Comparison

Air Codes vs Ground News

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

Head to head
About

Air Codes

Stay informed about aviation news, incidents, and industry updates with a curated feed. Access detailed information on airports, airlines, and past accidents. Features include push notifications and personalized favorites.

Highlights
  • Curated aviation news feed
  • Detailed airport and airline information
  • Accident database
  • Push notifications for breaking news
  • Airport and airline favorites
  • Live airport weather
Features
Read full description

Air Codes keeps you up to date with what’s happening in aviation – in a fast, clean app made for pilots, spotters, frequent flyers and anyone who loves planes. AVIATION NEWS A hand-picked feed of aviation news from around the world, updated throughout the day Crashes, incidents and industry news clearly labelled Aviation videos right in the feed Every story links to its original source PUSH NOTIFICATIONS Get notified when major aviation news breaks Tap a notification to jump straight to the story AIRPORTS The world’s busiest airports with IATA and ICAO codes, city, country, elevation, map and live weather Filter by type – airports, heliports, seaplane bases and more, several types at once Up to six runways per airport with length, surface and a runway layout drawing – parallel runways shown side by side with L / C / R Airport photos from Wikipedia Nearby airports and other airports in the same country AIRLINES The world’s largest airlines with IATA and ICAO codes, callsign, country, registration prefix, tail livery and photo Search by name, code or registration prefix Other airlines from the same country and airlines with the nearest headquarters ACCIDENTS Aviation accidents with date, aircraft type, operator, location and what happened Search by year – type “1977” to see that year’s accidents Accidents that happened on the same day in history FAVOURITES Star airports, airlines and accidents to keep them in your own list Synced with your aircodes.sk account FLIGHTS Flight status for accounts with flight status on aircodes.sk Follow a flight on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island MADE FOR iPHONE Native, fast and lightweight Light and dark mode, with a modern glass design Free account – sign in with Apple, Google or email to read the full news archive, and use the same account on aircodes.sk

About

Ground News

This app aggregates news from thousands of sources, highlighting media bias, reliability, and ownership. It aims to help users escape echo chambers and understand different perspectives on any story.

Highlights
  • News aggregation from 50K+ sources
  • Media bias and reliability analysis
  • Source ownership transparency
  • Avoid algorithmic echo chambers
  • Compare partisan topic coverage
  • Daily breaking news updates
Features
Read full description

Get all your news in one place on an eye-opening platform that shows you the bias, reliability and ownership of every source you read. Cut through the noise and escape media echo chambers with Ground News. Ground News is the largest news aggregator in the world with over 50K news sources and 60K articles added daily. But we aren’t a typical news aggregator, throwing hundreds of headlines at you that barely skim the surface. Ground frees people from algorithmic restraints, illuminates blindspots and makes media bias explicit with our one-of-a-kind media analysis features. AVOID MANIPULATIVE ALGORITHMS SPOT MEDIA BIAS DISCOVER BLINDSPOTS CHECK THE RELIABILITY OF SOURCES SEE WHO OWNS THE NEWS YOU CONSUME Read daily breaking stories from sources around the world, in real time. Like a modern day newspaper, we show you diverse stories instead of algorithm-driven content that can limit your worldview. News coverage is rarely unbiased, so we give you as much context as possible so you can come to your own conclusions. Compare coverage on partisan topics like politics, and elections. Enjoy our free features, or subscribe for in-depth analysis that will transform the way you look at news. About Your Ground News Subscription: Subscriptions renew monthly and can be managed through your App Store account Payment will be charged to your App Store Account on confirmation of purchase Renewal is automatic unless turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period Subscriptions can also be managed through Ground News by going to your Account Settings after purchase See full terms and conditions here: https://ground.news/terms-and-conditions

Screenshots

Air Codes4 screens
Ground News4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Air Codes at daily against Ground News's fortnightly. Air Codes also leads on monetization model (free vs freemium) and review sentiment (71% vs 53%). Ground News's advantage is ratings volume (49K vs 451) and chart position (#1 vs unranked). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Air Codes sells 9 one-off in-app purchases and Ground News sells 10 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 — 4.7 for Air Codes against 4.7 for Ground News. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ground News has 49K ratings behind it against 451, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of Air Codes's written reviews are positive against 53% of Ground News's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Air Codes ships an update daily, Ground News fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Air Codes versus Ground News: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAir CodesGround News
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (451 ratings)4.7 (49K ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.8% of reviews — better52.6% of reviews
Number of ratings45149K — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
Best chart rank—#1 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB98 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperRoman MagerkoSnapwise Inc.

