FAQ & troubleshooting

I don’t get alerts

Check these in order:

Notify is on. New watches start with notifications off. Open the watch and switch Notify: off to Notify: on.
Android allows the app’s notifications. Open Android’s settings › Apps › airplanes.live › Notifications, allow them, and check that the “Watchlist alerts” channel is on.
The watch is checked. On the Watchlist, a watch marked “Not checked, over your limit” is over the free tier’s limit. See Limits. A watch marked “Waiting for server”, or a list saying “Watches are not monitored right now”, is not checked until the app reaches the server.
Something new showed up. An alert comes when a watch goes from nothing to something. If an aircraft already matched the first time the watch was checked, that match stays quiet. The next alert comes after it has disappeared and shown up again.
Android lets the app run in the background. The app fetches alerts when it syncs with the server, every 60 minutes by default. Battery savers can delay syncs further. If alerts come late, set the app’s battery usage to Unrestricted in Android’s app settings.

Why does the map show only some aircraft?

Zoomed out, the map shows a share of the aircraft in view and says so at the top. Zoom in to see all of them. If the map says “Daily map allowance used up”, the free tier’s allowance for today is spent. See Free and Pro.

What does “Daily search allowance used up” mean?

The free tier allows a number of searches and lookups per day. The banner says when it resets. Linking a feeder raises the allowances a lot. See Free and Pro.

Why is an aircraft missing?

airplanes.live only sees aircraft that are in range of a feeder and send ADS-B or are located by MLAT. Coverage is thin over oceans and in some regions, and aircraft on the ground or flying low are harder to receive. You can help by running a feeder.

Why does the app ask for my location?

Only for features that need it: My location on the map, sorting search results by distance, searching Nearby and Use my location when adding a location watch use your approximate location. The AR view needs your precise location and the camera. Everything else works without location access.

How do I move my watches and feeders to a new phone?

Open Settings › Backup & Restore and tap Create Backup. Pick what to include: Watches and Feeders with their stats. Watch history isn’t part of a backup, and restoring an older backup skips the check history it contains. The app saves a .apl.zip file. On the new phone, install the app and use Restore Backup with that file.

Feeder access is not part of a backup. On the new phone, link your feeder again to get Pro.

Restoring is only guaranteed for the same app version, and the app warns when the versions differ. A backup made by a newer version may need an app update before it can be restored.

The AR labels point the wrong way

Your phone’s compass needs calibrating. In the AR view, tap Help, then move your phone in a figure-8 several times. Keep away from metal and magnets, like a car or a phone case with a magnet. Google’s calibration guide has more tips.

My feeder is offline but I got no notification

The app warns after airplanes.live hasn’t seen the feeder for 48 hours, so short outages don’t trigger it. Also check that Notify when offline is on for that feeder, that the notification wasn’t snoozed, and that Android allows the app’s notifications. See Offline notifications.