Prepware Private Pilot vs Cessna Companion
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Prepware Private Pilot
Prepare for your FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Exam with this comprehensive study and test tool. It offers flashcard-style review of questions, answers, and explanations, allowing you to study by subject or take realistic practice tests.
- Flashcard-style review
- Questions, answers, and explanations
- Study by subject
- Practice tests
- FAA Knowledge Exam preparation
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Comprehensive preparation, study and test tool for the FAA Knowledge Exam. Flashcard style review of questions, answers and explanations included for you to study by subject or with a true-to-form practice test.
Cessna Companion
This app allows enrolled users to download and complete lessons from their online Cessna pilot courses on their iPad. Study course content, take quizzes, and view video previews offline, with progress automatically synced to your online account. Prepare for flight lessons efficiently and retain vital knowledge.
- Download course lessons offline
- Complete quizzes on iPad
- View video flight previews offline
- Sync progress with online course
- Study anywhere, anytime
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The Cessna Flight Training Companion App enables you to download and complete the lessons from your online Cessna Sport/Private Pilot or Instrument Rating courses -- anywhere, anytime! To use this app, you must have already purchased and enrolled in a Cessna online course. The Companion then allows you to download and complete labs from your Cessna course by studying the lesson content and taking the quizzes that follow each lesson right on your iPad--and your progress is automatically synced with your online course. You can also download and view each of your Video Flight Previews offline, so that you will be fully prepared for each flight lesson. The Cessna Training System is specifically designed to work best when studying at a Cessna Pilot Center and will efficiently give you the vital flying knowledge you'll use for the rest of your flying career. Cessna Flight Training Courses are Born from a Passion for Flying These innovative courses, developed in partnership with Cessna, are complete online training courses that integrate ground and flight training to take you from zero time to your new certificate or rating. Since the ground and flight lessons are paired, these courses work best if your flight instructor uses the Cessna Flight Training Syllabus, as is done at Cessna Pilot Centers and select flight schools around the world. You'll learn faster, retain more, stay ahead of your training, and achieve your goal quicker than through more traditional approaches.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Cessna Companion at Free against Prepware Private Pilot's $9.99. Cessna Companion also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.9) and ratings volume (3.4K vs 138). Prepware Private Pilot's advantage is review sentiment (61% vs 36%) and chart position (#8 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Cessna Companion is free to download; Prepware Private Pilot costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Cessna Companion holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Cessna Companion has 3.4K ratings behind it against 138, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of Prepware Private Pilot's written reviews are positive against 36% of Cessna Companion's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Prepware Private Pilot ships an update every 4 months, Cessna Companion every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Prepware Private Pilot | Cessna Companion |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.9 (138 ratings) | 4.8 (3.4K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.8% of reviews — better | 36.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 138 | 3.4K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #8 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ASA | King Schools, Inc. |
Customer experience
Prepware Private Pilot
Cessna Companion
User reviews
Prepware Private Pilot
From 138 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💯 High scores achieved
- 📚 Great practice for harder questions
- 📱 Convenient for studying on the go
- ✅ Questions similar to real exam
- 💡 Detailed explanations provided
Room to improve
- ❓ Powered flight questions for glider pilots
- 📱 Small screen issues for plotting/maps
- 🤷 Missing essential questions
- ⚠️ Not a sole reliance tool
- 🤔 Questions worded differently
Cessna Companion
From 3.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ⭐ Excellent ground school platform
- 🎓 High-quality training materials
- 👍 User-friendly and convenient
- 🚀 Seamless integration with main program
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and glitchy app
- 📱 Compatibility issues with older devices
- 🔍 Poor UI and formatting
- 🔄 Frequent disconnections and loading issues
- 🤔 Mismatch between course content and exam questions
Bugs and requests
Prepware Private Pilot
Reported bugs
24 issues- Powered flight questions appearing for glider pilots
- Small screen makes chart plotting difficult
- Missing essential questions for the written exam
- Some answers are incorrect
- Macbook app not working properly
Show 19 moreShow fewer
- Dark mode has contrast issues, making text unreadable
- Status bar bug with black text on black background
- Right answers not highlighted after getting a question wrong
- Study portion allows pushing through without selecting the right option, leading to false 100% scores
- Questions cut off at the end
- Save and exit function does not save progress
- App resets to homepage after a short period or if not actively used
- Quiz shuffles questions, preventing picking up where left off
- Errors in questions referencing sectional charts
- Sections on charts not available when referenced
- New update degraded the app interface
- White lettering on light background makes questions unreadable
- Dark mode compatibility issues with white text on gray background
- Questions in rotorcraft sections refer to fixed-wing regulations
- Irrelevant gyrocopter and fixed-wing questions in rotorcraft section
- Dark theme not displaying correct/incorrect answers properly
- App not compatible with iPhone X screen
- No way to systematically study, questions are random
- Questions that reference a chart or diagram are cumbersome to view
Requested features
14 requests- Ability to save/create a bank of difficult questions
- Scramble answer choices for realism
- Improve UI for newer devices (iPhone X/Xs/Xr, iPad Pro)
- Add Apple Watch support
- Vary the length of test modules
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Allow studying more than one section at a time
- Add better reference information in explanations (page/section numbers)
- Allow resizing of figures on iPhone
- Show explanation immediately after wrong answer
- Fix grading to allow for incorrect answers without immediate correction
- Make questions more compatible with dark mode
- Fix contrast issues in dark mode
- Add a feature to stop showing questions already known
- Allow review of only missed items
Cessna Companion
Reported bugs
4 issues- Courses not loading or getting stuck on loading screen
- App crashing or becoming unresponsive
- Incorrect or incomplete course content
- Issues with syncing progress between app and web version
Requested features
4 requests- Update app to be more user-friendly
- Allow offline access to course materials
- Improve test question layout and responsiveness
- Add option to download practice tests for offline use
In-app purchases
Prepware Private Pilot
No in-app purchases
Cessna Companion
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Prepware Private Pilot free?
Is Cessna Companion free?
Which has better reviews, Prepware Private Pilot or Cessna Companion?
Do Prepware Private Pilot or Cessna Companion have ads?
Which is updated more often, Prepware Private Pilot or Cessna Companion?
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