Comparison

Aloft Air Aware vs ADCA

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Read full description

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.

About

ADCA

Identify antique doorknobs using your phone's camera and explore a vast archive of over 4,000 cataloged items. This app allows for offline identification and browsing, with options to contribute to improving the database. It's designed for collectors, dealers, and enthusiasts of ornamental hardware.

Highlights
  • Identify doorknobs with camera
  • Offline archive access
  • Browse by name, ID, or manufacturer
  • Contribute to database improvements
  • Search by sight
Features
Read full description

Point your camera at an antique doorknob and find it in the ADCA archive. The Antique Doorknob Collectors of America has catalogued over 4,000 doorknobs since 1981. This app puts that archive in your pocket — and lets you search it by sight. IDENTIFY BY CAMERA Frame a knob in the ring and the app matches it against the full archive. No account, no signup, no internet connection required — the entire catalog and the matching model live on your phone. BROWSE THE ARCHIVE Every knob, organised by ADCA's classification system. Search by name, ID, or manufacturer. HELP IMPROVE IT If the app gets it wrong, you can point it at the right knob. If a knob's photos are poor, you can add a better one. Contributions are reviewed by ADCA before anything is accepted. Built for collectors, dealers, restorers, and anyone who has ever wondered what's on the door in front of them. The Antique Doorknob Collectors of America is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to the study and preservation of ornamental hardware.

Screenshots

Aloft Air Aware4 screens
ADCA4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ADCA at 100% against Aloft Air Aware's 52%. ADCA also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months). Aloft Air Aware's advantage is ratings volume (119 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ADCA 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 119 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of Aloft Air Aware's written reviews are positive against 100% of ADCA's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aloft Air Aware ships an update every 5 months, ADCA fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Aloft Air Aware versus ADCA: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAloft Air AwareADCA
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (119 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews52.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings119 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size58 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAloft Technologies, Inc.Dvijan LLC

Customer experience

Aloft Air Aware

All ratings113 ratings
Positive70.8%
Neutral9.7%
Negative19.5%
Written reviews61 reviews
Positive52.5%
Neutral19.7%
Negative27.9%

ADCA

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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
Show 10 more
  • 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
Show 10 more
  • 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

ADCA

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Aloft Air Aware

No in-app purchases

None

ADCA

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Aloft Air Aware free?
Aloft Air Aware is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ADCA free?
ADCA is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Aloft Air Aware or ADCA?
ADCA is rated higher. Aloft Air Aware averages 4.0 out of 5 from 119 ratings, while ADCA averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Aloft Air Aware or ADCA have ads?
Neither Aloft Air Aware nor ADCA shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aloft Air Aware or ADCA?
Aloft Air Aware ships an update every 5 months, and ADCA fortnightly. Most recently, Aloft Air Aware was updated on October 30, 2026 and ADCA on October 31, 2026.

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