Comparison

Holding Pattern Trainer 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

Holding Pattern Trainer

Master IFR holding pattern entries on your mobile device to save time and money on instrument flight training. Practice at your convenience to make choosing the correct entry a breeze.

Highlights
  • Entry Trainer for holding pattern drills
  • Holding calculator for scenario visualization
  • Holding tutorial for quick learning
  • Practice at your own pace
  • Save on flight and ground lessons
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Save time and money on your instrument flight training by mastering IFR holding pattern entries at the comfort of your own mobile device. Make IFR flight training easier! Is the following scenario familiar? You receive a holding clearance from ATC, and only have a couple of minutes, sometimes only a few seconds, to choose the correct entry. By the time you've figured out what's going on, you've already passed the holding fix and don't know what to do next. If this sounds familiar, then you need not to worry. Confusion during holding entries happens to practically almost every new instrument student. Even instrument-rated pilots occasionally have the same problem — when they don't get enough practice. Holding Trainer solves this problem and as a result, cuts the time you have to spend on expensive flight and ground lessons. With Holding Trainer, you can practice on your own time and convenience, so that choosing the best holding entry in the air becomes a breeze. Features: -Entry Trainer - Drills you on choosing the best holding entry. Practice until choosing holding entries becomes second nature and impress your flight instructor with your skills. -Holding calculator. Solve and visualize any holding scenario by entering your current bearing to the fix and a outbound or inbound holding radial. -Holding tutorial - learn how to choose the best holding entry quickly and easily. Holding Trainer for iOS is a complete rewrite based on my popular Flash-based desktop Holding Trainer app available on pilotscafe.com. ***Don't get "stuck" next time you receive a holding pattern clearance!*** ---------------------------------- For only a fraction of the cost of one ground lesson with your flight instructor, you can practice this important instrument skill at your own pace and save hundreds of Dollars on figuring out holding entries in the air. This is a great tool for anyone training towards their instrument checkride, CFII, proficiency check, or simply trying to improve their holding patterns. ----------------------------------

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

Holding Pattern Trainer4 screens
Visual Holding Pattern4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Visual Holding Pattern at $0.99 against Holding Pattern Trainer's $4.99. Visual Holding Pattern also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 11.0). Holding Pattern Trainer's advantage is review sentiment (77% vs 63%) and ratings volume (114 vs 12). On rating, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Holding Pattern Trainer costs $4.99 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

Holding Pattern Trainer holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Holding Pattern Trainer has 114 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Holding Pattern Trainer's written reviews are positive against 63% of Visual Holding Pattern's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Holding Pattern Trainer ships an update every 5 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
Holding Pattern Trainer versus Visual Holding Pattern: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHolding Pattern TrainerVisual Holding Pattern
Price$4.99$0.99 — better
Rating4.1 (114 ratings) — better3.9 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews — better62.5% of reviews
Number of ratings114 — better12
Update frequencyEvery 5 months — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#13 — better#102
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFLEMINGER MEDIA LLCArthur Varrassi

Customer experience

Holding Pattern Trainer

All ratings114 ratings
Positive78.9%
Neutral5.3%
Negative15.8%
Written reviews91 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral4.4%
Negative18.7%

Visual Holding Pattern

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

Bugs and requests

Holding Pattern Trainer

Reported bugs

15 issues
  • Entries are wrong for turns
  • Plan view is incorrect
  • App drawing entries in wrong directions
  • Slicing the fix completely wrong
  • Bearing questions are wrong
Show 10 more
  • App does not apply reciprocal track to 'pod'
  • Giving wrong answers
  • Visualizer is mirrored to map plan view (user confusion)
  • Practice screen plan view incorrect
  • App craps out and goes to a black screen
  • Guide lines separating direct, parallel, and teardrop incorrectly in practice mode visualization
  • Not updated for iOS 11
  • App loads upside down
  • Button sensitivity could be better
  • Cannot change values on hold computer

Requested features

11 requests
  • Include more methods in tutorial
  • Add teardrop heading to fly
  • Allow practice with bearings on/off
  • Show outbound teardrop/inbound parallel correction headings
  • Work in portrait mode
Show 6 more
  • Add voice ATC instructions
  • More variety in questions
  • Larger text for older users
  • More tips for newbies
  • Ability to fly the hold like a nav trainer
  • Use real-life ATC phrases in exercises

Visual Holding Pattern

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Holding Pattern Trainer

No in-app purchases

None

Visual Holding Pattern

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Holding Pattern Trainer free?
Holding Pattern Trainer costs $4.99, 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, Holding Pattern Trainer or Visual Holding Pattern?
Holding Pattern Trainer is rated higher. Holding Pattern Trainer averages 4.1 out of 5 from 114 ratings, while Visual Holding Pattern averages 3.9 from 12 ratings.
Do Holding Pattern Trainer or Visual Holding Pattern have ads?
Neither Holding Pattern Trainer nor Visual Holding Pattern shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Holding Pattern Trainer or Visual Holding Pattern?
Holding Pattern Trainer ships an update every 5 months, and Visual Holding Pattern every 9 months. Most recently, Holding Pattern Trainer was updated on September 22, 2026 and Visual Holding Pattern on September 19, 2026.
Which is more popular, Holding Pattern Trainer or Visual Holding Pattern?
Holding Pattern Trainer currently peaks at #13 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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