4 Free Santa Trackers for the iPhone, iPad and Mac

Keeping track of Santa's location on Christmas Eve moved from blind trust in our parents and occasional evening news reports to our computers years ago, and now to our iPhones and iPads, too. What's the best way to follow along Kris Kringle's holiday route? We put together a list of our favorite apps and website so you can keep track of Father Christmas's travels at home or on the go.

You can track Santa's route from your iPhone, iPad, or MacYou can track Santa's route from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac

NORAD Tracks Santa

NORAD, or the North American Aerospace Defence Command, may spend most of the year keeping a lookout for enemy threats from the sky, but every Christmas all of that high tech gear is put to use for a more critical purpose: tracking Santa Claus as he delivers presents around the world. Thanks to NORAD's own iPhone and iPad app, you won't have to make a special trip to NORAD's underground base to see where Santa is, and you can play a fun game to help his elves deliver presents, check out Santa's secret files, and learn a little about NORAD, too. NORAD Tracks Santa is a free download at Apple's App Store.

NORAD lets you track Santa from your iPhoneNORAD lets you track Santa from your iPhone

Where is Santa Lite

Want to track Santa's location all year long? Where is Santa Lite does that, plus it shows his current gift route location and where he's headed next. You can update the tracker map by tapping the radar button, and it also includes a count down timer showing just how long until Santa arrives at your house. Where is Santa Lite is supported by ads at the bottom of the screen, which is the price you pay for a free app.

Where is Santa tracks The Man, and estimates when he'll be at your homeWhere is Santa tracks The Man, and estimates when he'll be at your home

NORAD's Santa Tracker Website

If you'd rather follow Santa without downloading any apps, check out NORAD's Santa Tracker website. You can see exactly where he is, watch videos, play games, and listen to music, too. NOARD's site also shows a running total of gifts delivered, notes where he was last seen, and where his next stop will be. The NORAD Santa tracker site is free and requires a modern Web browser.

Find Santa and check out videos at NORAD's websiteFind Santa and check out videos at NORAD's website

Google's Santa Tracker Website

Google knows all, so it stands to reason the Internet search giant knows where Santa is, too. Thanks to their website you can track Santa in real time, see where his next stop will be, get an estimate on when he'll arrive at your house, and see how many presents have been delivered so far. If you want a little break from following Santa's sleigh, you can go to his village where there are holiday-related activities and videos, too.

Google's Santa tracker site looks fun and has lots of extra activitiesGoogle's Santa tracker site looks fun and has lots of extra activities

I noticed NORAD, Google, and Where is Santa all show similar paths for the gift giving journey, but they aren't exactly the same. That's presumably because of our limited ability to track interdimensional time-space travel systems, so to us it seems as if Santa is in more than one place at a time. Still, they're close enough to each other to give us a pretty good idea where he is, and more importantly, when he'll arrive at our house.