Prepware Instrument Pilot vs VOR Tracker
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.
VOR Tracker
This app provides a realistic IFR navigation training experience for pilots. Practice holding patterns, radial interceptions, and other critical procedures in real-time using various flight instruments. It's designed to help pilots apply theoretical knowledge in a simulated cockpit environment.
- Real-time IFR simulation
- VOR and NDB navigation practice
- Multiple instrument displays (CDI, RMI, HSI, EHSI)
- Practice holding patterns and radial interceptions
- Map mode for progress verification
- Freeze and fast modes for training control
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tl;dr: Simply the best training app for VOR/NDB navigation. Are you not comfortable with flying holding patterns and radial interceptions, especially in stressful situations like a check ride or a sim assessment? You do understand what you have learnt, but find it difficult to apply once the needles start moving? Then look no further, VOR Tracker is what you need. VOR Tracker is a small but powerful training tool for pilots. It is the only one of its kind for the iPhone & iPad, providing the real aircraft feel the other apps are missing! VOR Tracker is a real IFR simulation, so you will find no multiple choice questions or yet more methods which might or might not work for you. You can actually practice IFR procedures in real time, using either a fixed card CDI, RMI, HSI, or EHSI, which provides additional information like wind, track, and groundspeed. Practice holding patterns, DME arcs, radial interceptions, and 2 needle tracking in real time. It is practice what it is all about! There is no need for explaining again and again what you already know from flight school. It is about applying your knowledge when the flight instruments start moving! Wherever you are, IFR training is only two taps away! Chose between a VOR and NDB and get used to the different characteristics. The NDB comes with atmospheric disturbances and an adjustable dip error to match the instrument you are used to. Don’t waste your time trying to imagine what you would do in the aircraft – just do it! VOR Tracker is designed for: - Student pilots who have the theoretical knowledge for flying IFR procedures, and want to save money by preparing for their pilot training. - Pilots who want to refresh their IFR navigation skills for an upcoming check ride. - Pilots going for an assessment. Holding patterns and radial interceptions are commonly used during sim assessments and can really spoil the day. Being prepared will make the difference! - People who have the knowledge of flying IFR procedures and want to give it a try. VOR Tracker is NOT: - a game. - a flight simulator, it focuses on navigation at a constant speed and altitude. - a flight training course teaching you how to fly IFR procedures. Still interested? Read on to find out how VOR Tracker will boost your skills in no time! - Choose between a fixed card CDI, RMI, HSI, or EHSI. - Use the instruments like you would do in the real aircraft. - Use the map mode to verify your progress. - Lost? Use the help function to display the holding pattern entries in the map mode. - Things are going a bit too fast? Use the freeze mode to orientate. - Getting bored in straight flight? Use the fast mode. - You want to start over or change the aircraft’s position or heading? Just drag & drop, or twist the aircraft symbol. - Practice a particular holding pattern or radial interception exercise over and over again from new, random starting positions using the reposition button. - Start with no wind and increase the difficulty later on by adding wind. - To add more realism, the wind can be selected to be gusty and/or variable in direction. - Getting settled? Why not increase the aircraft’s speed in the settings menu? - Customize your own missions and adjust the wind the way you want. - Use the hidden wind function to add a realistic challenge. - Analyze your progress in the map mode. Rewind and start over. The previous track lines will still be displayed for you to see the difference. Prepare yourself without wasting expensive flight time – use VOR Tracker to brush up your IFR skills! VOR Tracker is the most efficient trainer for holding patterns and radial interceptions available on the App Store. Supporting you during your IFR training, it will pay for itself in no time. Take that as a promise!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: VOR Tracker at 86% against Prepware Instrument Pilot's 36%. VOR Tracker also leads on rating (4.7 vs 2.6) and ratings volume (137 vs 43). Prepware Instrument Pilot's advantage is price ($9.99 vs $19.99) and chart position (#34 vs unranked). On update cadence, 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 Instrument Pilot costs $9.99 and VOR Tracker $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
VOR Tracker holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 43 and 137 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Prepware Instrument Pilot's written reviews are positive against 86% of VOR Tracker's.
Prepware Instrument Pilot ships an update every 4 months, VOR Tracker every 3 months. Both last shipped on September 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Prepware Instrument Pilot | VOR Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 — better | $19.99 |
| Rating | 2.6 (43 ratings) | 4.7 (137 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 35.7% of reviews | 85.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 43 | 137 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #34 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ASA | Karsten Heiland |
Customer experience
Prepware Instrument Pilot
VOR Tracker
User reviews
Prepware Instrument Pilot
From 43 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Good value for money
- 👍 Offline functionality
- 👍 Helpful for passing written exams
- 👍 Simple interface
- 👍 Explanations provided
Room to improve
- 👎 Outdated question bank
- 👎 Inaccurate questions/answers
- 👎 Missing core features
- 👎 Poor optimization for iPad
- 👎 Formatting issues
VOR Tracker
From 137 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent for IFR training
- 👍 Helps understand VOR navigation
- 👍 Great for holding practice
- 👍 Useful for intercept practice
- 👍 Good for sim assessment prep
Room to improve
- 🐛 Knob rotation is difficult
- 🐛 Random intercepts unrealistic
- 🐛 To/From indicator unreliable
- 🐛 Airplane turns too slowly
- 🐛 Holding pattern depiction inaccurate
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
Show 34 moreShow fewer
- 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
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- 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
VOR Tracker
Reported bugs
8 issues- Knob rotation difficult
- To From indicator sometimes does not work
- App freezes on download
- App freezes on opening
- Not able to download 2nd time
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Holding pattern depiction inaccurate
- App freezes every time I open it
- App doesn't work, totally unusable
Requested features
25 requests- Scroll wheel for knobs
- Add CDI option
- Add RMI pointer
- Add ILS approaches
- Add non-precision approaches
Show 20 moreShow fewer
- Add point-to-point navigation
- Add user-defined patterns
- Add fix-to-fix scenarios
- Add more hold entry options
- Add wind correction details
- Add written ATC instructions
- Add common VOR nav receiver
- Add option for basic 6-pack instruments
- Add custom/randomized ATC hold instructions
- Add speed control slider
- Auto-restart on timer reset
- Random wind option
- More scenarios
- More videos from developer
- Point to point addition
- Low enroute charts practice
- Practice missed approaches
- Second VOR/ADF bearing needle for HSI
- Option to know when task completed successfully
- Hold patterns away from VOR on radial/DME
In-app purchases
Prepware Instrument Pilot
No in-app purchases
VOR Tracker
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Prepware Instrument Pilot free?
Is VOR Tracker free?
Which has better reviews, Prepware Instrument Pilot or VOR Tracker?
Do Prepware Instrument Pilot or VOR Tracker have ads?
Which is updated more often, Prepware Instrument Pilot or VOR Tracker?
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