Everything with a transponder
Positions are merged from several open receiver networks at once and de-duplicated by each aircraft's ICAO address, so one network going quiet never empties your sky.
Coming to iOS & Android
Look up.
Look up.
Know what is there.
Above You turns the sky over your head into something you can read. Every aircraft with its transponder on, where it took off, where it is heading, how high it is climbing — and the next time the International Space Station crosses your night.
Free. No account. No analytics. Ads you can turn off for a day.
3Open networks merged
1 HzLive tracking channel
6Languages
0Accounts & trackers
What it does
An instrument panel for the sky above your head
Not a list of flight numbers. The aircraft you can actually see, with everything worth knowing about them, kept current second by second.
A map you can pan anywhere
Your position sits inside a range ring, but the map is the whole world. Drag to Tokyo and the traffic follows. Tap any aircraft for a readout that updates while you watch.
Where it came from, where it is going
Routes are resolved from open airline schedule data and drawn on the map — the flown leg in one colour, the leg still to come animated in another.
A photograph of the actual aircraft
Tap a flight and you see that airframe, not a stock render — pulled from public spotter archives and always credited to the photographer who took it.
The ISS, and when to look
Orbits are propagated on your device from public elements, with the sun and the Earth's shadow taken into account — so a predicted pass is one you could actually see.
Six languages, English by default
English, Turkish, German, Spanish, French and Arabic, with full right-to-left layout. The language is yours to choose, not your phone's to decide.
How it works
Three steps, and the sky is legible
There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to configure. Open it, look up, and the two should match.
1
Say yes to location — or don't
The app explains why it wants a position before the system ever asks, and only a button you press starts the request. Decline and the world map, Discover and every reference screen keep working.
2
See what is overhead
A count, the nearest aircraft, the highest, and a live list. Positions arrive every few seconds and are smoothly interpolated in between, so nothing jumps.
3
Tap anything that interests you
A per-aircraft channel opens and the altitude, speed and heading tick over once a second while its route draws itself across the map.
Privacy
Your position answers one question, then it is gone
Above You has no sign-up and no analytics SDK. Your coordinates are used to work out what is above you and are never written to a database, never linked to an identity, never handed to the ad network and never sold. Requests to the open data networks are made by our server, so your device is never exposed to them. The app is free and carries ads from Google, which use your device's advertising identifier; the policy sets out precisely what that involves and how to refuse.
0Accounts required
0Analytics SDKs
0Positions stored
0Positions shared with advertisers
Questions
Reasonable things to ask first
Does it show every aircraft in the sky?
It shows every aircraft broadcasting an ADS-B transponder signal that a volunteer receiver nearby can hear. That is the overwhelming majority of airline and business traffic. Aircraft that do not broadcast — most military flights, some older light aircraft — will not appear, and coverage thins out over oceans and remote terrain where there are no receivers.
Do I have to give it my location?
No. Location makes "above you" mean something, so the home screen asks for it — once, with an explanation, and with a button you can close. If you decline, the world map, the aircraft you tap on it and every reference screen keep working exactly the same.
How current are the numbers?
The list around you refreshes every few seconds. An aircraft you have tapped gets its own channel that reports once a second. Between updates the map advances each aircraft along its own heading and speed so movement looks continuous — but the altitude, speed and heading you read are always the last values actually reported, never estimates.
Is it free?
Yes. The data comes from open community networks maintained by volunteers, and the app is built on top of them without a paywall.
Get in touch
Above You is on its way
The iOS and Android builds are in preparation. If you want to be told when they land, or you have a question about the app, write to us — a person reads it.