Prepware Private Pilot vs Private Pilot 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.
Private Pilot Test Prep
Prepare for your FAA written test with this comprehensive study tool. It offers three modes: study questions by topic with detailed explanations, review using flashcards, and take full-length practice tests. Track your progress with detailed reports.
- Study questions by topic
- Custom review sessions
- Detailed answer explanations
- Flashcard review mode
- Simulated practice tests
- Progress reports
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Sporty's Study Buddy prepares you for the FAA Private Pilot knowledge test (the "written") with three ways to study: Study Questions, Flashcards and Practice Tests. Questions are organized by knowledge area, with explanations of the right and wrong answers developed by Sporty's team of Master CFIs, based on their experience preparing students for the Private Pilot certificate. • STUDY QUESTIONS BY TOPIC • Choose whole knowledge areas or individual topics to build your own study session. As soon as you answer, you'll see the correct answer, why it's right, and where to read more. Change your answer anytime, bookmark questions as you go, and jump to any question from the question list. Every study session is shuffled. • REVIEW WITH FLASHCARDS • Flashcards show just the question, so you answer from memory before revealing the correct answer and its explanation. Mark each card Know It or Still Learning, then start a new session from the cards you're still learning. On iPhone Duo, study a card with the phone open and close it to check the answer. • TAKE PRACTICE TESTS • Each Practice Test draws 60 questions at random from the full question bank, gives you 2 hours, and is graded at the FAA's 70% passing score. Afterward, see your score by topic, review every question or only the ones you missed, and turn your misses into a new study session. • PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF • Sessions save as you go. The History tab lets you resume any session in progress and review past results, including your scores by topic. • EVERY FIGURE, OFFLINE • The Figures tab includes the complete FAA Airman Knowledge Testing Supplement, with every figure and legend listed by name and page. Swipe through the pages or open any one full screen. Questions show their figures right alongside, and you can study without a connection. Designed for iPhone, iPhone Duo and iPad, with Dark Mode and support for larger text sizes. The FAA does not publish its knowledge test questions, so the questions on your test won't necessarily appear in this app. Study Buddy is meant to complement your training, not to replace flight and ground instruction.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Private Pilot Test Prep at 4.3 against Prepware Private Pilot's 3.8. Private Pilot Test Prep also leads on review sentiment (82% vs 61%). Prepware Private Pilot's advantage is price ($9.99 vs $14.99) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 Private Pilot Test Prep $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Private Pilot Test Prep holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 139 and 116 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of Prepware Private Pilot's written reviews are positive against 82% of Private Pilot Test Prep's.
Prepware Private Pilot ships an update every 4 months, Private Pilot Test Prep every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Prepware Private Pilot | Private Pilot Test Prep |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 — better | $14.99 |
| Rating | 3.8 (139 ratings) | 4.3 (116 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.8% of reviews | 81.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 139 — better | 116 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #15 — better | #18 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 61 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ASA | Sporty's Pilot Shop |
Customer experience
Prepware Private Pilot
Private Pilot Test Prep
User reviews
Prepware Private Pilot
From 139 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
Private Pilot Test Prep
From 116 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✅ Excellent for exam prep
- 💯 Questions are verbatim/similar
- 💡 Affordable and valuable
- 👍 Easy to use and navigate
- 📚 Good explanations
Room to improve
- ⚠️ Some questions outdated/inaccurate
- 📉 Not all questions match real exam
- 😵 Repeat questions in test mode
- 📱 Difficult to use on small screens
- 🤔 Explanations not always perfect
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
Private Pilot Test Prep
Reported bugs
6 issues- App crashes in test mode
- Progress not saved on phone
- Blackout bug when viewing figures or rotating screen
- Crashes after deleting test sessions
- Not updated for iPhone X
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Save function issues
Requested features
9 requests- Ability to save flagged questions across sessions
- Randomized questions in test mode
- Improved cross-device progress syncing (iCloud)
- Interactive map features for practice
- Search functionality for specific questions
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Dark mode option
- Compatibility with iPhone X
- More sample test questions from FAA
- Bundle option for instrument written prep
In-app purchases
Prepware Private Pilot
No in-app purchases
Private Pilot Test Prep
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Prepware Private Pilot free?
Is Private Pilot Test Prep free?
Which has better reviews, Prepware Private Pilot or Private Pilot Test Prep?
Do Prepware Private Pilot or Private Pilot Test Prep have ads?
Which is updated more often, Prepware Private Pilot or Private Pilot Test Prep?
Which is more popular, Prepware Private Pilot or Private Pilot Test Prep?
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