Aloft Air Aware vs NOAC Patch Guide
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Aloft Air Aware
This app provides comprehensive drone flight situational awareness, offering FAA-approved airspace data and safety advisories. It includes features for identifying restricted areas, understanding identification requirements, and sharing real-time flight information for safe operations.
- FAA-approved airspace data
- Situational awareness for drone pilots
- Geo layers with advisory information
- FRIA data for Remote ID exemptions
- Notify & Fly system for real-time flight sharing
- Links to free pilot resources
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Aloft is the #1 FAA-Approved provider for B4UFLY and LAANC services. Airspace safety and situational awareness is no longer just about "before" you fly but across the entirety of your operation. Air Aware provides this complete system for safe flight. From the makers of the original B4UFLY, Aloft is launching Air Aware for next-generation situational awareness. In partnership with Pilot Institute (https://pilotinstitute.com), Air Aware is the platform for all drone pilots to get started safely and compliantly to fly drones. In addition to authoritative airspace information from Aloft (an FAA-approved UAS Service Supplier for LAANC), Air Aware includes Aloft's exclusive Geo layers with over 10 million square miles of local, state, and federal advisory information to assist pilots with takeoff/landing restrictions and other pertinent safety information. Air Aware includes all FAA-required B4UFLY data layers, and also features the new FRIA data set (FAA Recognized Identification Areas) where Remote ID is not required. We've also incorporated Aloft's Notify & Fly system, originally introduced in the FAA's B4UFLY app, into Air Aware -- giving pilots the ability to read and share live flight volumes for complete real-time situational awareness and deconfliction. As we've partnered with Pilot Institute, inside Air Aware you will also find links to free resources, such as training videos, FAA TRUST information, and free stickers for labeling your drone. If you need Aloft's LAANC services, you'll find links in Air Aware when you're in controlled airspace, or you can use our Air Control web and mobile apps. Please get in touch with our team directly at support@aloft.ai if you have any questions, feedback, or ideas. Together with Pilot Institute, we're looking for your feedback as we evolve this new platform.
NOAC Patch Guide
This app provides a comprehensive catalog of National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC) patches. Users can manage their personal collections, track desired patches, and connect with other collectors through community channels.
- Comprehensive NOAC patch catalog
- Personal collection management
- Wishlist tracking
- Community channels for collectors
- User-friendly interface
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Your home base for Order of the Arrow patch collecting, always in your pocket. NOAC Patch Guide is the companion app for OA patch collectors. Browse patches by year and by lodge, track your collection and wishlist, and connect with fellow collectors in person. Built for Scouts and Scouters. BROWSE BY YEAR AND LODGE • Decades of NOAC patches, gathered in one place • Explore by year or by lodge (239 lodges and counting) • Rich lodge detail: totem, founding year, region, section, council, and merge history • Favorite a lodge to get notified when new patches are added TRACK YOUR COLLECTION • Mark what you've collected and what's on your wishlist • See your progress at a glance, like "142 of 1,205 collected." • Filter by year or lodge to find exactly what you need CONNECT, SAFELY AND IN PERSON • Meet a collector at an event? Share your wishlist or collection with a quick scan • See what others are hunting and help each other finish your sets • No messaging and no contact info, ever. You share a read-only list in person • Your public identity is always a fun scout persona and avatar, never a real name or photo HELP BUILD THE GUIDE • Spot a patch we're missing? Photograph it and submit in seconds • Crowdsourced and always growing EARN AS YOU COLLECT • Unlock badges for milestones, completions, and contributions • Make it yours with collectible avatars, frames, and app icons BUILT FOR THE EVENT • Works offline, so you can browse and track even when the venue Wi-Fi can't keep up • Designed for Scouts: wholesome, safe, and contact-free by design Whether you're chasing your first flap or completing a decades-long collection, NOAC Patch Guide helps you discover, track, and share the patches you love. NOAC Patch Guide is an independent app for collectors. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Scouting America or the Order of the Arrow.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: NOAC Patch Guide at 5.0 against Aloft Air Aware's 4.0. NOAC Patch Guide also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 5 months). Aloft Air Aware's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (113 vs 1). On price, ads, monetization model 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. NOAC Patch Guide sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Aloft Air Aware asks for nothing beyond the download.
NOAC Patch Guide holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Aloft Air Aware has 113 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Aloft Air Aware ships an update every 5 months, NOAC Patch Guide every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Aloft Air Aware | NOAC Patch Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (113 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 52.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 113 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #208 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 58 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Aloft Technologies, Inc. | Adam McDaniel |
Customer experience
Aloft Air Aware
NOAC Patch Guide
Bugs and requests
Aloft Air Aware
Reported bugs
15 issues- Zones not showing up correctly
- Map errors regarding TFRs
- Doesn't account for active TFRs
- Buttons disappear at the bottom of the screen
- Layers not selectable
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- No altitude grids inside controlled space
- Buttons click the background
- UI controls off the edge of the screen
- Close and back buttons don't work
- Button pushes don't recognize new screen display button locations
- Keyboard remains on screen obscuring map
- App doesn't always work
- Constantly reloads
- Verify human multiple times
- Color of overlays difficult to differentiate
Requested features
15 requests- Satellite map options
- Dark mode
- Button to recenter map
- Distance scale/ruler
- Clearer distinction between planning and submitting LAANC
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- Show other UAVs via Bluetooth/RemoteID
- Increase notification time
- Adjustable radius for flight operations
- Pre-plan areas for commercial work
- Integration with FlightAware
- Weather page
- Biometrics for verification instead of CAPTCHA
- Pre-pre-flight checklist with links to weather and other resources
- Ability to preplan areas for commercial work
- Show LAANC requests from other apps
NOAC Patch Guide
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Aloft Air Aware
No in-app purchases
NOAC Patch Guide
- Collector Pack$1.99







