Here’s how you can track Santa’s status online this Christmas

Santa's season is here and we have got you covered with ways in which you can track where Mr Claus' whereabouts. It is no surprise that search giant Google plays an important role in this but Amazon's voice assistant Alexa too is a helpful asset in answering all your Santa related queries.

Oldest Santa Tracker NORAD, which was started by CONAD in 1955, exists till date and there are children and adults who continue to trust it.

This Christmas we look at these 6 trackers which will help you keep a tab on Santa Claus

NORAD Santa Tracker

The original Santa Tracker, which exists, courtesy the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), is all that you need. The NORAD Santa Tracker comes with games like Flying Santa, where gamers need to collect all the gifts Santa will deliver to children, music which is courtesy the US Air Force Academy Band.

There is a section dedicated for Secret Santa Files, which goes into the history of how NORAD — and its predecessor, Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) — began the process of tracking Santa. It started with a newspaper advertising misprint, which accidentally published the number for CONAD's hotline for a way for children to reach Santa in 1955. Following this, the head of operations of CONAD at that time had his staff actually check the radar for children every time they called. And the tradition stuck and rest is what we know today.

Google Santa Tracker

This basically is a winter village with a countdown timer scheduled for Christmas. The timer indicates the amount of time left for Santa Claus to start his ride. There are also a couple of games, including the one in which the user can decorate Santa's beard, design your own Elf, play games like Gumball Tile, create your own 3D winter village etc.

Get Updates from North Pole

This can be done through Nest Home displays and Google Home devices. To do so, all that the user has to do is ask the Google device, "Hey Google, What's happening in the North Pole." On asking this, an Elf named Dimple Stocks will share some updates, which will seem like they are from a radio newscast.

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Phone a friend, not Santa!

Users can call up Santa Claus either through Amazon's voice assistant or through Google's voice assistants. If the user wants to make a call through Google then they have to ensure they are connected to Google Home or Nest Device along with being connected to Google Assistant on phone. After ensuring this, the user has to say, "Hey Google, let's call Santa." Google will then make a call to a switchboard and the user will be connected to Santa.

If users choose to make a call through Amazon, they will have to ask Amazon's offering Alexa to do so. Alexa will then connect to Christmas Cheer Hotline, where the user will be told that Santa cannot take the phone call. However, the voice assistant will connect to holiday carolers.

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Does Santa Exist?

No voice assistant gives a clear answer to this question. Google Assistant on being asked about Santa's existence will give a varied level of answers including, "If someone gives me a present, I wouldn't ask any questions."

Apple's voice assistant Siri usually ends up saying, "That's something I'm not allowed to disclose." Amazon's offering Alexa has a rather weird answer for this query as it replies by saying "All I know is that someone has been eating all my cookies."

Alexa's Holiday Spirit

Amazon's voice assistant Alexa can send Happy Holidays wishes across all Alexa devices through the Alexa app. Users can also enable Norad Track Santa, but for this permission needs to be given through the app.