Prepware Instrument 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 Instrument Pilot
Prepare for your FAA Knowledge Exam with flashcard-style reviews and practice tests. Study by subject or take a full practice exam to gauge your readiness.
- Flashcard-style review
- Questions, answers, and explanations
- Study by subject
- Practice test simulation
- 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 rating: Prepware Instrument Pilot at 2.6 against FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep's 2.0. Prepware Instrument Pilot also leads on monetization model (free vs paid) and review sentiment (36% vs 11%). FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and chart position 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 Instrument 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 Instrument Pilot holds the better App Store score, 2.6 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Prepware Instrument Pilot has 43 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Prepware Instrument Pilot's written reviews are positive against 11% of FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep's.
Prepware Instrument Pilot ships an update every 4 months, FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep every 14 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Prepware Instrument Pilot | FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $9.99 |
| Rating | 2.6 (43 ratings) — better | 2.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 35.7% of reviews — better | 11.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 43 — 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 | #71 — better | #188 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ASA | Bravo Zulu Apps LLC |
Customer experience
Prepware Instrument Pilot
FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep
Bugs and requests
Prepware Instrument Pilot
Reported bugs
39 issues- Text frequently cut off
- App cannot dynamically scale text
- Some questions missing figures
- Figures have nothing to do with the question
- Correct answers no longer shown in green
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- Dark mode broken
- App crashes
- Save feature does not work
- Answers lost when returning to app
- Progress lost when switching categories
- App closes by itself
- Loses test progress when minimized
- Figures not displayed for questions
- Incomplete questions
- Questions and answers do not match
- Questions not completely displayed
- Can't get back to question from figure display
- Back button disappears
- Can't take entire test without shutting down or redownloading
- Software reverts to quiz mode when returning to study mode
- Explanation link missing in study mode
- Can't go back when opening a figure
- Answers longer than three lines are cut off
- Figures are sometimes incomplete
- Figures are sometimes at too low a resolution
- No way to store previous test scores
- No progress shown
- Study modes stops showing correct answer
- Practice test questions do not allow access to appropriate figure
- Truncated answers
- Truncated questions
- Figures are sometimes incomplete
- Font is hard to read and small
- Bold indication of right or wrong is missing
- No running tally of missed questions
- App restarts in test mode even when last in study mode
- Bugs causing crashes that instantly exit the application
- Scans did not come over well, particularly weather graphics
- Hard to see some images
Requested features
18 requests- Ability to focus on previously incorrect answers
- Major update for functionality and display bugs
- Ensure all software is up to date with FAA question banks
- Add timer and number of questions selection
- Ability to eliminate questions already known
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- Autosave and clear progress button
- Ability to search through questions
- Save test results
- Ability to uncheck material of questions not needed
- Ability to select questions relating to chapters
- Provide reasons for wrong answers
- Make background red or green for visibility
- Allow marking questions for review
- Record wrong answers for review
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Ability to skip questions that do not apply to equipment
- Add CX-2 to iPhone
FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Prepware Instrument Pilot
No in-app purchases
FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Prepware Instrument Pilot free?
Is FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep free?
Which has better reviews, Prepware Instrument Pilot or FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep?
Do Prepware Instrument Pilot or FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep have ads?
Which is updated more often, Prepware Instrument Pilot or FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep?
Which is more popular, Prepware Instrument Pilot or FAA IA Knowledge Test Prep?
Other comparisons
