I tried 2 popular Flighty alternatives for Android, but there's only one I'd pick

The idea that developers often prioritize Apple’s ecosystem is something we hear all the time, and one of the best examples is Flighty. If you haven’t heard of it, Flighty is widely regarded as one of the best flight-tracking apps on iPhone. Despite years of requests from Android users, myself included, it still isn’t available on Android.

Sure, there are plenty of flight-tracking apps on the Google Play Store, but I’ve never found one that delivers the same polished experience as Flighty. Thankfully, that finally seems to be changing.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying two Flighty-like apps on Android — Aviate and byAir — and both have genuinely impressed me. In fact, if you’re an Android-only user, I think one of them is probably the closest thing to Flighty yet. Personally, though, there’s still one reason I keep coming back to the other.

Aviate is the closest thing Android has to Flighty

Let’s start with Aviate, because it’s the newer of the two apps and arguably the one that feels most at home on Android.

Unlike most flight-tracking apps that feel like they were designed for iOS first, Aviate is built specifically with Android in mind. It uses Google’s Material 3 Expressive design language throughout, which immediately makes it feel at home on a Pixel or Galaxy phone.

More importantly, though, it gets the basics right. The app is completely ad-free, the company claims it doesn’t include trackers (ironic for a flight tracking app, huh) or sell your data, and it includes many of the core features you’d expect for free.

Plus, it includes all the standard features you’d expect, like flight tracking, real-time gate changes, notifications, and even calendar syncing for free. This isn’t something I can say for byAir, which payswalls both notifications and calendar syncing.

In addition to automatically importing your flights, you can also add them manually by entering the airline and flight number, or by scanning your boarding pass with your phone’s camera.

On top of that, Aviate offers a few genuinely useful extras, including a Starlink Wi-Fi checker that tells you whether your upcoming flight supports Starlink. There’s also a Jetlag Advisor, AI-powered airport lounge recommendations, and even a built-in LiveATC feed browser and player.

Design-wise, Aviate places a large world map at the top of the home screen, meaning you have to scroll slightly before you reach your upcoming flight. Once you open a trip, though, the flight details page feels clean, modern, and very Android-like, with a nicely designed route map and all the important flight information presented clearly.

The company also offers a paid Pro tier that unlocks extras like airport indoor navigation, public flight sharing, and LiveATC integration. On the whole, though, the free version already covers most of what I’d want from a flight-tracking app.

There’s only one reason I still prefer byAir (for now)

As much as I like Aviate, byAir is still the app that fits my workflow better. And the reason is actually very simple: I use two phones.

Alongside whichever Android phone I’m testing or daily driving, I also regularly carry my iPhone Air. I switch between the two throughout the day, so I don’t want my flights and travel information tied to only one ecosystem.

That’s where byAir has a big advantage. It’s available on both Android and iOS, and once you sign in, your flights sync between both platforms.

There are also a few design decisions I actually prefer. When you open byAir, your next flight is immediately front and center. You still get the world map, annual travel stats, total flight time, delays, and everything else, but those live in a separate profile section instead of taking over the main screen.

byAir is also surprisingly ahead when it comes to AI integrations. The app already supports MCP, meaning you can connect Claude, OpenClaw, and others directly to it. That’s admittedly a niche feature today, but it’s nice to see the developers already thinking about power users.

There are some things I don’t like, though. The biggest one is that even basic flight notifications are locked behind the paid plan. The app supports Android’s Live Updates (Now Bar on Samsung Galaxy phones), but once again, you’ll need to subscribe before you can actually use them.

For a flight-tracking app, I think basic notifications for delays and flight status should be part of the free experience, especially when Aviate already offers them.

Still, cross-platform support outweighs those drawbacks for me, at least for now. Although that advantage may not last forever, because Aviate’s iOS app is already in development.

I’d recommend Aviate to most Android users

While byAir fits my workflow better, I actually think Aviate is the better recommendation for most Android users.

And it mostly comes down to features and pricing. byAir starts at $5.49 for a one-week pass, $9.99 per month, or around $39.99 per year. Aviate, meanwhile, includes most of the features people actually want in its free tier.

And even if you decide to try the Pro features, a one-week pass costs just $1.29, two weeks cost $2.49, and three weeks cost $2.99. Compare that with paying $5.49 for just one week of byAir, and Aviate becomes an easy recommendation.

My only hesitation right now is that Aviate is still relatively new and actively being developed. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it also means I wouldn’t personally spend $199.99 on the lifetime plan just yet. And, of course, there’s still no iOS app available today, which doesn’t really suit my workflow.

If I only used Android, though, I’d pick Aviate without much hesitation. It feels more at home on Android, offers a much more generous free tier, and it actually feels like the closest thing Android has to Flighty today.