---
title: Settings
url: 'http://www.mlat.uk/guide/settings'
markdown: 'http://www.mlat.uk/guide/settings.md'
date: '2026-10-22'
description: ".mlat-guide { --u: clamp(16px, 15.2px + 0.2vw, 16.8px); --g-accent: #0A74C4; --g-accent-dark: #0A5FA0; --g-bg: #ffffff; --g-bg-alt: #F5F7FA; --g-text: #14181D; --g-soft: #5B6772; --g-border: #D6DEE6; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'SF Pro Text'…"
---

[User Guide](http://www.mlat.uk/guide) › Settings

# Settings

- [General](#general)
- [Selection & info](#selection)
- [Labels & altitude](#labels)
- [Location & sharing](#location)
- [Reset](#reset)

Settings are in the menu under **Settings**. Every change takes effect straight away and is remembered on this device.

![Settings open beside the menu on a computer](http://www.mlat.uk/user/pages/08.guide/06.settings/menu-settings.jpg)Settings open beside the menu on a computer

## General

| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Icon Size | Makes the object icons larger or smaller, from 25% to 200% in steps of 5%. The current value is shown beside the label; 100% is the default. |
| Trail History | How much track to draw behind aircraft and vessels, from 30 minutes to 24 hours (2 hours by default). Satellites always show one full orbit. The current value is shown beside the label. |
| Units | Aeronautical (feet, knots, nautical miles), Metric or Imperial. |
| Match System Appearance | Follows your device's light or dark mode. |
| Dark Mode | Dark colours, when not matching the system. |
| Darker Colors | Uses deeper colours for icons and tracks, which can be easier to see on light maps. |
| Dim Map | Dims the base map so objects stand out. |
| Colored Planes | Colours aircraft by altitude. Off draws them all in one colour. |
| Colored Trails | Colours tracks by altitude. |
| Altitude Chart | Shows the altitude colour key above the bottom bar. |
| WebGL | Draws icons using the graphics chip: much faster with thousands of objects. Turn off only if icons look wrong on your device. |

## Selection & info

| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Follow on select | Starts following an object as soon as you select it. |
| Auto-select plane | Selects an aircraft for you automatically when nothing is selected. |
| Enable Infoblock | Opens the details panel when you select something. |
| Enable mouse-over block | On a computer, shows a small summary when you point at an object. |
| Last Leg only | For an aircraft's history, shows only its latest flight rather than the whole day. |
| Lookup route | Looks up each flight's route (origin and destination) from its callsign. |

## Labels & altitude

| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Label units | Adds units (ft, kt) to the numbers in labels. |
| Smaller wind labels | A compact style for wind information in labels. |
| Live track labels: UTC | Track label times in UTC rather than your local time. |
| Historic track labels: UTC | The same, for history and replay tracks. |
| Labels: geom. alt. (WGS84) | Labels show GPS (geometric) altitude instead of pressure altitude. |
| Geom. alt.: WGS84 -> EGM conversion | Converts GPS altitude to height above mean sea level. Downloads a large model the first time. |
| Baro. alt.: correct for QNH | Adjusts pressure altitude for local air pressure where it is known. |

## Location & sharing

| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Update GPS location | Keeps your position up to date as you move, instead of fixing it once. |
| Distance Circles | Distance circles around the site, where the site provides them. |
| Include Filters In URLs | Adds your object-list filters to shared links. |

## Reset

**Reset All Settings**, at the bottom of the panel, puts every setting, option and layer back to its default on this device.

---

## Navigation

- Parent: [User Guide](http://www.mlat.uk/guide.md)
- Previous: [Map layers](http://www.mlat.uk/guide/layers.md)
- Next: [Sharing, replay, heatmaps & the app](http://www.mlat.uk/guide/sharing.md)