Bedtime Was 7:45. Santa Is Still Moving Across the Map.

The tablet is propped on the arm of the couch, and your six-year-old is reading the map out loud like a pilot. It’s 8:15. Bedtime was 7:45.

You did this to yourself a little. Three weeks ago you said, “We can watch him fly on Christmas Eve,” and it sounded like a great idea. Now a small dot on a map is the most interesting thing in the house.

The useful part is that the same dot is the best bedtime lever you will get all year, and the two real trackers give it away free.

Is there a free Santa tracker for kids that’s real?

Two are, and both open free in a browser. NORAD Tracks Santa is the old one. NORAD’s November 2025 announcement called that season the program’s 70th anniversary.

That announcement said the website would launch on December 1, with a countdown, games and holiday music. It comes in nine languages.

You can also call. The number is 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723), and the announcement said live operators would answer from 4 a.m. to midnight Mountain time on the 24th.

Google’s version lives at santatracker.google.com. Its own description says to “explore, play and learn with Santa’s elves all December long,” and a countdown clock was already running in late September. A 2019 Google post said the tracking starts on December 24, at 2 a.m. Pacific time.

What does a live Santa tracker for kids show them?

On the 24th, the village turns into a map. Google’s 2019 post said its tracker would show how far Santa is from your town and how long until he gets there.

That post put “a bit after 10 PM local time” as his first stop. Check your town’s arrival time. If it sits well past bedtime, that number is your argument, and you don’t have to make it yourself.

NORAD’s village is bigger than a map. Its home page lists an arcade (“Play a new game every day”), a library, a music stage, a theater and a gift shop. The theater links out to NORAD’s YouTube channel. The gift shop links out to a shirt store. Expect one “Can I get that?” before anyone reaches the map.

Which Santa tracker app for kids can you trust?

Check the developer line first, because the app stores are crowded. NORAD’s official app lists NORAD as its seller. Its Apple listing shows a price of free, a 9+ age rating and one privacy line: “The developer does not collect any data from this app.” Apple’s 9+ is older than many Santa fans, so preview it first.

Google Play’s label for the same app reads differently. It says no data is shared with third parties, and that the app may collect app activity plus app info and performance. Read the one on your phone.

Then look at the copycats. In late September, a Google Play search for “google santa tracker” listed an app with that exact title first. Its developer is not Google, and the page says “Contains ads.” Further down, an app called “Santa Tracker – (simulated)” lists ads and in-app purchases. The title says simulated. The description says real-time location.

Google’s tracker runs in a browser, and the search showed no app published by Google. On a phone, use the browser or NORAD’s app.

How much screen time is a Santa tracker?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggests “screen-free zones (such as the dinner table, during homework and before bed)” in its family media plan. A tracker that runs all evening walks straight through the last one.

That page also says autoplay and notifications are “designed to keep kids engaged longer.” So switch autoplay off before a child taps into NORAD’s YouTube theater. It lists parental controls for “time, downloads, contacts, purchases” too, and our guides to parental control apps and screen time limits cover the setup.

Depending on where you are, NORAD’s site may show cookie banners. One version says cookies “grant access to the chat and call features.” Another mentions “personalized advertising.” Both offer Reject. NORAD’s privacy page says Microsoft runs the site as a licensee, and that it “does not knowingly collect personal information from children or adults.”

Buttons for “Call NORAD Support” and “Chat with Radar” sit on the page too, and NORAD’s announcement added a web call for children without a phone. A browser call needs the microphone, so expect a permission prompt. Decide now who says yes to it. It should be you.

The setup that fits: tracker at dinner, one last check, then the tablet and the phones go in the bowl by the door.

How do you use Santa tracking for kids to get them to bed?

Let the tracker own the deadline. Open the tracker yourself around 3 p.m. and look for the arrival time for your town. Write it on a sticky note. That note is the rule, and it beats “because I said so.”

Then you become the tracker. At set times, say 6:30, 7:15 and 7:40, you check the screen out of sight and walk in with a bulletin. Keep it to four words: “Over the ocean.” “Still far off.” The child gets news without a screen.

Now the line: “Santa only comes when everyone in the house is asleep, and he is over Ohio now.” Say it in a flat, sure voice, and swap in the real place from your screen.

You can add a bulletin with no screen at all. NORAD’s announcement said live operators answer until midnight Mountain time, and an automated phone system runs until 3 a.m. on December 25. Dial 1-877-HI-NORAD on speaker, lay the phone face down on the counter, and let an operator answer the where-is-he question.

One caution comes from the app store. A 2022 reviewer of NORAD’s app wrote that they once got nervous about not falling asleep in time for presents, and now wait until Santa is “a state or 2 away.” Add a release line: lying still with your eyes closed counts, and Santa allows extra time.

If the excitement is the real problem, why an excited brain won’t switch off has the wind-down. Give the last check a ten-minute visual timer so “one more look” has an end.

A child who starts asking whether the dot is real has a bigger question than bedtime. When to tell kids about Santa covers it.

Pick your last-check time before December 24

Choose it now, before the countdown clocks get loud, and tell the kids it is Santa’s rule. Write it next to the day’s other fixed points, and put the bowl where they can see it.