User guide

Getting the most from your window seat

For AirReveal on iPhone and iPad · Updated September 2026

New to AirReveal? You only need four steps. Add your flight, download it while you still have Wi-Fi, switch to airplane mode when the crew asks, then look out of the window. AirReveal handles the rest. Whether this is your first flight or your five-hundredth, everything below is optional extra.

1Quick start

Add your flight. On the Flight screen, tap Create New Flight. Choose where you're flying From and To. You can search by city name, so you don't need to know airport codes.
Choose Live Trip or Planned Trip. Pick Live Trip if you're taking the flight now. Pick Planned Trip if you just want to explore a route from your sofa.
Download it. In My Flights, swipe your flight to the right and tap Download while you're still connected. Maps and landmark facts are then saved on your device.
Allow location. When you start a Live Trip, AirReveal asks to use your location, then asks for Always so it keeps tracking while your phone is locked. That's how it knows where the plane is. Your route stays on your device, and there's no account and no AirReveal server.

That's it. You don't need in-flight Wi-Fi, a mobile signal or an account.

2Before you fly

Adding the details (all optional)

Beyond From and To, you can add the airline, flight number, aircraft type and departure time. None of these is required. They just make your journal richer. If you can't find your airline or aircraft in the list, type it in yourself.

Planning ahead

Switch the Flight screen to Plan to preview any route before you go. Drag along the progress bar to jump anywhere in the journey and see what you'll pass over. Tap play to watch the whole flight unfold. It's a nice way to decide which side of the plane to book.

Your first Live flight is free

Planning and previewing flights is always free. Your first Live-tracked flight is free too, with no card needed. After that, AirReveal Pro keeps Live tracking going on every flight.

3On board

Airplane mode is fine. Your phone's GPS receiver keeps working with airplane mode on. It reads signals from satellites, not from phone masts or Wi-Fi.
Give it a minute. Straight after take-off, or deep inside the cabin, it can take a little while to find your position. Holding your phone near the window helps.
Check which side to look. The Which Side to Look card tells you whether a landmark, or the sun, is on your left or right.
Glance without unlocking. Turn on Live Activity from the Flight screen to see your progress on the Lock Screen.
Always follow the crew. AirReveal is for enjoying the journey. It is not an official flight-status or safety service.

4The five screens

Tap the tabs along the bottom of the screen (or down the side on iPad) to move between them.

✈ Flight

Your live map. It shows where you are, a headline such as "You're flying over the Alps" and what's coming up next. Tap the panel for altitude, speed, weather and the Flight Timeline of take-off, sunsets, border crossings and landing. Use Live for the flight you're on and Plan to explore a route.

◎ Discover

A list of what's around you, sorted into Overhead Now, Coming Up and Recently Crossed. Tap any place to read about it, find out which side to look, add a photo or take its quiz.

♡ Journal

Every flight, saved automatically. See the countries you crossed, the landmarks you spotted, how long you flew and how high. You can replay a past flight or share a trip recap card.

▦ Collection

Every landmark along your route, from mountains, rivers and islands to volcanoes, cities and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Places you haven't discovered yet stay hidden until you fly past them.

☺ Profile

Your level, achievements and country Passport, plus My Flights, AirReveal Pro and settings. Tap About › User Guide any time to come back to this page.

5Quizzes, Bingo & achievements

This is where AirReveal turns a long flight into a game. Play alone or pass the phone round your row.

Landmark quizzes. Open any landmark and tap Start Quiz under Test Your Knowledge. Each quiz has three quick questions, such as which country a place is in or roughly how high it is. A perfect score earns bonus XP.
Discovery Bingo. Each flight gets its own Bingo card of challenges taken from your actual route, such as Discover a Volcano, Cross 3 Countries or Reach the Halfway Point. Complete a line, or the whole card, for XP. Open it with the Discovery Bingo button on the Flight screen.
Achievements. Unlock badges such as Island Hopper, Mountaineer, History Buff and Globetrotter as your travels add up.
Passport. Every country you fly over gets a stamp, even if you never land there.
Levels. Everything above earns XP (experience points), and your level goes up as XP adds up. It's all just for fun, with no leaderboards and no pressure.

6After you land

Your journal is already done. Completed flights are saved automatically. You don't need to press anything.
Share a trip recap. In the Journal, open a flight and tap Share Trip Recap for a picture card of your route, distance, flight time and discoveries.
Photos with flight details. Tap Add a Photo on any landmark and AirReveal adds a flight-info label. Your original photo isn't changed.
Keep it safe. Use iCloud Sync in Profile to copy your flights to your other Apple devices, or Export All Trip Data to save a backup file.

7Tips for every kind of traveller

Aviation fans

Add the aircraft type and flight number for a detailed logbook. Watch your altitude, ground speed and heading, and look back at the highest and fastest points of each trip in your journal.

