It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus is on his way. You can find out exactly where he is with the help of the NORAD Santa tracker and your Mac or iPhone. You can even track Jolly Old Saint Nick’s progress in real time.
Here’s how to keep an eye on Kris Kringle‘s progress.
How to find the NORAD Santa tracker
The North American Aerospace Defense Command has been keeping tabs on Santa for 65 years. NORAD tracks man-made objects over the North Pole, so it’s perfect to keep a close eye on a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.
There are two options for following St. Nicholas’ progress. There’s the NORAD Tracks Santa website (noradsanta.org). iPhone and iPad users can also use the website, or download the NORAD Tracks Santa app from the App Store.
Both offer moving maps showing the exact location of Rudolph and friends. And there are videos from Santa Cams with recorded footage of Santa at that location.
The NORAD Santa tracker also maintains an X (formerly Twitter) account with frequent updates on St. Nick’s progress as he flies across the world delivering toys.
Santa is busy delivering gifts to the children of Shanghai #NoradTracksSanta #NTS24 pic.twitter.com/m4BbbnyjE5
— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) December 24, 2024
Siri gets in on finding Father Christmas, too. Ask her the location of Santa Claus and she has a collection of fun replies.
As you wait for Father Christmas to show, you can take in Hannah Waddinghams’s Apple TV+ holiday special and Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds star in Spirited, a modern take on A Christmas Carol. And don’t forget the classic Peanuts Christmas special. All of these are on Apple TV+, and more.
The Santa tracker shows Kris Kringle is working his way across Asia as we publish this, so you’d better jump in bed and cover your head because Santa Claus comes tonight.
This article was first published December 24, 2020, and gets updated annually.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
