Santa Tracker 2025 LIVE — you can follow Santa on Christmas Eve and find him with Google and NORAD
It's the most wonderful time of the year!
It's Christmas Eve! And that means jolly old St. Nick has got the sleigh prepped, the reindeer ready and is currently off on his journey around the world to deliver presents to all the good boys and girls.
In times gone by, you'd have to watch carefully from the bedroom window in the hope you might catch a twinkle or two as the bearded sky wizard made his way across the globe. But the year is 2025, and technology has stepped in to help us follow along all day!
Thanks to Google and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), as well as Flightradar24, we now have three Santa trackers to keep us updated with Kris Kringle's movements — not to mention plenty of festive games and puzzles to play, too.
History of the Santa Tracker
Of the two Santa trackers we're using today, the one from NORAD is probably the more established. It was actually NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), that began tracking Santa all the way back in 1955.
When NORAD replaced CONAD in 1958, it took over the mission of tracking Santa's flight around the world. According to NORAD, the tradition of tracking Santa really took off when a Sears catalog printed the CONAD Center’s phone number instead of a Santa hotline, and the organization began to receive calls from children hopeful to speak to Claus himself.
Google followed suit much later in 2004 when the tech giant launched its own Santa tracker. Considering how impactful Google Maps has been on navigation for millions of users, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the app can be used to follow the big man on Christmas Eve.
How to track Santa on Christmas Eve
You can follow Santa's progress around the world from your laptop or your smartphone, either through your web browser or a dedicated app. If you want to access the trackers directly, here are the links to follow:
If you don't want to keep a browser window open all the time, you can also download the NORAD Santa Tracker app on iOS here and Android here.
While it's nice to watch Santa's progress on our phones and laptops, children can also pick up the phone and call NORAD's Santa Operations Center to find out his current location.
More than 1,000 Canadian and American uniformed personnel, War Department civilians and local participants will be present today at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where NORAD is located. They are volunteering their time on Christmas Eve to answer the hundreds of thousands of phone calls that come in from around the world.
The center is fully functional now, and children can call 877-446-6723 to talk directly to a Santa tracker, who will be able to tell callers his current location. Operators will be available until midnight.
LIVE — follow Santa's journey
How fast is Santa actually going?
It's a pretty impressive feat to travel around the world in one night. If you're interested, I asked Google's Gemini AI assistant to give me some facts about just how fast Santa's sleigh is actually traveling today.
It told me that in order to visit every celebrating household in one night, physics estimates Santa’s sleigh travels at a mind-boggling 650 miles per second (about 1,050 kilometers per second).
That is roughly 3,000 times the speed of sound (Mach 3,000).
New Zealand with over 300,000,000 presents delivered
Checking back in with Santa Claus and, according to NORAD, he's busy making his way around New Zealand — with over 300 million gifts delivered already.
Google's tracker has Kris Kringle a little further ahead in his journey, having left New Zealand a little while back and tracking towards the Kuril Islands. This volcanic archipelago lies just to the north of Japan.
How to call NORAD's Santa Operation Center
While it's nice to watch Santa's progress on our phones and laptops, you can actually pick up the phone and call NORAD's Santa Operations Center to find out his current location.
More than 1,000 Canadian and American uniformed personnel, War Department civilians and local participants will be present at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where NORAD is located today. They are volunteering their time on Christmas Eve to answer the hundreds of thousands of phone calls that come in from around the world.
The center will be fully functional today, and children can call 877-446-6723 to talk directly to a Santa tracker, who will be able to tell callers his current location. Operators will be available until midnight.
A THIRD Santa tracker to watch!
Up until now, I've been following Father Christmas through a combination of the NORAD tracker and Google's own Santa Tracker. But I've just discovered a third option.
Flightradar24 is a popular way to track live air traffic around the globe. And the current most-tracked aircraft on the site right now is a sleigh with the callsign: R3DN053. According to the site, this sleigh (registration: HOHOHO) is travelling at 60,000 feet with a ground speed of 4,943 kts.
