Santa tracker 2024 live: how to follow Santa with Google or Norad
Keep up with Santa's annual world tour
The moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived – it’s time for TechRadar’s annual Santa Tracker! We’re going to be monitoring St. Nick’s whereabouts as he delivers all the best tech gifts this Christmas, following along using the two most popular trackers; NORAD and Google.
Kris Kringle’s annual jaunt across the globe is practically a sporting event these years, with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)’s Santa tracker historically being the go-to resource for following Santa’s whereabouts. However, nowadays thanks to the internet and smartphones, there are plenty of options to follow along as he delivers gifts at breakneck speeds.
We like to think we're the best way to keep up-to-date, and will be sharing global festive traditions, holiday entertainment recommendations and even some hot last-minute tech bargains to keep you entertained.
In keeping with the continued 'AI everywhere' theme of 2024, we've also asked Firefly AI to create some images of the big man himself and the elves back at home as they prep for some serious gift-giving. They're only slightly cursed.
What's a Santa tracker?
Santa tracking is a well-loved tradition increasingly observed worldwide, but it all began with a happy accident in 1955. According to NORAD, a Sears catalog accidentally printed the Colorado Springs' Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center’s phone number instead of a Santa hotline and began to receive calls from children hopeful to speak to Klaus himself.
Seeing an opportunity for a little festive fun (and some positive PR), CONAD began publishing press releases on Santa’s whereabouts every year, handing the reins to NORAD after its formation in 1958. In 2004, Google released its own Santa Tracker, which offers a very different experience but is still just as fun.
Fast forward to today and there are a number of ways to find out what's happening to Santa, but these two are the key ones to look out for, in our expert opinion.
Which is the best Santa tracker?
You've got two main choices when it comes to tracking Santa – they offer different ways of following along, but which is best depends on the experience you're looking for.
Norad Santa Tracker
The original way of following Santa and, some would say, the best. This website, run by the US military, fuses gruff colonels presenting a video about Santa Claus with live, up-to-the-minute info on where the man in the big red suit is.
You can download the app on the App Store or Google Play Store, and from there you'll be presented with some mini-games to play as well as being able to follow the progress of the present-giving live.
It's quite basic compared to other trackers, lacking a lot of polish and website design. However, it's also the most popular and has a heartwarming history behind it – as well as an army of volunteers ready to take your call to find out where Santa is, and the power of Verizon's network in a now 22-year partnership.
NORAD has also added an AI chatbot called Radar to help you spot Santa too, but if you can be bothered, then dialling +1 (877) HI-NORAD will do the trick too.
Google Santa Tracker
A more recent addition to the Santa tracking mix, Google's Santa Tracker has been going since 2004, combining the power of Google Maps with the savvy knowledge of where Father Christmas is.
Every year, when we publish this guide, we have people wondering how to play the games on mobile as the big 'PLAY!' button in the middle of the screen sometimes fails and will only ever give you random games or video anyway. Well, just go to the Santa Tracker site on a mobile browser, click the three lines in the top left-hand corner and see all the games to play. (Note - the 'install' option, which tells you to 'Add to Home Screen', doesn't work on iPhones).
While Google doesn't have the same satellite tracking power as NORAD, one has to assume the search giant has struck a deal with the North Pole to figure out where he is in real-time using search and radar and lasers and... stuff. Don't ask us to interpret the magic.
Backing up the Santa Tracker are a whole host of minigames to play, as well as a month-long website encouraging children to learn to code while they encounter a winter wonderland.
There are some pro-Google tools moments in this Santa Tracker – the Quick Draw game is designed to teach Google's image-recognition software to improve, which feels a bit odd – but it's a wonderfully designed site and arguably the most visually accessible way to follow Santa.
You can download the app from the Google Play Store, but in our eyes the mobile site is just as good and more accessible for iPhone users, plus Google's Santa Tracker has the best and easiest-to-use desktop experience, too.
Live updates
I'll dig into some of those games tomorrow, but it's well past midnight here in the UK, which means it's officially Christmas Eve – and also that I need to go to bed.
I'll back in a few hours, ready for lift off. See you then.
So, what else is available on NORAD?
Well, quite a lot actually. There's the HQ, where you can learn about NORAD and its mission and history. There's the Library, where you can learn all about Santa, his sleigh and his reindeer. There's the Music Stage – where you can listen to his favorite songs – The Theater, where you can watch films about him, and a Gift Shop where you can buy Santa merch.
And of course there's The Arcade… where you can play Santa-themed games. Guess which one I'm trying first?
While we can't actually see Santa in flight yet – that'll happen in around 8-9 hours – we do have an idea of what he's currently up to, thanks to NORAD. They've got a candid behind-the-scenes shot of him preparing to take flight. I thought there'd be more gifts than that, to be honest.
So, let's take a little look at what the NORAD and Google Santa Tracker sites are saying about Santa's departure time.
On NORAD, St Nick is due to take off in 8hrs and 45mins, which would put it at 9am GMT / 4am ET / 1am PT / 8pm AEDT.
Google, meanwhile, has Santa taking flight an hour after that, at 10am GMT / 5am ET / 2am PT / 9pm AEDT.
Why the difference? Who knows – but the important thing is that he visits everyone at some point over the course of the night, right?
Down under in Australia, Santa gets a nice cold beer to help him beat the heat, whereas Danish families leave out a bowl of rice pudding with cinnamon called Risengrod for the elves. In the US, Santa gets milk and cookies, and Argentina sees the reindeer rejuvenated with hay and water.
There's still some time before Santa takes off, so if you haven't set up Santa's special thank-you gift yet, now's the perfect time. Here in the UK, we leave carrots for Santa's reindeer, and the man himself receives a mince pie and sometimes even some kind of alcoholic tipple like sherry or brandy (or Guinness, in some Irish households!).
And look, we have a photo of him enjoying just that kind of feast. Okay, it's not really a photo, obviously – it's an image we generated using Adobe Firefly. Looks pretty accurate though, right?
I should really introduce myself at this stage – very rude of me to not do so. So I'm Marc, and I'll be your guide for the next hour or so. Hi! 👋
Yes, it's the highlight of our year once again – time for TechRadar's annual Santa tracker!
The big man himself is readying all stations to set off on his annual world tour, but there's still plenty of time left to get yourself ready for his arrival. After all, it's not even Christmas Eve yet in many parts of the world.
We'll be live blogging Santa's journey over the next day and a half, bringing you the latest on his whereabouts and sharing plenty of info about Christmas traditions as we go. Trust us – it's the best possible way to prepare for the big day.
Right then, on with the show…
