HAM Test Prep Lite vs RST SEAL
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HAM Test Prep Lite
Prepare for your amateur radio Technician license exam with practice questions and tests. Review FCC rules, track your progress, and identify areas needing more study. This version includes a portion of the question pool, with a full version available for purchase.
- Technician question pool
- Practice exams
- Progress tracking
- Immediate feedback
- FCC rule text viewer
- Zoomable figures
- Dark mode support
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Includes the Technician Question Pool effective July 1, 2026! NOTE: This "Lite" version contains only 2 of the 10 subelements in the question pool. Click the 'Buy Now' link in the app to get the FULL version. Join the amateur radio community! Become a HAM by obtaining your Technician class license! Amateur Radio License exams are composed of questions from a pool. Use this application prior to taking your exam to review and practice all possible questions. Then, test your knowledge with practice exams! After completing your first practice exam, the question pool screen will display your proficiency in each question group for all practice exams you have completed. This will identify areas in which you need further practice. You may choose to receive immediate feedback on right and wrong answers when taking a practice test. On practice tests, questions in a group will not be repeated until all of them have been used. Some questions require you to review associated Figures. These figures may be zoomed and panned on iPhone/iPod touch. FCC rule text is viewable within the application. All sections can be browsed from the main screen. Additionally, for questions where rule sections have been identified, the rule text can be viewed on the question screen when studying the question pool or reviewing test results. An in-progress practice test can be resumed if you exit the test or the application. Current Technician question pool is valid through June 30, 2030. This "Lite" version only contains questions from subelements T1 and T6. Versions of this application for both the General and Extra license classes are also available. This app has these additional features: • Accessibility option for vision-impaired users to exclude questions with figures • Dark mode support • Portrait and Landscape support on iPad • Swipe gestures to navigate between questions • Tap on answer to select it • Double-tap or use pinch gesture to zoom Figures on iPhone and iPod touch • Buttons to skip to next/previous wrong answer in test results • ARRL question number displayed on practice tests • Configurable Test Settings • Optional randomizing of test answers • Optional auto-advance during test
RST SEAL
Practice simulated radio communications for ham radio beginners. Select various QSO elements like callsigns, names, and locations to train your listening and typing skills. Adjust frequency, speed, and volume for a personalized learning experience.
- Simulated QSO communication
- Randomized QSO elements (Call, RST, Name, QTH)
- Adjustable frequency, speed, and volume
- Noise (QRN) ON/OFF
- Entity selection (W/W, JA, US)
- Fuzzy keying option
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This app is a CW QSO Trainer App for CW beginner of Ham Radio. You can select various information from CALL, RST, Name, QTH, Rig/Ant and Age/WX by random. This allows you to experience the actual QSO communication content in a simulated manner. Default OP Name is "OM", please touch/input your Name by software keyboard. Start with the "START" button. Repeat the previous with the "AGAIN" button. Check the FREQ SPEED and VOL the "VVV" button. [CheckBox] CALL: You will hear a Callsign, enter the callsign and press Enter. RST: You will hear the RST Report, enter the Report and press Enter. NAME: You will hear the OP Name, enter the Name and press Enter. QTH: You will hear the QTH of OP, enter the QTH and press Enter. RIG/ANT: You will hear the Rig or Antenna of OP, enter the Rig/Antenna and press Enter. AGE/WX: You will hear the Age or WX(Weather) of OP, enter the Age/WX and press Enter. QRN: GRN is ON/OFF of the background Signal Noise. Entity: You can choose W/W, JA or US. FuzKey: Fuzzy Keying like a Straight Key. [Slider] FREQ.: You can choose the tone of CW. SPEED: You can choose the speed of CW. VOL.: You can choose the sound level of CW. [Demo Video URL] https://youtu.be/fcRPz94sga8 Supported keyboard input from Apple Silicon Mac. [Support Key] A-Z, 0-9, / Enter:return BS:delete START:UpArrow AGN:DownArrow LEFT:LeftArrow RIGHT:RightArrow
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: HAM Test Prep Lite at 88% against RST SEAL's 33%. HAM Test Prep Lite also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (169 vs 2). RST SEAL's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 8 months) and monetization model (ad-supported vs free with in-app purchases). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HAM Test Prep Lite holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HAM Test Prep Lite has 169 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of HAM Test Prep Lite's written reviews are positive against 33% of RST SEAL's.
HAM Test Prep Lite ships an update every 8 months, RST SEAL every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HAM Test Prep Lite | RST SEAL |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (169 ratings) — better | 4.5 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 87.7% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 169 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Patrick J Maloney LLC | koji kamogawa |
Customer experience
HAM Test Prep Lite
RST SEAL
Bugs and requests
HAM Test Prep Lite
Reported bugs
4 issues- Correct answer changes
- Clunky interface
- Hard to see green letters (correct answers)
- Free version useless
Requested features
4 requests- More features for free app
- More test variety
- Ability to run subset of questions
- Clearer test completion indicator
RST SEAL
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
HAM Test Prep Lite
No in-app purchases
RST SEAL
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is HAM Test Prep Lite free?
Is RST SEAL free?
Which has better reviews, HAM Test Prep Lite or RST SEAL?
Do HAM Test Prep Lite or RST SEAL have ads?
Which is updated more often, HAM Test Prep Lite or RST SEAL?
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