Business travellers

Even a route you fly every week passes over something new. Download before you leave the office, use the Live Activity to check progress at a glance, and let iCloud Sync keep your iPhone and iPad in step.

Holidays, families & friends

Discovery Bingo and the landmark quizzes are made for sharing. Take turns answering, race to complete a line, and share a trip recap when you arrive.

Taking it at your own pace

AirReveal follows your device's text size and VoiceOver settings, so you can make everything larger or have it read aloud. Some people find that watching the journey unfold helps the time pass more calmly.

8Making it yours

You'll find these on the Profile screen:

Appearance: Light, Dark, or follow your device.
Color Theme: change the accent color. Every theme stays easy to read.
Discovery Range: how far around your plane AirReveal looks for places. A wider range finds more, and a narrower one keeps things focused.
Language: AirReveal speaks English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese.
Your name: tap your name to change it.
Show the welcome tour again: in About, if you'd like a refresher.

9Jargon buster: terms & abbreviations

Flying comes with its own language. Here's what the words and short forms you'll see in AirReveal mean.

Short forms and units

You'll see	Short for	What it means
GPS	Global Positioning System	The satellite signal your phone uses to work out where you are. It works in airplane mode.
ft	feet	How high the plane is. Airliners usually cruise at around 30,000–40,000 ft, which is 9–12 km.
kt	knots	Speed in nautical miles per hour, the unit pilots use. 1 kt is about 1.85 km/h or 1.15 mph, so 500 kt is roughly 925 km/h.
km · mi	kilometres · miles	Distances, such as how far away a landmark is or how much of the flight is left. 1 mi is about 1.6 km.
km/h	kilometres per hour	Used for wind speed in the weather details.
° (e.g. 270°)	degrees	With Heading, the compass direction the plane is pointing: 0° north, 90° east, 180° south, 270° west.
°C	degrees Celsius	Temperature in the weather details.
min · h · m	minutes · hours · minutes	"In 12 min" means you'll pass a place in about 12 minutes. "3h 45m" is 3 hours 45 minutes.
XP	experience points	Points you earn for discoveries, quizzes, Bingo and flights. They raise your level.
LHR, JFK…	airport codes	The three-letter codes printed on your boarding pass and luggage tag (these are called IATA codes). LHR is London Heathrow and JFK is New York. You can search by city name instead.
BA, EK…	airline codes	Two-character airline codes that start your flight number. BA is British Airways, so BA117 is a British Airways flight.
A320, 787…	aircraft types	The model of plane. An "A" means Airbus and numbers starting with 7 are usually Boeing. Your boarding pass or airline app often shows it.
UNESCO	United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization	The body that names World Heritage Sites: places of outstanding cultural or natural importance.

Words you'll see in the app

Term	What it means
Altitude	How high the plane is above sea level.
Ground Speed	How fast you're moving over the ground. A tailwind can make it higher than the plane's speed through the air.
Heading	The compass direction the plane is pointing.
Climb · Cruise · Descent	The three main parts of a flight: going up after take-off, the steady middle part at cruising altitude, and coming down to land.
Elevation	How high a mountain, city or other place on the ground is above sea level.
Overhead Now · Coming Up · Recently Crossed	Places beneath you right now, places ahead of you, and places you've just passed.
Which Side to Look	Whether something is out of the left or right windows, as you face the front of the plane.
Golden Hour	The hour after sunrise or before sunset when the light is soft and warm. It's the best time for window photos.
Sunny Side	The side of the cabin the sun is shining in on. Handy for choosing a seat, or for knowing when to close the blind.
Significance	A 1–5 rating of how notable a landmark is. The higher it is, the more worth looking out for.
Hemisphere	Half of the globe: north or south of the equator, and east or west of Greenwich.
Live Trip	A flight you're taking right now, tracked using your phone's GPS.
Planned Trip · Plan	A flight you're exploring ahead of time, or just for fun. It plays back along the route without needing GPS.
Offline download	The maps, landmarks and articles for one flight, saved on your device so they work without a connection. The app sometimes calls this an offline package.
Discovery Range	How far around your plane AirReveal looks for places to show you.
Live Activity	An iPhone feature that keeps your flight's progress on the Lock Screen.
iCloud Sync	Copies your flights and journal to your other Apple devices signed in to the same Apple Account.
Export · Import	Save a copy of your flights as a file, or load one back in, for example on a new phone or a flight shared by a friend.
AirReveal Pro	The optional upgrade that keeps Live GPS tracking going after your free first flight.

10If something isn't working

The plane isn't moving on the map. Check that location access is allowed: Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › AirReveal. Then hold your phone near the window for a minute.
No maps or landmarks in the air. The flight probably wasn't downloaded before take-off. You can still follow along, and next time download from My Flights (swipe the flight to the right) while you have Wi-Fi.
Pro isn't showing after you bought it. Tap Restore Purchases on the Profile screen.

Still stuck? We're happy to help. Visit Support or email info@isafenet.app.