Apple brings native flight tracking support to iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2015
An unannounced feature rolling out in Apple's upcoming iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan operating systems will let users view up-to-date airline flight status, as well as a preview of projected flight paths, using specially crafted data detectors.




Discovered by a Reddit user on Wednesday, Apple's new flight tracking feature is already functional in the latest iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan beta builds, though data detectors are for now limited to Mail, Messages and Notes.

As seen in the GIF image below, when iOS 9 beta detects a flight number, in this case Delta #2182, it transforms the text into an actionable link connected to data pulled from an offsite server. A long press on said link brings up options to preview flight information or copy text.



Information consists of flight numbers, current flight status, departure and arrival times, relevant airport terminals and an animation of the flight's path presented in Apple Maps. Status is clearly defined at the top-right, with options including "Early," "Delayed" and "Landed," while departure and arrival times are shown at the bottom with to-the-minute accuracy.

The same information can be found in OS X El Capitan, but instead of a long press, users access flight data with a right click.

Apple is expected to release iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 El Capitan this fall.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    Nicely done!
  • Reply 2 of 20
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,386member
    Nice. One less thing to enter in a Google search. This is how Apple is slowly making search engines less relevant on its mobile and desktop platforms.
  • Reply 3 of 20
    zabazaba Posts: 226member
    I suppose it'll just be for US flights. :-(
  • Reply 4 of 20
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,221member

    Homeland Zip-a-dee-doo-dah will not stand for this!

  • Reply 5 of 20
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    But still no bike directions...
  • Reply 6 of 20
    cgjcgj Posts: 276member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RickFaced View Post





    Post an international flight and I'll test it for you.

    EZY 7373?

  • Reply 8 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RickFaced View Post





    Doesn't seem to work.

     

    Try EZY #7373

  • Reply 9 of 20
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member
    It works with international flights.

    Click on the airport's name and it will zoom in. Tap on the plane symbol and it will zoom on the general view.
  • Reply 10 of 20

    EZY #7373 does not work.  EasyJet #7373 does work.  It may have to do with EZY not being the only code that EasyJet uses for their flights as they also use U2.

     

     

     

     

  • Reply 11 of 20
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Very cool. I have to say than San Francisco font looks really nice.
  • Reply 12 of 20
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Yes! This has been sorely needed.

  • Reply 13 of 20

    Easyjet #7373 works. Seems very strict. It wouldn't take EZY7373 or EZY 7373. It would take Easyjet 7373 but not Delta 2186 (no hash). 

  • Reply 14 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ClemyNX View Post



    It works with international flights.



    Click on the airport's name and it will zoom in. Tap on the plane symbol and it will zoom on the general view.



    I tried Qantas #QF7 (Sydney, Australia to Dallas Fort Worth) and was unable to see a link. Typing Qantas #4535 (Dallas Fort Worth to Philadelphia) got me a link. Also, typing Qantas #7375 (Dallas Fort Worth to Sydney, Australia) worked. Maybe non-numeric flight numbers do not work?

  • Reply 15 of 20
    sully54sully54 Posts: 108member
    Force touch would be excellent for this purpose.
  • Reply 16 of 20
    jpellinojpellino Posts: 706member

    DL1251

     

    My results for Mac:  Works in Mail.  Works in Notes.  Works in Messages.  Not in Reminders.  Not here in a forum message or as seen on other web pages.  

     

    Love date detectors.  

  • Reply 17 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Cyberzombie View Post

     

     

    Try EZY #7373


    Ok, here is the reason that EasyJet EZY7373 does not work

    Flights are identified in two parts.

    The Operator ID and the Flight Number

    The Operator ID is normally TWO Characters. AA for American Airlines, BA for British Airways. The letters are the airlines IATA code.

    The EZY is the ICAO code for EasyJet. The IATA code for EasyJey is 'U2' (sic).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_codes-E

     

    EasyJet seem to want to be different from the rest of the Industry in using the ICAO code rather than the IATA code. Most of the time, the ICAO Code is used only inside the airline industry. I guess that for non frequent fliers EZY is easier to relate to the airline than U2.

    Either way, EasyJet are a PITA to deal with at Airports (which is where I used to encounter them). The only airline worse than them is AF.

  • Reply 18 of 20
    am8449am8449 Posts: 392member
    This is very cool. But perhaps only occasionally useful to the average user?

    Or is this another nod to the enterprise user, who travels often for business?
  • Reply 19 of 20



    This is awesome, but does not seem to be working for Sun Country flight 282...

    I have tried SY 282, SY #282, SY 0282, SY #0282, as well as swapping the SY out with Sun Country and SunCountry in all the previous examples.  Thoughts?

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