IFR Flight Simulator vs VORSim
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
IFR Flight Simulator
This aviation simulator helps pilots master IFR procedures and prepare for instrument ratings. Practice holdings, intercepts, and approaches with realistic flight simulation and navigation tools on your phone. Ideal for student and experienced pilots seeking convenient, effective training.
- Realistic aviation training
- Worldwide flight navigation database
- Comprehensive training modes
- Real-time flight simulator
- Integrated autopilot
- Optimal holding entry path overlay
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Practice holdings, radial intercepts, and DME arcs on your phone before your next simulator session. Calculate the procedure, fly it with live instruments, and review your track in the debrief. IFR Flight Simulator combines focused IFR procedure training with real-time flight simulation, worldwide navigation data, and a choice of glass cockpit or classic gauges. What you can practice: • Holding Trainer: Randomized holding situations. Determine the entry, calculate the wind correction angles, then fly the pattern. • Intercept Trainer: Inbound and outbound radial intercepts as well as QDM/QDR intercepts. • DME Arc Trainer: Fly DME arcs and calculate the angle of lead to turn onto the inbound course at the right moment. • Approaches: Set up a final intercept, a position in the pattern (downwind, base, or final), or a full approach at any airport, including ILS. • IFR mental math: Practice entries, wind correction angles, and lead points until the calculations become automatic. Worldwide navigation database: • Navigation data from a recent AIRAC cycle, with worldwide coverage: 13,000+ airports and 10,000+ VORs, NDBs, and other navaids. • Train with real airports and navaids instead of generic exercise locations. Real-time flight simulator: • Modern glass cockpit (PFD and ND) or classic gauges. • Autopilot with rotary controls for heading, altitude, and speed, or fly manually by tilting your device. • Fast-forward mode to repeat procedures efficiently. • Live Map: your position and flight path in real time. • Live Needle Overlay: watch where the HSI and CDI needles actually point as they move with the aircraft symbol across the map. • Optimal Holding Entry Path Overlay: compare your flown track with the wind-corrected entry and holding pattern. • Flight Log with Debrief: every flight is recorded. Replay the track and the needle movement, or resume the flight later. Built for instrument rating training, proficiency practice, and simulator assessments. "I am currently training for my Instrument Rating, and my FI recommended this app to me. I didn't think such a high quality, useful training tool was possible as an app. Incredible for VOR bearings, practicing holds and command headings." App Store review by Sa4mmy Questions or feedback? Reach us at support@ifrsimulator.com. Disclaimer: This application is for training and educational purposes only. It must not be used for real-world flight planning or in-flight decision-making. While the developer strives to provide information and calculations that are as accurate and up-to-date as reasonably possible, they may still be incomplete or inaccurate, and other accepted methods exist for deriving procedures and correction angles. Always verify data against official aeronautical publications and follow the guidance of a certified flight instructor. The developer accepts no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or outcomes arising from use of this software. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
VORSim
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Radio navigation clicks when you fly it, not when you read about it. VOR Sim is a procedure trainer for iPhone and iPad. A light flight model sits behind a full six-pack panel, a moving map, a synthetic outside view and a GNS 430-style GPS, so the needles stay the thing you have to concentrate on. Nothing to configure, no aircraft to buy, no scenery to download: press START and intercept something. THE PANEL • Classic VOR head (NAV1) with a rotatable OBS ring, CDI and TO/FROM flag • HSI (NAV2) with course needle, deviation bar, heading bug and an ADF pointer • Twin-needle ADF: tune two NDBs and cross their bearings for a position fix • The ADF card is fixed, slaved to the compass (RMI) or set by hand — the three ways a real ADF head is read, one knob apart • Directional gyro that precesses about 10° in 15 minutes, and has to be reset • Airspeed with an RPM sub-dial, attitude, altimeter with hPa subscale, VSI and turn coordinator • Spread two fingers on the panel and the three nav heads take the whole screen, which on a phone is the only way to read half a dot; the V1 · V2 · ADF buttons under the panel decide which of them are up and how the width is shared — V2 steps HSI → second VOR head → off, ADF two needles → one → off • Every card and ring turns under the finger: the OBS ring on the VOR head and the HSI, and the ADF card, which takes itself off the compass when you do REAL NAVAIDS • About 17 000 airports and 10 000 VOR and NDB stations from OurAirports, all bundled, all offline. Positions, idents, frequencies and runway directions are real • Long press a VOR on the map to tune it on NAV1, then NAV2; long press an NDB and it goes to the first ADF needle, then the second • Long press an airport to fly direct to it MOVING MAP • Your aircraft, its breadcrumb track and every station, draggable — build an intercept in seconds and drag the aeroplane back to fly it again • The selected OBS course drawn through each VOR with TO/FROM arrows and radial numbers pinned to the screen edge • A chart scale bar you can long press and slide to zoom • Or take the ground away: a second press of MAP leaves the stations, radials, track and airspace on black, which is how a radial is easiest to read GNS 430 • Direct-To, a flight plan with automatic leg sequencing, OBS suspend, CDI source switching between GPS and VLOC, COM and NAV tuning • Any bundled ident can be typed in, with a match list from the database FLYING IT • Tilt the device like a yoke — tilt is elevator, rotate is ailerons — or use the on-screen stick, rudder and throttle. Hardware keyboards work too • Controls are damped the way an aeroplane is: an input arrives over about a second, and the turn builds up after it • Engine sound synthesised from the rpm, from a lumpy idle to full power • Wind with gusts, 1–4× time compression, a stopwatch for timing a hold • Power off, the nose has to come down; below about 45 kt the wing stalls, with aileron on it spins, and the ground ends the flight • A turn costs what it costs: 1.4 g at 45° of bank, and either the nose falls or the speed does OUT OF THE WINDOW • Look out over the cowling — the nose is the attitude reference in a real aeroplane, and where the horizon sits above it is your pitch • Or switch to the glass panel: the nose goes, and the horizon, a pitch ladder, a bank scale and boxed speed, height and climb are painted on the window, so the view can be flown on its own • The ground under you is the real countryside, from the map The training area centres on your position, or on EDAZ Schönhagen. Switch on "Reset moves you somewhere new" and every reset deals the exercise at a real aerodrome somewhere else in the world, with the real VORs around it. Made by a pilot, for pilots and for students working on the instrument rating. IMPORTANT — the airspace, and the exercise stations dealt by a reset, are invented for training. Nothing in this app may be used for real navigation.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: VORSim at none against IFR Flight Simulator's 6. IFR Flight Simulator's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. IFR Flight Simulator sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. VORSim asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | IFR Flight Simulator | VORSim |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (107 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 64.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 107 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 117 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tobias Maihoff | Arnulf Friedemann Jurgen Keese |
In-app purchases
IFR Flight Simulator
- Full Access2 variants$9.991 Month
- Full Access7 Days trial$19.993 Months
- Full Access$19.993 Months
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- Full Access7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Full Access7 Days trial$79.991 Year
VORSim
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is IFR Flight Simulator free?
Is VORSim free?
Do IFR Flight Simulator or VORSim have ads?
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