Customer experience

Air Codes

All ratings451 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews48 reviews
Positive70.8%
Neutral8.3%
Negative20.8%

Ground News

All ratings48,829 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral3.2%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews1,454 reviews
Positive52.6%
Neutral11.6%
Negative35.8%

User reviews

Air Codes

From 451 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📚 Comprehensive airport and airline code database
  • 📰 Up-to-date aviation news feed
  • ✈️ Excellent resource for aviation enthusiasts and industry professionals
  • 🎨 Good graphical presentation (in earlier versions)
  • 🔄 Regular updates with new airports and information

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes on launch
  • 💰 Paywall for features previously free
  • 🔍 Search functionality is broken or unreliable
  • 📵 Intrusive review prompts during usage
  • 📰 Excessive messaging and YouTube link notifications

Ground News

From 49K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Unique and useful news service
  • 👍 Refreshing to see multiple news sources
  • 👍 Factuality checks are helpful
  • 👍 Provides a balanced view of news stories
  • 👍 Excellent news resource

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Subscription issues (e.g. unable to cancel, auto-renewal)
  • 🔍 Too US-centric, lacking international news coverage
  • 💸 Excessive ads and paywalls
  • 🤔 Bias ratings may not always be accurate
  • 🤔 Cluttered user interface

Bugs and requests

Air Codes

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • App crashes on opening (iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 13, iPhone SE)
  • Force closing issue persisting for months
  • Search returns no results despite data being present
  • Airline IATA code search not working
  • Airport search unresponsive
Show 4 more
  • Flight status not functioning
  • Search results hidden behind search box
  • Upgrade feature not working
  • App crashes after recent updates (version 6.9)

Requested features

8 requests
  • Airline code search functionality
  • Aircraft information (origin, seats, range, wingspan, status)
  • Flight status feature (working properly)
  • Test/quiz feature for studying
  • Support for missing airlines (ASKY Airlines, etc.)
Show 3 more
  • Support for missing airports (Tobago TAB/TTCP, Dubai DWC/OMDW)
  • Pricing in multiple currencies (not just euros)
  • Dark mode option

Ground News

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notification issues (e.g. not clearing, inaccurate counts)
  • Subscription recognition problems across devices
  • Compatibility issues on older devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to customize news feed by region/country
  • Improved navigation and reading experience
  • Sync topics/preferences across devices
  • Built-in news reader mode
  • Ability to filter out paywalled articles

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Air Codes

One-time9
  • Airports 10 days$3.99
  • Airlines 10 days$3.99
  • Accidents 10 days$3.99
Show 6 more
  • Flights 10 days$6.99
  • Gift: All-Access 30 days$8.99
  • All-Access Pass 1 Month$8.99
  • All-Access Pass 1 Year2 variants$39.99
  • Gift: All-Access 1 year$39.99
  • Airlines Lifetime$44.99
10 purchases

Ground News

Subscriptions10
  • Ground News Pro Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Ground News Premium Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Ground News Pro Yearly$9.991 Year
Show 7 more
  • Ground News Vantage Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Ground News Premium Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Ground News Premium Yearly1 Month trial$39.991 Year
  • Ground News Premium Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Ground News Premium Yearly1 Month trial$49.991 Year
  • Ground News Premium Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Ground News Vantage Yearly$99.991 Year

Questions

Is Air Codes free?
Air Codes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ground News free?
Ground News is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Air Codes or Ground News?
Ground News is rated higher. Air Codes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 451 ratings, while Ground News averages 4.7 from 49K ratings.
Do Air Codes or Ground News have ads?
Neither Air Codes nor Ground News shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Air Codes or Ground News?
Air Codes ships an update daily, and Ground News fortnightly. Most recently, Air Codes was updated on November 6, 2026 and Ground News on November 9, 2026.

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