Prepware Instrument Pilot vs IFR Flight Trainer Simulator
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.
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator
Practice instrument flight rules (IFR) navigation with this simulator. Learn and improve IFR procedures, including VOR, NDB, and holding patterns. Offers cockpit and map modes with adjustable wind and built-in tasks for comprehensive pilot training.
- Cockpit and map modes
- VOR, NDB, DME, HSI, EHSI, RMI instruments
- Approach procedure practice
- Adjustable wind settings
- Holding pattern simulation
- Custom scenario creation
- Built-in training tasks
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Flying by instrument flight rules (IFR) is not an easy task, especially for student pilots. With the IFR Flight Trainer Simulator, students can easily develop and experienced pilots can quickly improve their understanding of IFR navigation. This is the perfect app for learning and practicing IFR procedures, and it is much cheaper than a single flight hour. Try it out if you want to acquire an instrument rating or just want to brush up your IFR skills. IFR Flight Trainer Simulator was designed with simplicity and intuitive operability in mind. The instruments available are: VOR, RMI, HSI, EHSI, DME, Directional Gyro and airspeed indicator. Thanks to a NAV 1 and a NAV 2 modes, you will also be able to train for two NDB/VOR approaches. Main features: • COCKPIT/MAP - Use the cockpit mode to practice and use the map mode to set up a scenario and check you progress. Both the aircraft and ground stations can be easily relocated to a new position by dragging and dropping them. • VOR, DME, HSI, EHSI, RMI - This aviation app is carefully designed to reflect the characteristics of different instruments. Choose between VOR or NDB navigation, select your instruments (HSI/EHSI or RMI) and a speed range up to 400 kts. • APPROACH PROCEDURES - IFR Flight Trainer Simulator will help learn how to track a radial, how to intercept a radial outbound, inbound, how to fly a DME arc, and so on. It is the simplest way to learn the navigation procedures inside out! • WIND - Have you become familiar with all the procedures? Add some wind to spice things up. The wind settings are displayed on separate screen, where you can set its direction and speed to increase the challenge. • HOLDING - Set and practice standard or non-standard holding patterns. Test you skills with VOR or NDB fix holdings. You already know where your next flight will happen? Build a scenario for it in the app to practice what awaits you in real life. This way you can practice your flight in a safe environment before facing the real challenge in the cockpit. If you want to learn the essentials, take a look at the built-in tasks as well. All features: • Use the classic or glass cockpit mode to simulate what you see in a real aircraft • Use the map mode to learn and understand the procedures from a third-person point of view • Choose between VOR and NDB navigation • Use the following, carefully designed instruments: RMI, HSI, EHSI, Directional gyro, DME, Airspeed indicator • Fly your own routes by creating challenging scenarios, using holding patterns and adjusting the wind • Test your knowledge through various built-in tasks • Drag & drop the aircraft or ground station symbols to move them around quickly • Turn the aircraft with 1.5°/s, 3°/s (standard), 6°/s and 9°/s modes, or just simply rotate the compass dial • View your flight path by enabling the aircraft track trail • Simulate winds up to 50 kts • Practice IFR flying procedures by generating random scenarios Download the app to see for yourself whether we can help you learn the essentials of IFR navigation. Try it for free and prepare at home without wasting expensive flight or simulator time.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: IFR Flight Trainer Simulator at 82% against Prepware Instrument Pilot's 36%. IFR Flight Trainer Simulator also leads on price (Free vs $9.99) and rating (3.9 vs 2.6). Prepware Instrument Pilot's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and chart position (#65 vs unranked). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads 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
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator is free to download; Prepware Instrument Pilot costs $9.99 up front. IFR Flight Trainer Simulator sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Prepware Instrument Pilot asks for nothing beyond the download.
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 2.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 43 and 76 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Prepware Instrument Pilot's written reviews are positive against 82% of IFR Flight Trainer Simulator's.
Prepware Instrument Pilot ships an update every 4 months, IFR Flight Trainer Simulator every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Prepware Instrument Pilot | IFR Flight Trainer Simulator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 2.6 (43 ratings) | 3.9 (76 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 35.7% of reviews | 81.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 43 | 76 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #65 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 155 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | ASA | Flygo-Aviation Ltd |
Customer experience
Prepware Instrument Pilot
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator
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
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator
From 76 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 User-friendly interface and intuitive controls
- 🎓 Excellent learning tool for IFR training and instrument procedures
- 🎮 Comprehensive customization options (wind, runway, conditions)
- 📊 Dual view modes (cockpit and map/plan view)
- 🎯 Realistic flight modeling and aerodynamics
Room to improve
- 💰 Aggressive monetization with limited free trial
- ⏱️ Unreasonably short trial period (3-5 minutes)
- 🔒 Paywall blocks most features in free version
- 🎯 Unrealistic immediate heading changes (no standard rate turns)
- 🐛 Occasional app crashes and stability issues
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
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator
Reported bugs
6 issues- App crashes after short usage periods
- Heading indicator gets stuck causing continuous turning
- HSI radials appear to be offset or incorrect
- DME distance calculations may be inaccurate (slant range issue)
- Task completion triggers before reaching waypoints
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- OBS cannot be changed without paid upgrade
Requested features
8 requests- Standard rate turn simulation for realistic intercepts and holdings
- LOC (Localizer) mode for HSI reverse sensing practice
- Fixed-card ADF instrument option
- Adjustable turn rate settings to match different aircraft
- Error feedback display showing incorrect flight paths
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Bearing and course to station relative to VOR1/VOR2
- Higher difficulty levels for advanced pilots
- Extended free trial period for proper app evaluation
In-app purchases
Prepware Instrument Pilot
No in-app purchases
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator
- IFR Simulator Half Price$11.99
- IFR Simulator Unlock$24.99
Questions
Is Prepware Instrument Pilot free?
Is IFR Flight Trainer Simulator free?
Which has better reviews, Prepware Instrument Pilot or IFR Flight Trainer Simulator?
Do Prepware Instrument Pilot or IFR Flight Trainer Simulator have ads?
Which is updated more often, Prepware Instrument Pilot or IFR Flight Trainer Simulator?
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