There's a lot of other aircraft in the sky right now, so let's hope Rudolph's nose is shining bright enough that they can all see him coming...
A look inside NORAD HQ
The NORAD tracker is up and running now, with the organization also posting updates to Twitter/X.com.
They've even included some festive pictures of the inside of NORAD HQ and how it's set up to follow Santa Clause around the globe.
The hangar is quiet for now—but not for long.NORAD teams are finishing final preparations as we get ready to track Santa’s journey around the world. Screens are coming online, systems are being checked, and everything is set for takeoff.Santa will be lifting off soon, and… pic.twitter.com/AJFFrXxzPqDecember 24, 2025
Back to New Zealand after a stop in Antarctica
Back to Santa's progress — and according to Google, the big man is heading back up to Queenstown, New Zealand, after a brief stop down in Antarctica.
Antarctica?? Yes, according to Google, Santa visited McMurdo Station — the largest U.S. research station in Antarctica, says Wikipedia. I don't know how many children are posted their right now, but at least they'll have some presents to open tomorrow morning.
The Tom's Guide holiday gift guide 2025
If you're leaving your Christmas shopping until the very last minute, then you may need some inspiration before you hit the shops today. Thankfully, my colleagues here at Tom's Guide have pulled together all the best gifts for friends and family this holiday season.
You can find our ultimate gift guide here, as well as this article on the best gifts for people that have everything.
NORAD Santa tracker is live!
The NORAD Santa tracker is up and running! We can see Santa making his way from the North Pole towards Russia to begin the start of his journey.
Unlike Google's cartoon tracker, NORAD opts for satellite imagery, so you can see Santa's progress across the globe.
He may be trailing behind Google's tracker but NORAD has Santa delivering presents at lightning speed — he's already way past 50 million gifts in the time it's taken me to write this!
NORAD's Santa games
While we wait for NORAD's Santa tracker to kick into gear, it's worth exploring some of the other features available. For instance, there's a load of Santa-themed games to play right in your browser, including one called Snowy Road that reminds me of the SkiFree, the winter classic released back in 1991 for Windows 3.0.
Next stop, Fiji!
Checking back in on Santa's progress and he's made it over to Fiji!
One nice thing about using Google's Santa Tracker is that because the tech giant has mapped just about all of Earth at this point, you can see some nice pictures of the locations Santa stops at. I've never been to Fiji, but judging by the pictures, it sure looks like a nice place to spend a few days.
Sadly, Santa won't have time to take in the sights if he's going to keep to his busy schedule...
Santa's sleigh — what you need to know
If you've ever wondered just how Santa manages to get all those presents delivered in one night, it comes down to the marvel of engineering that is his sleigh.
Thanks to the team at NORAD, we have some idea of just how Santa's sleigh works. For example, its probable first flight was on December 24, 343AD.
The typical weight of gifts at takeoff is about 60,000 tons which combines to make a total weight (including Santa) of 75,000gd (gumdrops). Thankfully, it's got a propulsion system of nine rp (reindeer power) fueled by hay, oats and carrots. Which is more than enough to deliver all the presents tonight!
Over 2.7 million presents delivered!
NORAD's tracker may not be running just yet, but according to Google ol' St. Nick is getting on with the job at hand! He's already delivered over 2.7 million gifts and is heading straight on towards Papua New Guinea right now!
NORAD tracker is still waiting to get started
It looks like the NORAD Tracker still has yet to get started. All I can see right now is a placeholder image of Santa ready in his workshop — the toys are all wrapped but they still need to be loaded onto the sleigh!
We'll keep checking in and let you know as soon as NORAD's tracker is up and running. In the meantime, there are songs and Christmas facts available for you to enjoy while we wait.
Santa has started his journey!
Today is December 24, and that means millions of people will be tuning in to Santa trackers to find out where Santa is right now.
According to Google's Santa tracker, Santa Claus is over Russia right now and has already delivered over 45,000 gifts! You can visit the NORAD tracker here, but while the countdown has hit zero, it doesn't look like the tracker is up and running just yet. NORAD needs to get moving!
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