THE CONTRAIL GUIDE · iOS & ANDROID
A flight tracker widget for your patch of sky.
See a nearby aircraft without opening the map. Contrail’s free Watch the Sky widget shows an aircraft near your saved place, how far away it is and which way to look. No account or subscription is needed for sky widgets.
Get Contrail for freeAdd the widget on iPhone or iPad
- Open Contrail’s widget guide in Settings → Widget and choose a place. Use your location or search for a city or airport, then adjust the radius.
- Touch and hold an empty area of your Home Screen. Tap Edit → Add Widget, or the + button on older iOS versions, and search for Contrail.
- Choose the small or medium Next Flight widget. It also shows Watch the Sky. In Contrail’s Watch the Sky settings, choose Always the sky for nearby aircraft, or Next flight first to show a saved trip within your chosen time window.
Add a sky widget to your iPhone Lock Screen
Touch and hold the Lock Screen, unlock if asked, then choose Customize → Lock Screen. Tap the widget area below the clock and select Contrail. Choose the rectangular widget for aircraft details, distance, direction and viewing angle. You can also add a compact line in the date area above the clock.
The Lock Screen sky widget always watches your saved place, even when you have an upcoming trip. To follow one journey on your Lock Screen or Dynamic Island, use Contrail Pro’s separate Live Activity feature on a supported iPhone.
Add a Home Screen widget on Android
Choose your widget place in Contrail’s settings. Then touch and hold an empty area of your Home Screen, open Widgets and find Contrail. Add the widget and return to the app to adjust its saved place or sky preferences. The exact Home Screen steps vary by phone and launcher.
This Android guide covers Home Screen widgets. The iPhone Lock Screen instructions above do not apply to Android.
Read the direction, angle and update time
Compass direction tells you where to turn. The viewing angle tells you how far above the horizon to look. The saved place is the reference point, so change it if you want to watch the sky somewhere else.
Widgets update periodically, rather than continuously. Check the age of a reading and open Contrail for live tracking. If no aircraft appear, try a wider radius; availability depends on the aircraft data and coverage in that area.