Prepware Private Pilot vs Sport 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.
Sport Pilot Test Prep
Prepare for the FAA Sport Pilot knowledge test with study questions, flashcards, and practice tests. Features include topic-based study, offline access to figures, and progress tracking. Designed for iPhone and iPad.
- Study questions by topic
- Flashcard review mode
- Randomized practice tests
- Offline access to FAA figures
- Progress tracking and history
- Shuffled study sessions
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Sporty's Study Buddy prepares you for the FAA Sport 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 Sport 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 40 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 price: Prepware Private Pilot at $9.99 against Sport Pilot Test Prep's $14.99. Prepware Private Pilot also leads on ratings volume (139 vs 5) and review sentiment (61% vs 50%). On rating, 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 Sport Pilot Test Prep $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.8 for Prepware Private Pilot against 3.8 for Sport Pilot Test Prep. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Prepware Private Pilot has 139 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 61% of Prepware Private Pilot's written reviews are positive against 50% of Sport Pilot Test Prep's.
Prepware Private Pilot ships an update every 4 months, Sport Pilot Test Prep every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Prepware Private Pilot | Sport Pilot Test Prep |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 — better | $14.99 |
| Rating | 3.8 (139 ratings) — better | 3.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 60.8% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 139 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #15 — better | #177 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ASA | Sporty's Pilot Shop |
Customer experience
Prepware Private Pilot
Sport Pilot 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
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- 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
Sport Pilot Test Prep
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Prepware Private Pilot
No in-app purchases
Sport Pilot Test Prep
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Prepware Private Pilot free?
Is Sport Pilot Test Prep free?
Which has better reviews, Prepware Private Pilot or Sport Pilot Test Prep?
Do Prepware Private Pilot or Sport Pilot Test Prep have ads?
Which is updated more often, Prepware Private Pilot or Sport Pilot Test Prep?
Which is more popular, Prepware Private Pilot or Sport Pilot Test Prep?
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