Holding Pattern Trainer vs SocialFlight
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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. ----------------------------------
SocialFlight
Discover aviation events, attractions, and airport dining worldwide. Earn rewards and points for your travels, and access free FAA training courses. Connect with fellow aviation enthusiasts and share your passion.
- 20,000+ Aviation Events Mapped
- Airport Restaurants & Attractions
- Free FAA WINGS & IA Renewal Courses
- FLY2WIN Challenge & Rewards Program
- Social Networking for Pilots
- Educational Aviation Videos & Webinars
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Welcome to SocialFlight - We've mapped out over 20,000 Aviation Events, Amazing Things to Do, $100 Hamburgers, Airport Information and more! Free FAA WINGS and IA Renewal courses too! SocialFlight also includes the FLY2WIN Challenge and FLY2WIN Rewards where you can get points for your travels, deals & discounts and compete to win real prizes! NEW: THOUSANDS of AVIATION DESTINATIONS! (Museums, Restaurants, Attractions & More) NEW: FAA WINGS and A&P/IA Renewal Courses in our new FAASTeam Learning Center! Click on "FAA CREDITS" menu for more. NEW: SocialFlight Burger Flights - Display thousands of Airport Restaurants on the map, including photos and reviews! FLY2WIN Challenge - Get points for attending events and visiting new airports & destinations. Build your own virtual aircraft, compete on the monthly leader board and participate in our frequent Grand Prize drawings for awesome prizes such as avionics, headsets and more! FLY2WIN Rewards: Get special deals, discounts and offers from local businesses and SocialFlight partners. You automatically get rewards based on your location as you travel. SocialFlight also has a new, easy to use, user interface! Best of all, it's all FREE! Aircraft Fly-in's, Airshows, Pancake Breakfasts, Conventions, FAA Safety Seminars...we have it all. Includes Destinations, Restaurants, Museums, Golf Courses, Transportation, Camping, Aviation Businesses and more...ALL within walking distance from airports! We have gathered an extensive collection of educational videos, webinars and reference materials on all things aviation; from Pilot Training, Aircraft Ownership, Maintenance, Avionics, Flight Clubs, Travel and much, much more! And, as always, it's all FREE in our quest to promote General Aviation! Upload a picture of your plane in your profile and you could be selected as the SocialFlight Aircraft of the Day! SocialFlight makes getting "Social" easier than ever before. Find other users with similar aircraft, interests or ratings. Chat with other users, form clubs & even share photos! Whether you love flying, watching airplanes, ultralights, balloons or anything else airborne, this is the place for you. Keep exploring to discover all the features that SocialFlight has to offer.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: SocialFlight at Free against Holding Pattern Trainer's $4.99. Holding Pattern Trainer's advantage is rating (4.1 vs 3.1) and review sentiment (77% vs 39%). 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
SocialFlight is free to download; Holding Pattern Trainer costs $4.99 up front. SocialFlight sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per month. Holding Pattern Trainer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Holding Pattern Trainer holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 114 and 139 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Holding Pattern Trainer's written reviews are positive against 39% of SocialFlight's.
Holding Pattern Trainer ships an update every 5 months, SocialFlight every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Holding Pattern Trainer | SocialFlight |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.1 (114 ratings) — better | 3.1 (139 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.9% of reviews — better | 39.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 114 | 139 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #15 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 | 11.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 131 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | FLEMINGER MEDIA LLC | SalesApproach, Inc |
Customer experience
Holding Pattern Trainer
SocialFlight
User reviews
Holding Pattern Trainer
From 114 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great for practicing holds
- 💡 Excellent visualization tool
- 🚀 Helps learn fast
- ✅ Accurate for many users
- 🧠 Reinforces knowledge
Room to improve
- ❌ Incorrect entries/drawings
- ⚠️ Wrong answers/info
- 😞 Wastes valuable time
- 💸 Overpriced for some
- 🤔 Confusing for some users
SocialFlight
From 139 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✈️ Comprehensive aviation event discovery
- 🗺️ Useful map-based airport information
- 🍔 Great burger flights/restaurant finder
- 📧 Helpful weekly email notifications
- 🎓 WINGS training credits and educational content
Room to improve
- 🐢 Extremely slow loading times
- 💥 Frequent crashes and freezes
- ⏳ Persistent 'please wait' spinning circle
- 🔔 Aggressive notification permission requests
- 📍 Forced location and settings requirements
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 moreShow fewer
- 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 moreShow fewer
- 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
SocialFlight
Reported bugs
15 issues- App crashes on startup or when opening
- Infinite 'please wait' loading screen
- Map page takes excessive time to load
- App freezes after 'please wait' completes
- Crashes when adding or updating events
Show 10 moreShow fewer
- Black screen on launch after updates
- Video course progress resets when touched
- Unclosable ad popups blocking functionality
- Broken event registration links
- Server connection errors intermittently
- Map not displaying events properly
- Incompatibility with older iOS versions
- Background app refresh cannot be disabled
- Repeated email notifications sent multiple times
- Unsubscribe functionality difficult to access
Requested features
10 requests- Web app as primary alternative to mobile app
- Improved data caching to reduce loading times
- Better UI/UX modernization
- Optional notification settings without forced prompts
- Ability to skip forward in video courses
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Better event registration and link functionality
- Support for international users (Canada, UK, Europe)
- Simplified map view without all airports displayed
- Airport review and rating system
- Ability to customize which airports display on map
In-app purchases
Holding Pattern Trainer
No in-app purchases
SocialFlight
- Business Basic One$29.991 Month
- Business Basic Two$29.991 Month
- Business Basic Three$29.991 Month
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Business Basic Four$29.991 Month
- Business Premium One$59.991 Month
- Business Premium Two$59.991 Month
- Business Premium Three$59.991 Month
- Business Premium Four$59.991 Month
Questions
Is Holding Pattern Trainer free?
Is SocialFlight free?
Which has better reviews, Holding Pattern Trainer or SocialFlight?
Do Holding Pattern Trainer or SocialFlight have ads?
Which is updated more often, Holding Pattern Trainer or SocialFlight?
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