Approach Control vs Extreme Plane 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.
Extreme Plane Flight Simulator
Experience a next-generation flight simulator with realistic 3D graphics. Take off, navigate to nearby airports, and land various airliners. Manage an aircraft fleet and encounter diverse flight situations with real-time air traffic.
- Realistic 3D graphics and runways
- Multiple airport environments
- Dozens of airliners
- Thousands of flight situations
- Real-time aircraft traffic
- Simplified and advanced flight systems
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Meet the flight simulator of the next generation. Take off, fly to the airport in the city nearby & land. Build & manage an aircraft fleet. And this is just the beginning, as a realistic airplane game, has to offer! 3D Realistic graphics and runways Multiple runways in different environments Dozens of airliners: turbine, reaction, single deck or double deck. Thousands of different situations to handle. Real-time aircraft traffic, with real airlines, on the ground and in flight. Simplified flight system with navigation help or flight simulation for advanced users.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Extreme Plane Flight Simulator at 4.2 against Approach Control's 3.2. Extreme Plane Flight Simulator also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ratings volume (923 vs 18). Approach Control's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (47% vs 38%). On price, update cadence 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. Extreme Plane Flight Simulator asks for nothing beyond the download.
Extreme Plane Flight Simulator holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Extreme Plane Flight Simulator has 923 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 47% of Approach Control's written reviews are positive against 38% of Extreme Plane Flight Simulator's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Approach Control | Extreme Plane Flight Simulator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (18 ratings) | 4.2 (923 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.6% of reviews — better | 37.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 18 | 923 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 2 weeks |
| 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 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 201 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Big Fat Simulations Inc. | Ahmed Abdullah |
Customer experience
Approach Control
Extreme Plane Flight Simulator
User reviews
Approach Control
From 18 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Realistic feel
- 👍 Good for passing time
- 👍 Challenging gameplay
- 👍 Addictive
- 👍 Professional interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes
- 🐛 Game freezes
- 🐛 Does not save progress
- 🐛 Lacks realism in procedures
- 🐛 Limited space for traffic
Extreme Plane Flight Simulator
From 923 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Interesting game concept
- 👍 Easy to control
Room to improve
- 🐛 Misleading screenshots
- 🚨 Excessive ads
- 🔥 Poor graphics quality
- 🤔 Unresponsive controls
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
Extreme Plane Flight Simulator
Reported bugs
2 issues- Crashes and freezes
- Coins not awarded properly
Requested features
4 requests- Improved graphics and realism
- More airport and plane options
- Reduced ads or ad-free version
- Free flight mode
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
Extreme Plane Flight Simulator
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Approach Control free?
Is Extreme Plane Flight Simulator free?
Which has better reviews, Approach Control or Extreme Plane Flight Simulator?
Do Approach Control or Extreme Plane Flight Simulator have ads?
Which is updated more often, Approach Control or Extreme Plane Flight Simulator?
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