Qantas and Virgin Australia are both in line for an upgrade to their iPhone apps which will include live flight tracking.

This will let travellers see important flight information such as estimated arrival time displayed on the iPhone’s lock screen as a Live Activity, in the same way that live sports scores can be displayed today.

It’s courtesy of the smart boarding pass feature in Apple’s latest iPhone iOS 26 software, which is already up and running on the United Airlines app.

The beefed-up UA digital boarding pass which is tucked into the Apple Wallet lets users easily track their flight.

Additionally, this Live Activity can be shared with friends or family members who need to track your flight; they’ll see the same Live Activity on their lock screen, although without your boarding group and seat number.

Similar functionality is already available on the popular Flighty app, although Flighty offers a much richer set of features geared to frequent travellers.

In addition, enhanced Apple Wallet boarding passes will display relevant information such as Apple Maps directions for the airport terminal and a shortcut to AirTag baggage tracking in the Find My app.

Apple also says it will be easier to access “key services on an airline’s app, such as seat upgrades and standby lists”, although this facility will need to be embraced by each airline’s IT team.

The list of airlines on the starting block for the smart boarding passes of iOS 26, as advised by Apple, includes Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar, Air Canada, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and the Lufthansa Group.