Off 2
Your offline flight companion — a NASA-imagery 3D globe, real-time ETA, airport details, and day/night crossings without internet.
- Offline flight tracking on a NASA Blue Marble 3D globe — no internet required at any point
- An arrival estimate modelled on the whole flight and calibrated against real flown routes
- Onboard chat with the people around you — public, private, and crew groups — no internet needed
Off 2 is a flight companion app built for pilots, frequent travelers, and aviation enthusiasts who want meaningful flight data without depending on connectivity. Whether you are crossing the Pacific or flying in and out of radar coverage, Off 2 gives you a live picture of your flight without touching the internet.
The 3D globe
The centerpiece of Off 2 is a high-quality 3D globe rendering your current position, route, and the live day/night terminator. As of version 2.0 it is painted with NASA Blue Marble satellite imagery by day and Black Marble city lights by night, blending at the real terminator for a beautiful, realistic Earth. Unlike map-based apps, the globe gives you the true geometry of your flight path — great circle routes look like great circles, not distorted arcs.
What’s new in version 2.3
Version 2.3 is about the people flying with you.
- Chat, redesigned — public chat, private messages, and crew groups now live in one screen, with the people around you always visible at the top. It opens as a panel over the globe, follows your light or dark setting, and every area — people, conversations, message box — is clearly separated. As always, it works over the aircraft’s local network with no internet.
- Watch complication fixed — the complication on your watch face keeps counting down to arrival on its own, even when the Bluetooth link to the iPhone drops for a while inflight. No more premature “Waiting for iPhone”.
- One way to close — Settings, Aircraft, Itinerary, and Chat share the same title bar and the same soft close button, in the standard iOS style.
- Small fixes and visual polish throughout.
What Off 2 shows
- Position: Continuous GPS-based tracking updated in real time
- ETA and distance: Dynamic, FMS-style calculations as your flight progresses
- Airports on zoom: Runway length, elevation, and aircraft suitability at appropriate zoom levels
- Day/night crossings: Real-time terminator with crossing time predictions
- Local & UTC time: Clear local and UTC time, with a day indicator when you cross the International Date Line
- Route visualization: See where you’ve been and where you’re going on the globe
Apple ecosystem
Off 2 runs natively across the Apple ecosystem:
- iPhone and iPad — full interactive globe experience
- Mac — native macOS app, same capabilities
- Apple Vision Pro — spatial computing interface
- Apple Watch — flight complications (ETA, distance) added in v1.6; aircraft WiFi integration added in v1.4
Who uses Off 2
Pilots who want a clear offline picture of their own flight. Frequent travelers curious about their route geometry. Anyone who wants real data rather than an airline’s entertainment screen map.
Frequently asked questions
Does Off 2 require an internet connection?
No. Off 2 is fully offline. The NASA globe imagery, position tracking, ETA calculations, airport data, and day/night crossing display all work without any network connection — ideal for long-haul flights with limited or no connectivity.
How does Off 2 track position without internet?
Off 2 uses the device's GPS receiver and onboard sensors. No external data source is needed.
How does the onboard chat work without internet?
Off 2 devices find each other directly over the aircraft's local network or peer-to-peer wireless — no server, no internet. You can talk to everyone (public chat), one person (private), or a crew group joined by QR code. Messages never leave the aircraft.
How accurate is the arrival time?
The estimate models the whole flight — climb, step climbs at cruise, and descent — and is calibrated against routes that were actually flown rather than idealised great circles. Measured across 21 recorded flights, the average live error is 29% lower than the previous model and every final error came in within three minutes. It also detects a sustained early descent and rebuilds the remainder of the flight from your real position.
What is the NASA Blue Marble globe?
In version 2.0 the globe is rendered with NASA Blue Marble satellite imagery on the day side and Black Marble city lights on the night side, blending right at the real day/night terminator — a realistic Earth that updates as you fly. All imagery is bundled, so it works fully offline.
Can I see airport information?
Yes. Zoom in and airports reveal their runway length, elevation, and suitability for your aircraft, with color-coded markers. You can choose the runway-length unit (feet, meters, NM, or statute miles) in Settings.
Is Off 2 available on Apple Watch?
Yes. Apple Watch support (added in v1.6) includes flight complications, so you can glance at ETA and distance without reaching for your phone. Since v2.3 the complication keeps counting down on its own even when the Bluetooth link to the iPhone drops for a while.
What is the day/night crossing feature?
Off 2 renders the current day/night terminator line on the globe in real time, showing you exactly when your flight will cross from day into night or vice versa — useful for planning sleep and managing fatigue on long sectors.
How does Off 2 handle time zones and the date line?
Off 2 shows your local time and UTC together, derived from your GPS position. Over open ocean it labels the zone as a clear UTC offset (for example UTC-12) that matches the abbreviation, and a small +1 or -1 indicator appears when your local date differs from UTC — so crossing the International Date Line is never confusing.