhone Apps

A few years ago when I got my first iPhone, I downloaded two Aircraft Tracking iPhone Apps. These flight tracking apps were FlightRadar24 and Plane Finder. The smartphone air traffic apps allow you to track the position, height, speed, Squawk Code, Aircraft type, heading, source, destination and Aircraft Registration, plus much more.

These amazing iPhone apps are brilliant, especially if you are interested in aircraft. You may also just want to know where a plane in the sky is heading. Ever since I was a child, when I got my first pair of binoculars, I have been fascinated with knowing which aircraft or which airline is flying overhead. Aircraft are such amazing feats of engineering, it is amazing to watch them as they fly 10km up.

So, back to the flight tracking apps. Which one is better, FlightRadar24 or PlaneFinder? I am going to look at the 2 apps and do a proper review…in no particular order.

FlightRadar24

The FlightRadar24 system was the first flight tracking app I downloaded. The main features of FlightRadar24 were full flight tracking plus visual tracking where you could hold the iPhone camera up to the sky where there was an aircraft and it would point to it with identification using augmented reality. At the time this was very new to smartphone technology but the Augmented Reality system makes it possible to point the camera to the sky and view aircraft information and all the details regarding air traffic over you.

Flight Radar Screenshote - FlightRadar1 iPhone App Review

Flight Radar Screenshot - FlightRadar24 iPhone App Review

The accuracy is stunning – I actually grabbed a pair of binoculars when a Lufthansa 747 was reported over Waterford, and it was indeed the aircraft mentioned on the FlightRadar-24 iPhone App. Amazing.
Check out http://www.flightradar24.com/ for more details.

PlaneFinder

I downloaded the Planefinder app just as a comparison as this one showed actual photos of the aircraft in question and also allowed for sharing of the spotted aircraft on Facebook etc.

PlaneFinder does almost everything that FlightRadar24 does, but I find that there are certain functions you can achieve such as advanced filters, e.g. show all aircraft above a certain height, speed or indeed of a certain airline. I also found some aircraft not listed on FlightRadar24 – for example, a Galaxy C5 showed up on Planefinder and at the same time did not display on Flightradar24 for some reason.

More information on PlaneFinder can be found at http://my.pinkfroot.com/

How do these iPhone Aircraft Tracking Apps Work?

These apps only show information regarding aircraft which are equipped with ADS-B transponders. About 60% of the passenger aircraft and some private aircraft have an ADS-B transponder installed.

The Flightradar24 and PlaneTracker apps use a network of ADS-B receivers around the world. These ADS receivers get plane and flight information from the aircraft with ADS-B (Broadcasts) and send this information to the main server. These apps simply collect the ADS data and displays this information on the iPhone Apps map. However the only aircraft within the coverage area of the ADS receivers are visible – so if you are in the USA you may have limited visibility as these apps are mainly covering Europe. Current coverage is approx 90% of Europe. However, there is also limited coverage in the USA, Australia and the Middle East.

App Problems?

Both Apps require WiFi or a 3G connection to work. If you only have a cellular data connection you may get 1 or 2 aircraft showing up but the app won’t work to its full potential – so ensure you have 3G turned on.

The only problems I saw was one aircraft which was a ghost image of itself – i.e., for example, an aircraft D-GBHF was showing up side by side but it was the same aircraft. Could have been a glitch.
However, the most fun glitch I saw was an aircraft which had a recorded cruising speed of zero knots – clever trick!

Flight Tracking Apps – Conclusion

Both apps are excellent in the way the aircraft are displayed plus the refresh rate and the accuracy is very good on both apps.

Both apps have been updated since my original post and I will be updating this post with the changes and new features.

PlaneFinder retails at €3.99 in the App Store

FlightRadar24 retails at €2.39 in the App Store.

FREE Versions of these Flight Radar iPhone Apps are available also and the desktop or web-based version of FlightRadar can be used for a limited session and with limited functionality for free.

If you have any comments regarding these flight tracking/aircraft tracking apps please comment below!

This post is a re-edit of the original post regarding FlightRadar24 and Plane Finder which was written earlier in 2015.

How to Fix a frozen iPhone or a Frozen Safari App

by Shane McDonald | Feb 15, 2014 | How to..., Internet & Technology, iPod / iPhone Apps, Software

