Prepware Private Pilot vs FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep
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.
FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep
Prepare for your FAA Inspection Authorization Knowledge Test with a comprehensive question bank. This app offers quiz, test, and study modes to track your progress and familiarize you with exam-style questions. It requires no internet connection for offline study.
- Extensive question bank for IA exam
- Quiz, Test, and Study modes
- Progress tracking with scores and dates
- Randomized questions and answers
- Offline functionality
- Optional sound and vibration feedback
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The Inspection Authorization Knowledge Test Prep app is a great resource to test yourself on the hundreds of possible IA specific questions that you may see on your FAA Knowledge Test. Our goal is to provide you with the largest, most current, pool of IA questions. Give yourself every possible advantage! Remember, the actual exam will also test you on skills you would have learned as an A&P mechanic so its also recommended to review our General, Airframe and Powerplant Knowledge Test Prep Apps. The questions from the IA exam is will refer you to excerpts of selected advisory circulars, airworthiness directives, Code of Federal Regulations, type certificate data sheets, aircraft specifications, FAA orders, and forms. Since these documents are provided for free in PDF format from the FAA, they are not included to keep the app’s file size as small as possible. The Computer Testing Supplement for Inspection Authorization is available at https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/supplements/media/FAA-CT-8080-8D.pdf. Features: • Simple to use interface. • Scores, the date and time taken for quizzes and tests are saved to keep track of your progress. • Questions and answer choices are random. • Optional sound effects for selected answers in Quiz Mode. • Shocks for iPhone. Answer incorrectly and feel your iPhone vibrate! (This can be turned on and off.) • No internet connection required. Modes: Quiz Mode - While taking a quiz, correct answers you choose are shown in green while incorrect ones are shown in red. Test Mode - Simulates the test you are going to take at a FAA Knowledge Test Center. In this mode, you are asked 50 questions that are pulled from the question bank. Study Mode - Here you can read all the questions with only the associated correct answers!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Prepware Private Pilot at 63% against FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep's 11%. Prepware Private Pilot also leads on rating (3.9 vs 2.0) and monetization model (free vs paid). FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, 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
Prepware Private Pilot costs $9.99 and FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Prepware Private Pilot holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Prepware Private Pilot has 137 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of Prepware Private Pilot's written reviews are positive against 11% of FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep's.
Prepware Private Pilot ships an update every 4 months, FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep every 14 months. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Prepware Private Pilot | FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $9.99 |
| Rating | 3.9 (137 ratings) — better | 2.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 62.5% of reviews — better | 11.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 137 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 14 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #6 — better | #188 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ASA | Bravo Zulu Apps LLC |
Customer experience
Prepware Private Pilot
FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep
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
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- 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
FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Prepware Private Pilot
No in-app purchases
FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Prepware Private Pilot free?
Is FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep free?
Which has better reviews, Prepware Private Pilot or FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep?
Do Prepware Private Pilot or FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep have ads?
Which is updated more often, Prepware Private Pilot or FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep?
Which is more popular, Prepware Private Pilot or FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep?
Other comparisons
