Features

The Aero mobile app provides comprehensive flight tracking capabilities with an intuitive interface and powerful features.

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Flight search and tracking

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Search by flight number

Track any commercial flight by its flight number: The search bar (lib/screens/home/widgets/flight_search_bar.dart) supports autocomplete and debounced search for smooth performance.

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Search by route

Find flights between two airports:

1. Search for and select the departure airport
2. Search for and select the arrival airport
3. Choose a date from the date selector
4. Select a flight from the list of available flights

The app displays all flights matching your route, including:

• Flight numbers (IATA and ICAO)
• Airline names with logos
• Scheduled departure and arrival times
• Aircraft type when available

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Flight information display

When viewing a flight (lib/screens/home/widgets/flight_info.dart), you’ll see:

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Header information

• Airline logo and name
• Flight number (both IATA and ICAO identifiers)
• Aircraft type and registration number

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Time and status

• Departure and arrival times in local timezone
• Scheduled vs. actual/estimated times
• Delay or early indicators with color coding:
  • 🟢 Green: Early arrival/departure
  • 🔴 Red: Delayed (>5 minutes)
  • ⚫ Gray: On time

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Airport details

• Terminal assignments
• Gate numbers (origin and destination)
• Baggage claim carousel
• Runway used for takeoff/landing

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Flight metrics

• Total flight distance (km and miles)
• Flight duration
• Current altitude (when airborne)
• Ground speed (when airborne)
• Heading direction (when airborne)

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Real-time tracking

When a flight is airborne, the app shows: The tracking service (lib/services/widget_update_service.dart) automatically refreshes data every 15 minutes using workmanager.

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Interactive map

The home screen features a full-screen map (lib/screens/home/widgets/flight_map.dart) built with flutter_map:

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Map features

• OpenStreetMap tiles: High-quality map rendering
• Animated transitions: Smooth camera movements when switching flights
• Aircraft marker: Rotates to match heading direction
• Flight route: Polyline showing the great circle path
• Flight track: Historical position data when available
• Airport markers: Icons at departure and arrival airports

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Map controls

The map supports standard gestures:

• Pinch: Zoom in/out
• Drag: Pan the map
• Double-tap: Zoom in
• Two-finger tap: Zoom out

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Auto-centering

When a flight is selected, the map automatically centers on:

1. The aircraft position (if in flight)
2. The destination airport (if flight is selected)
3. A view showing both airports (if viewing route)

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Tracked flights

You can save flights for quick access:

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Adding to tracked flights

1. Search for and view any flight
2. Flight is automatically tracked when you view it
3. Access tracked flights from the home screen

Tracked flights appear in a list at the bottom of the home screen when no search is active. Each tracked flight shows:

• Flight number and airline logo
• Route (departure → arrival)
• Status indicator (scheduled, in air, landed, delayed)
• Quick tap to reload tracking

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Managing tracked flights

Tracked flights are stored locally in SQLite (sqflite package) at lib/screens/home/service.dart.

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Booking details

Attach personal booking information to any flight: Booking details are synced to your account and available across devices.

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Shareable flight cards

Create beautiful flight cards to share on social media:

1. View any flight
2. Tap the share icon
3. The app generates a custom flight card with:
   • Airline branding and colors
   • Route and timing information
   • Aircraft details
   • Distance metrics
   • Status indicators (delayed, cancelled, diverted)

The shareable card (lib/screens/home/widgets/shareable_flight_card.dart) is rendered at 450×600px with:

• Dark gradient background
• World map overlay
• Airline logo
• Flight numbers (IATA and ICAO)
• Airport codes and city names
• Departure/arrival times in local timezone
• Gate, terminal, and baggage information
• Flight distance and duration
• Aircraft model and registration

Share via any app using the share_plus package, or save to your photo library using screenshot.

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Flight statistics

Track your personal aviation history with comprehensive statistics.

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Access statistics

1. Tap the Profile tab in bottom navigation
2. Tap “Flight Stats”
3. View your lifetime aviation metrics

The stats screen (lib/screens/profile/stats/main.dart) displays:

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Overview stats

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Distance comparisons

Your total distance is compared to:

• Around Earth: Trips around the equator (40,075 km)
• To the Moon: Distance to the moon (384,400 km)
• To Mars: Average distance to Mars (54.6M km)

Each comparison shows a progress bar and multiplier.

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Flight records

• Shortest flight: Minimum flight distance and duration
• Longest flight: Maximum flight distance and duration

Each record displays:

• Route (departure → arrival)
• Airline and flight number
• Distance (km) or duration (hours, minutes)

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Aircraft statistics

Detailed aircraft metrics including:

• Most flown aircraft: Aircraft model with most flights
• Youngest aircraft: Newest aircraft by manufacturing date
• Oldest aircraft: Oldest aircraft by age
• Most common tail number: Registration appearing most often
• Median age: Median aircraft age across all flights

Aircraft stats display photos when available, with fallback to flight icons.

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Top airlines

Ranked list of airlines by flight count:

• Airline name and logo
• Flight count
• Progress bar relative to top airline

Displays top 10 airlines with SVG logo support via flutter_svg.

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Top airports

Ranked list of airports by departure count:

• Airport code (IATA)
• Airport name
• City and country
• Departure count
• Progress bar relative to top airport

Displays top 10 airports.

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Top routes

Most frequently flown routes:

• Departure and arrival airports
• Flight count on route
• Distance

All statistics are calculated server-side and cached locally for offline access.

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Wear OS integration

Connect Wear OS smartwatches to sync flight data:

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Connect a device

1. Ensure your Wear OS watch is paired via Bluetooth
2. In the Aero app, go to Profile → “Connected Wear OS Devices”
3. Your watch should appear automatically
4. Status shows:
   • ✅ Green: Device nearby and connected
   • ⚠️ Orange: Device paired but not nearby

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View devices

The wearables screen (lib/screens/wearables/list/main.dart) shows:

• Device name
• Device ID
• Connection status
• Nearby indicator

The app uses WearOSService (lib/services/wear_os.dart) to communicate with watches via Bluetooth.

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Automatic sync

When you view a flight, it automatically syncs to connected Wear OS devices. The watch receives:

• Flight number and airline
• Departure and arrival airports
• Current status
• Gate and terminal information

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Offline support

The app caches data locally for offline access:

• Recently viewed flights stored in SQLite
• Airline logos cached via cached_network_image
• Map tiles cached by flutter_map
• User profile and statistics cached

When offline:

• View previously loaded flights
• Access cached statistics
• View map with cached tiles
• No real-time updates until reconnected

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Performance features

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Debounced search

Search input uses debouncing to avoid excessive API calls. The search only triggers 300ms after you stop typing.

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Lazy loading

Flight lists use lazy loading to render efficiently:

• Only visible items are rendered
• Smooth scrolling with ListView.builder
• Skeleton screens while loading (skeletonizer package)

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Image caching

All network images use cached_network_image for:

• Faster loading on repeat views
• Reduced bandwidth usage
• Offline access to previously loaded images

See the Widgets documentation for home screen widget features.