Approach Control vs Flight Simulator
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Approach Control
Experience the thrill of managing air traffic in a realistic simulation. Guide passenger jets to safe landings by controlling their heading, speed, and altitude, adhering to strict separation rules. This app offers an authentic taste of air traffic control.
- Realistic radar simulation
- Authentic pilot voices
- Manage heading, speed, and altitude
- Maintain aircraft separation
- Simulates final approach procedures
- Earn points for efficiency
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Approach Control is a highly realistic air traffic control simulation, designed by real world air traffic controllers. It uses authentic pilot voices. This app is designed to give aviation enthusiasts a taste of the world's greatest job. The radar behavior in this app is identical to that of real-world air traffic control radar screens, utilizing a 3-second sweep that air traffic controllers are accustomed to. Much work has been done to make such a complex job fit inside the palm of your hand. You are the approach controller whose job is to manage arriving passenger jets at various busy airports. Establish arriving aircraft onto 'final approach' as safely and efficiently as possible. As in the real world of ATC, you must walk a very fine line between being cautious and being expeditious. A top notch air traffic controller knows how to bring planes in 'tight', without breaking the 'three mile rule'. Keep all aircraft at least THREE MILES apart or at least 1000 FEET VERTICALLY apart. That's your job in a nutshell! Earn extra points by establishing the planes onto final approach without extra wasted space. Air traffic controlling is achieved by assigning a mixture of three things: HEADING, SPEED, and ALTITUDE. Use these three tools to achieve safety and efficiency. A successful air traffic controller must remain CALM, COOL and COLLECTED, known as the 'three C's'. Who knows, you may one day use these skills and apply for a real ATC job! Find out why real-world air traffic controllers have nerves of steel.
Flight Simulator
Experience the thrill of being a pilot in this 3D flight simulator. Explore a vast open world, fly various modern aircraft, and complete challenging missions. Fulfill the duties of an international airline pilot with realistic controls and graphics.
- Ultra-speed advanced airplane flight simulator
- International airline pilot duties
- Explore massive open-world environment
- Take off from 7 airports
- Collection of super-fast passenger airplanes
- Amazing HD graphics
- Smooth and easy flying controls
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Want to become a pilot? Flight pilot airplane games 3d is one of the best experiences of an airplane flying so enjoy flight simulation games of the modern era. If you are a lover of airplane games don’t wait just start your game now. This game was developed in such a way to make your dreams come true to explore skies with ultra speed and a powerful advanced airplane flight simulator game. Fulfill the duties of an international airline pilot by flying an airplane in City. Fly and explore the massive open-world environment and its unique locations, take off from 7 airports, and commute from international airports to small campaign airports. Flight simulator 2022 provides you hours of fun with a brand new collection of a super-fast passenger airplanes. Game Feature: - Amazing HD graphics - Smooth and easy flying controls - Huge collection of aircraft & planes - Different challenging missions - Huge open world 3d map - Addictive gameplay with cool animations - Original & realistic runway airstrips - Realistic airplanes sounds - Different camera views
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Approach Control at 47% against Flight Simulator's 0%. Approach Control also leads on rating (3.2 vs 1.8) and ads (none vs shown). Flight Simulator's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5). On price 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
Both are free to download. Approach Control sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Flight Simulator asks for nothing beyond the download.
Approach Control holds the better App Store score, 3.2 against 1.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of Approach Control's written reviews are positive against 0% of Flight Simulator's.
Approach Control ships an update every 2 weeks, Flight Simulator every 30 months. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Approach Control | Flight Simulator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (18 ratings) — better | 1.8 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 46.6% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 18 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 30 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 6.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 78 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Big Fat Simulations Inc. | Rashid Nisar |
Customer experience
Approach Control
Flight Simulator
Bugs and requests
Approach Control
Reported bugs
60 issues- Game ends without user awareness
- End game screen broken
- Try again/replay button doesn't work
- Game feels like crashing
- Game is frozen
Show 55 moreShow fewer
- Close app and re-launch needed
- Loss of previous gameplay
- Broke sep on aircraft over 30degrees
- Diverting or paths won't intercept
- Scores won't reset
- Glitches
- Crashes
- Scores won't reset
- Crashes a lot
- Doesn't save the score
- Crashes after playing for 10 mins or longer
- Crashes on both iPad and iPhone
- Doesn't save your game
- Lose all your progress
- 4x3 aspect ratio in a 16x9 world
- Crashes regularly after prolonged play
- Behaving funny on paid level
- Basically unplayable on paid level
- Game bugs
- Frequently crashing when selecting a target
- Issues with altitude
- Errors aren't detected
- Better ATC apps available
- Crashes after 8-12 minutes of gameplay
- Lose all my progress
- Game over problem
- Force quit the game after each game
- Blank screens and nothing comes up
- Stopped working following iOS8 upgrade
- Doesn't work on iOS8
- App stopped working following iOS8 upgrade
- Deleted and reinstalled to no avail
- Not working on iOS 8
- Black screen on iPad Air running 8
- App won't even open
- Just a blank screen
- Was a fun game back when it worked
- Separated my planes over 1000' as stated yet it says that I haven't
- Takes a life off me until the game ends
- Deleted as a waste of time
- Completely non-compatible with iOS multitasking
- Once you switch to another app for more than a few minutes, the game would restart
- All scores reset
- Quite annoying
- Game crashes and freezes continually
- Have to start all over again
- Stats aren't recorded
- Start with 203 landings and 'n' number of strikes
- Doesn't keep your game score
- If you pause the game and turn off the phone you loose your game score
- Effort of over an hour being wasted
- No facility for your high scores to be saved and displayed
- If you end a game by getting '3 strikes' and start a new one, you start with the previous games stats
- Good but judgemental
- Some times this man comes up and starts giving you tips and assigns blame
Requested features
33 requests- Random VFR traffic
- Varying runway alignment
- More traffic
- Two runways or more
- Departures
Show 28 moreShow fewer
- Real airports (JFK, KLAX)
- Clear for ILS only in localizer
- Real airlines with callsigns
- New scenarios
- Adjust passage of time (faster/slower)
- Dual airport
- More variety of planes
- Save option
- Ability for time shifting
- More interesting progression
- More features (bigger map, real movements, traffic)
- Choose different airports
- Vectors to direct planes
- Details about planes
- More space to sequence
- Basic aircraft data (light, medium, heavy)
- Space according to wake turbulence
- Divergence rules
- Diverging courses
- Different planes
- Different approach categories
- Dogleg right approaches
- Save game
- Spacing of 3 miles instead of 6 miles
- Pause game and turn off phone
- High scores saved and displayed
- Voice option
- Separation rings
Flight Simulator
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Approach Control
- Airport 2$1.99
- Airport 3$1.99
- Airport 4$1.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Level 5$1.99
- Level 6$1.99
Flight Simulator
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Approach Control free?
Is Flight Simulator free?
Which has better reviews, Approach Control or Flight Simulator?
Do Approach Control or Flight Simulator have ads?
Which is updated more often, Approach Control or Flight Simulator?
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