Comparison

Nav Trainer Pro vs Visual Holding Pattern

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Nav Trainer Pro

Practice aviation navigational equipment on your mobile device. Simulates VOR, HSI, RMI, ADF, DME, and ILS navigation. Ideal for student pilots, instructors, and flight simulator enthusiasts to improve IFR orientation skills and situational awareness.

Highlights
  • Simulates VOR, HSI, RMI, ADF, DME, and ILS navigation
  • Dual navigation displays
  • VOR/NDB trainer screen
  • ILS trainer
  • DME visualization screen
  • Test mode for situational awareness
  • Drag and drop aircraft and nav fix
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Selected by AOPA.org readers as number one of five aviation apps you can't live without! * ***** Reached No. 4 in the Navigation category of the U.S. app store for iPad! ***** Make IFR flight training easier! Practice the use of aviation navigational equipment on your mobile device. Simulates VOR, HSI, RMI, ADF, DME and ILS navigation. A must have tool for any CFII, student and instrument pilot! -Students and pilots: improve your understanding of radio instrument navigation at the comfort of your own mobile device. -Instructors: demonstrate complex IFR concepts to your students from bird's-eye view while on the ground. -Also suitable for flight simulator enthusiasts. Used in classrooms, one-on-one ground sessions and by individuals to improve their IFR orientation skills. -------------------------------------- -user reviews (from all markets) ***** Great to study instruments and saves lots of $$$!!!" "***** I have been looking for an app such as this to teach my students" "***** Before I used this app all this VOR orientation was so complicated, and now it's clear as ice!" "***** Easy to use, perfectly designed and helping to understand basic navigation stuff. Highly recommended for student pilots, instrument applicant and CFI's." - Improve your situational awareness under IFR. - Save time and money on your instrument and initial flight training. - Prepare for your instrument rating or proficiency check. - Test your NAV situational awareness with the test mode. - Flight instructors: the perfect tool to help you easily explain and demonstrate complex radio navigation concepts to your students. ***Features:*** -Dual navigation displays. -VOR\NDB trainer screen: Simulates VOR and NDB navigation using VOR, HSI, ADF and RMI displays. -ILS trainer with both VOR and HSI displays. -DME visualization screen - demonstrates how DME slant range distance is affected by ground distance and altitude. -Test mode - generates phantom aircraft around the navaids. Your goal is to find the correct aircraft position. -Drag and drop the aircraft and nav fix around the screen. -Fly! mode - Make the airplane fly around the screen. great for practicing intercepting and tracking courses. -Wind direction & velocity control. -Aircraft tracing (contrail mode). -Accelerator support for aircraft control. How to use: -Select the various instruments by double-tapping their dials. -Toggle VOR sectors visualization on/off. -Auto tune OBS by pressing the OBS knob. -Auto turn the aircraft towards the nav fix by tapping the aircraft symbol. Double tap will turn the aircraft toward NAV station #2 -Change aircraft headings by flicking your finger over the heading indicator. -Tune the OBS by dragging your finger around the HSI/VOR displays or over the OBS knob. --------------------------------------- The developer is a Gold Seal CFI/CFII/MEI and part 121 airline pilot --------------------------------------- For comments, feature requests or bug reports, if you have the app, please take the survey at http://bit.ly/hCAqgF * (https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2013/february/26/five-more-aviation-apps-you-cant-live-without) **If you experience any problem with the app, please contact me before leaving a review and I will do my best to solve it for you.**

About

Visual Holding Pattern

This app offers a visual guide for pilots to determine correct holding pattern entry techniques. It allows for easy rotation of the holding pattern and aircraft heading to visualize the approach, with manual or automatic heading input.

Highlights
  • Visual holding pattern reference
  • Determine entry techniques
  • Rotate holding pattern
  • Match aircraft heading
  • Manual heading input
  • Automatic heading input
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

The Visual Holding Pattern provides a complete visual reference to help you determine the proper holding pattern entry technique based on your aircraft's heading and the holding pattern's inbound leg course. With a single finger rotation a pilot can easily orientate the holding pattern around a holding fix based on the inbound leg's desired bearing, radial, or course. The entire circular image can be rotated to match the aircraft's heading to allow the pilot to visualize the aircraft's approach to the holding pattern. The aircraft's heading can either be set manually or automatically based on the magnetic heading of the iDevice being used. This app is designed for optimal viewing and use on an iPad or iPhone 5 screen size or larger. This app requires iOS 8.0 or greater.

Screenshots

Nav Trainer Pro4 screens
Visual Holding Pattern4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Visual Holding Pattern at $0.99 against Nav Trainer Pro's $8.99. Visual Holding Pattern also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 11.0). Nav Trainer Pro's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 9 months) and review sentiment (74% vs 63%). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Nav Trainer Pro costs $8.99 and Visual Holding Pattern $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.9 for Nav Trainer Pro against 3.9 for Visual Holding Pattern. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 37 and 12 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of Nav Trainer Pro's written reviews are positive against 63% of Visual Holding Pattern's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Nav Trainer Pro ships an update every 3 months, Visual Holding Pattern every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Nav Trainer Pro versus Visual Holding Pattern: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNav Trainer ProVisual Holding Pattern
Price$8.99$0.99 — better
Rating3.9 (37 ratings)3.9 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews73.6% of reviews — better62.5% of reviews
Number of ratings37 — better12
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#169#102 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFLEMINGER MEDIA LLCArthur Varrassi

Customer experience

Nav Trainer Pro

All ratings37 ratings
Positive73.0%
Neutral5.4%
Negative21.6%
Written reviews125 reviews
Positive73.6%
Neutral8.8%
Negative17.6%

Visual Holding Pattern

All ratings12 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive62.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative37.5%

In-app purchases

None

Nav Trainer Pro

No in-app purchases

None

Visual Holding Pattern

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Nav Trainer Pro free?
Nav Trainer Pro costs $8.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Visual Holding Pattern free?
Visual Holding Pattern costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Nav Trainer Pro or Visual Holding Pattern?
Nav Trainer Pro and Visual Holding Pattern are both rated 3.9 out of 5 on the App Store, from 37 and 12 ratings respectively.
Do Nav Trainer Pro or Visual Holding Pattern have ads?
Neither Nav Trainer Pro nor Visual Holding Pattern shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Nav Trainer Pro or Visual Holding Pattern?
Nav Trainer Pro ships an update every 3 months, and Visual Holding Pattern every 9 months. Most recently, Nav Trainer Pro was updated on September 22, 2026 and Visual Holding Pattern on September 19, 2026.
Which is more popular, Nav Trainer Pro or Visual Holding Pattern?
Nav Trainer Pro currently peaks at #169 in the App Store charts, and Visual Holding Pattern at #102. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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