Comparison

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.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Flashcard-style review
  • Questions, answers, and explanations
  • Study by subject
  • Practice test simulation
  • FAA Knowledge Exam preparation
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

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.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

Prepware Instrument Pilot4 screens
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Prepware Instrument Pilot versus IFR Flight Trainer Simulator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPrepware Instrument PilotIFR Flight Trainer Simulator
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating2.6 (43 ratings)3.9 (76 ratings) — better
Positive reviews35.7% of reviews81.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4376 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#65 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size36 MB155 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperASAFlygo-Aviation Ltd

Customer experience

Prepware Instrument Pilot

All ratings43 ratings
Positive34.9%
Neutral14.0%
Negative51.2%
Written reviews70 reviews
Positive35.7%
Neutral20.0%
Negative44.3%

IFR Flight Trainer Simulator

All ratings76 ratings
Positive71.1%
Neutral6.6%
Negative22.4%
Written reviews130 reviews
Positive81.5%
Neutral4.6%
Negative13.8%

User reviews

Prepware Instrument Pilot

From 43 App Store ratings

What 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 ratings

What 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 more
  • 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 more
  • 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 more
  • 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 more
  • 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

None

Prepware Instrument Pilot

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

IFR Flight Trainer Simulator

One-time2
  • IFR Simulator Half Price$11.99
  • IFR Simulator Unlock$24.99

Questions

Is Prepware Instrument Pilot free?
Prepware Instrument Pilot costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is IFR Flight Trainer Simulator free?
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Prepware Instrument Pilot or IFR Flight Trainer Simulator?
IFR Flight Trainer Simulator is rated higher. Prepware Instrument Pilot averages 2.6 out of 5 from 43 ratings, while IFR Flight Trainer Simulator averages 3.9 from 76 ratings.
Do Prepware Instrument Pilot or IFR Flight Trainer Simulator have ads?
Neither Prepware Instrument Pilot nor IFR Flight Trainer Simulator shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Prepware Instrument Pilot or IFR Flight Trainer Simulator?
Prepware Instrument Pilot ships an update every 4 months, and IFR Flight Trainer Simulator every 3 months. Most recently, Prepware Instrument Pilot was updated on September 27, 2026 and IFR Flight Trainer Simulator on September 7, 2026.

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