Not sure if this happens in real life but why does a helicopter pop flares when targeted by a missile. I tried looking this up on google but only MW3 and BF3 results came up

Yes it does but as in bf3 they are controlled by the piolot and unlike bf3 they are limited and can be fired at anytime

Yea I know but what does popping the flares do specifically, does it make the missles easier to evade or something? And if so how?

the flares are hot and most seeking rockets are attracked to heat so what the flares do is confuse the rocket