I was asked today how to fix a iPhone (or iPod Touch) which had a Frozen Safari app (Apples Internet Browser). This can also work for a Frozen iPhone in some situations like an app which is unresponsive. The problem was that Safari on the iPod Touch would not accept any touches to the address bar, search bar or bookmarks – basically the Safari GUI on the iPod was frozen or simply it is a Frozen iPhone. The solution to fix this frozen iPhone or frozen safari app is fairly easy, but not everyone knows it. To fix and unfreeze the iPhone Safari App , do as follows; – Load the Safari App on the iPod Touch / iPhone – when Safari has loaded, press and hold the home button (the circular button in the middle of the iPod) until Safari quits – your iPhone / iPod Touch should return to the home screen. If this does not work you can try do an iPhone reset. The iPhone / iPod Touch reset is done by pressing and holding the home button and the power on/off button simultaneously, until you see the Apple logo and then release – while ignoring the “slide to turn off prompt” when doing this. Its probably useful to clear your cache and cookies when this has resolved; this can be done by Going to Settings > Safari and select Clear History, Clear Cookies, and Clear Cache. You can also ensure no further issues occur by turning off and re-powering the iPod/iPhone once finished this. Hopefully, this should solve any problems if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone with a Safari App which is Frozen or if you have a frozen iPhone, hopefully you are now back up and running. If you are very unfortunate and your iPod / iPhone won’t start at all, review this fix which resolves this issue. Click Here to Read this iPod Full Reset Fix

iTimeLapse iPhone App – iPhone Timelapse App

by Shane McDonald | Aug 30, 2010 | iPod / iPhone Apps

If you are looking at doing Timelapse I would certainly recommend the iTimeLapse iPhone App. (Note, you need a camera on your device so the old iPod Touch cannot use this app) The iTimelapse iPhone App allows you to create a timelapse project, specifying the timelapse interval, duration of the project, & size of the video. During rendering you can output at varying framerates, add music and add a filename. The timelapse videos can then be output to your camera roll / library for sharing. The quality of the videos are very good and I feel I could be getting slowly addicted to timelapseing … But it is enjoyable especially if you have a nice subject, e.g. sunset, cityscape, or something which is slow moving but interesting to watch over time. I would recommend that you switch to Airplane Mode, turn off sound, turn down the brightness, and if you are running a timelapse which takes mire than 2 hours that you have a full battery or stay on AC power. Your projects in iTimeLapse are saved so if you render & export your video at 12fps and you find that it is too jumpy then you can re-render later by accessing the project file and changing the fps of the timelapse. Have a look at a sample which I created this month in Sydney, Australia. The iTimeLapse iPhone app is available in the app store at €2.99 – well worth it, a nice fun app.

There is an inbuilt timelapse function now added to the iPhone in subsequent years and I often just use that now, the only advantage to using a proper app for timelapse is that you can set the interval. On the iPhone version, you have to run with the interval set on the phone, but maybe you want once a minute or once every 10 minutes, using a dedicated timelapse app is the best way to get the result you want and the best way to ensure that you have a good final timelapse. Remember to plug your phone into a power supply or power bar as these apps do drain the battery quite a bit over the time required.

Phone Rider iPhone App Review

by Shane McDonald | Jun 1, 2010 | iPod / iPhone Apps

If you are a Knight Rider fan or remember the 1980s TV show then you will surely remember KITT – the talking car. If you ever wanted to have the Speaking Equaliser which was associated to Kitts voice then you can look no further – the iPhone or iTouch brings you Phone Rider. The Phone Rider iPhone App picks up your voice using the inbuilt microphone (or plugged in mic if you are using the iTouch) and displays any ambient noise, e.g. speech or music , in the animated Kitt output. Phone Rider Original Design

Shown above is the original design which is output by the Phone Rider app, but as everyone knows this was not always the way the Kitt voice was represented (see below for the alternate designs available from the control panel). You can choose from Plain Red, Red Diamond and inverted yellow. Phone Rider Second Version - Original version and Yellow Version

Phone Rider Second Version - Original version and Yellow Version

I like this – but it can be a bit overly sensitive (which can be adjusted) – but a nice thowback to the 80s; Phone Rider – Available on iTunes priced €0.79 – Click Here Related Links: iKitt iPhone App iKitt iPhone App GPS Review

iKitt iPhone App. iPhone App and GPS Update

by Shane McDonald | May 14, 2010 | iPod / iPhone Apps

If you missed the original iKitt iPhone App review then you can read the full details here
http://shanemcdonald.org/myblog/2009-09-29/ikitt-ipod-app-review/

This is just an update regarding the iKitt iPhone App’s operation as a speedometer using GPS as you are travelling.

Turn the iPhone on its side and you get the classic Knight Rider / Kitt speedometer. As the iPhone gathers the GPS coordinates and positioning it calculates the actual speed you are doing (please do not do this when driving!! I don’t want people telling me they crashed when trying this out!).

A screenshot of the app in operation is shown below.

iKitt iPhone App Speedometer

The speed of the iKitt speedometer is not realtime, sometimes it will update once a second sometimes longer. However it is quite accurate. The actual speed when testing above was approx 90kph.

I was very tempted to try this in a 737 when taking off from Gatwick recently but felt the “Please turn off all mobile devices” was enough to get me to turn it off.

Its a very good app and well worth the €0.79c price tag on the iTunes App Store, even if it is just for the retro sentimentality.

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