Air Manager vs VatView
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Air Manager
Design custom flight simulator instrument panels on your iPad. Connect to popular simulators like X-plane and FS2020 to use your iPad as a primary or secondary instrument display. Offers over 1000 free instruments and intuitive touch controls for a realistic simulation experience.
- Custom instrument panel design
- iPad as primary/secondary display
- Connects to X-plane, FS2020, P3D, FSX
- Over 1000 free instruments
- Intuitive drag-and-drop interface
- Control simulator functions via touch
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Air Manager lets you design custom flight simulator instrument panels on your iPad. Panels can connect to X-plane, FS2020, FS2024, Prepar3d and FSX. Use your iPad as a primary instrument panel and have your computer monitor for outside view only, or use your iPad as a secondary com stack to easily set frequencies through the iPad touch screen. Air Manager comes with more than 1000 free instruments. Add, drag, scale, build your instrument panel in only a matter of minutes. Save your created panels, and switch between them quickly. User friendly No difficult settings or downloading and configuring of third party applications. You can download the necessary plugins from our website for free. We offer a complete solution! Place instruments anywhere you like Tap an instrument to add it to the canvas, hold and drag to rearrange, and pinch to scale, it’s as easy as that. Loads of free instruments The application comes with more than 1000 free instruments, and this collection keeps growing. Buttons, Switches and Knobs Controls like Buttons, Switches, and Knobs let you control the simulator from your 2D panels, so your Flight Simulation is super realistic. Setting a radio frequency or the altimeter setting, moving electrical switches, and controlling the autopilot are just a few examples of what you can do without directly accessing the flight simulator. Multiplatform and multi simulator The Air Manager plugin runs on Microsoft Window, Mac OSX, and Linux, both 32 bits and 64 bits, and is compatible with Laminar Research X-Plane 9, 10 and 11, Microsoft FSX and Lockheed Martin Prepar3D.
VatView
Track air traffic controllers and flight information on the VATSIM network. View active ATC stations, frequencies, and ATIS messages. Explore an interactive map showing pilots and controllers, or search for airport-specific flight data.
- Interactive VATSIM map
- Live METAR weather data
- Filterable pilot and ATC lists
- Airport-specific flight information
- Enroute and FSS control areas
- ATC bookings
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VatView is a mobile app that allows flight simulation enthusiasts to track ATC presence and flight information on the VATSIM network. VatView aims to be your ultimate VATSIM companion! It provides easy access to active VATSIM terminal area ATC stations and frequencies and exposes the ATIS message easily. It also shows enroute ATC, including marking land, oceanic, UIR and FSS VATSIM controlled areas on the map. VatView features three main views: - a map displaying all pilots and air traffic controllers currently connected to the VATSIM network. - A filterable and searchable list page - displaying a detailed list of all connected pilots and ATC. - An airport search page - which concentrates all connected ATC, active flights and prefiled flight plans for a specific airport. VATSIM (short for the Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network) is a completely free online platform that allows Flight simulator enthusiasts connect and fly virtually on one shared virtual aviation eco system. It simulates Air Traffic Control (ATC) with full voice and network connection between virtual pilots flight on flight simulator software and virtual air traffic controllers using software for providing ATC services. It is as real as it gets. It supports Microsoft's Flight simulator (MSFS, FSX and FS9), P3D and X-Plane. For more information visit https://www.vatsim.net. Features: - An Interactive map displaying VATSIM pilots and ATC - Detailed aircraft and terminal ATC station Icons - Enroute and FSS control areas - Live METAR (weather) data for any airport - ATC Bookings - Always up to date FIR boundaries synced with VATSpy's data project - Detailed flight information - Filterable and searchable list screen - An easy way to get all relevant terminal area stations with the relevant ATIS message * The app uses the storage permission to cache large airspace data it needs to display on the map. Disclaimer: The author is not affiliated with the VATSIM Organization in any way (other than being an enthusiastic user and member of the community)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: VatView at Free against Air Manager's $22.99. VatView also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 10 months) and device support (3 vs 1). Air Manager's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
VatView is free to download; Air Manager costs $22.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Air Manager ships an update every 10 months, VatView weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and June 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Air Manager | VatView |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $22.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.1 (27 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 30.8% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 27 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 897 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sim Innovations B.V. | Oren Geva |
Customer experience
Air Manager
VatView
In-app purchases
Air Manager
No in-app purchases
VatView
No in-app purchases








