Comparison

Approach Control vs Ship Simulator Online

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Realistic radar simulation
  • Authentic pilot voices
  • Manage heading, speed, and altitude
  • Maintain aircraft separation
  • Simulates final approach procedures
  • Earn points for efficiency
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Ship Simulator Online

Build your own shipping company, trade globally, and expand your fleet in this realistic ship simulation game. Explore diverse ports and cities worldwide with detailed ship models and ocean physics. Engage in multiplayer adventures and earn in-game income through ship rentals.

Highlights
  • Establish a shipping company
  • Trade worldwide
  • Expand ship fleet
  • Realistic ports and cities
  • Over 20 ship models
  • Multiplayer online feature
  • Ship rental system
Features
Read full description

You will like our ship simulation game that we have developed specially for ship games enthusiasts! Establish your shipping company, start trading worldwide, earn money and expand your fleet of ships. Realistic ports and cities of 25 different countries designed on the world map are waiting for you to have fun and adventurous minutes by organizing cruises in HD quality accompanied by ocean and sea physics. In our game, there are more than 20 types of ship models in 5 different categories: Tanker ships, oil ships, passenger ships, dry cargo ships and cargo ships. Thanks to the multiplayer feature, you will be able to use ships online simultaneously with other players. Thanks to the ship rental system, you will be able to earn automatic in-game income in the background by renting new ships with the money you earn from the game. General features -25 different ship models. (Tanker, Oil, Passenger, Cargo, Dry cargo ships) -Flags of 60 different countries that you can wear on the ship. - Kinds of ship led lamps -Live radar navigation system -Rainy weather and snowy weather options -Sky cold, Hot, Sunset options -Realistic ship interior driving details - Realistic ship physics and controls -2 Different sea water physics. (The ocean is wavy and stormy- Calm sea) -Real oil platforms in the oceans -Excellent quality air horns - 5 different tourist islands for cruise ships “Ship Simulator Online“ subscription “Multiplayer”. “Ship Simulator Online plans: • Monthly: $1 Payments and Renewal: • Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. • Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. • You can manage or turn off auto-renew in your Account settings at any time after purchase • No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during the active period. Terms of use: https://alsa.games/privacy_shipsimulator.php Policy: https://alsa.games/privacy_shipsimulator.php

Screenshots

Approach Control4 screens
Ship Simulator Online4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Approach Control at free with in-app purchases against Ship Simulator Online's subscription. Approach Control also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (47% vs 27%). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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

Both are free to download. Approach Control sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Ship Simulator Online sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.2 for Approach Control against 3.2 for Ship Simulator Online. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 38 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 47% of Approach Control's written reviews are positive against 27% of Ship Simulator Online's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Approach Control ships an update every 2 weeks, Ship Simulator Online every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Approach Control versus Ship Simulator Online: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterApproach ControlShip Simulator Online
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.2 (18 ratings)3.2 (38 ratings)
Positive reviews46.6% of reviews — better27.3% of reviews
Number of ratings1838 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS6.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB307 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBig Fat Simulations Inc.ALSA GAMES YAZILIM SANAYI TICARET LIMITED SIRKETI

Customer experience

Approach Control

All ratings18 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral11.1%
Negative38.9%
Written reviews73 reviews
Positive46.6%
Neutral15.1%
Negative38.4%

Ship Simulator Online

All ratings38 ratings
Positive52.6%
Neutral10.5%
Negative36.8%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive27.3%
Neutral13.6%
Negative59.1%

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 more
  • 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 more
  • 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

Ship Simulator Online

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Approach Control

One-time5
  • Airport 2$1.99
  • Airport 3$1.99
  • Airport 4$1.99
Show 2 more
  • Level 5$1.99
  • Level 6$1.99
12 purchases

Ship Simulator Online

Subscriptions1
  • Multiplayer Subscriptions$0.991 Month
One-time11
  • 15.000.000 Money Buy$0.99
  • 25.000.000 Money Buy$1.99
  • 100.000.000 Money Buy$1.99
Show 8 more
  • 100 Gold Buy!$2.99
  • Buy 500 Gold$2.99
  • 50.000.000 Money Buy$3.99
  • 500.000.000 Money Buy$3.99
  • 100.000.000 Money Buy$4.99
  • Buy 500 Gold$4.99
  • 500.000.000 Money Buy$7.99
  • Remove ADS$49.99

Questions

Is Approach Control free?
Approach Control is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ship Simulator Online free?
Ship Simulator Online is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Approach Control or Ship Simulator Online?
Approach Control and Ship Simulator Online are both rated 3.2 out of 5 on the App Store, from 18 and 38 ratings respectively.
Do Approach Control or Ship Simulator Online have ads?
Ship Simulator Online shows ads; Approach Control does not.
Which is updated more often, Approach Control or Ship Simulator Online?
Approach Control ships an update every 2 weeks, and Ship Simulator Online every 4 weeks. Most recently, Approach Control was updated on October 10, 2026 and Ship Simulator Online on October 15, 2026.

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