Comparison

FlightDeck vs Jet Handy

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

Head to head
About

FlightDeck

This app provides real-time flight tracking with AI-generated insights, offering context beyond raw data. It highlights notable aircraft, weather conditions, and airport details, with customizable alerts and emergency detection.

Highlights
  • Real-time flight tracking map
  • AI-generated flight briefs
  • Notable aircraft spotting
  • Weather intelligence overlays
  • Detailed airport information
  • Customizable flight alerts
  • Emergency squawk detection
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

FlightDeck is the flight tracker that shows you what pilots are saying, live. PILOT MESSAGES (ACARS) Read the messages pilots and their airline send each other, decoded live: diversions, medical emergencies, maintenance problems, and the odd joke. Search any flight and day. TRACK YOUR FLIGHT Follow your flight on your Lock Screen: clearance, pushback, takeoff and landing runways, and the plane flying in that becomes yours. 3D MODE The 3D flight tracking you've seen all over social media. Real planes in their airline's paint, gear and all. Nothing else comes close. REPLAY Go back to any flight from the last 30 days and watch it fly again. ALERTS Write an alert in plain English, or draw one on the map. Get notified about emergency squawks and military and government aircraft. ALSO INCLUDED Weather radar, turbulence and pilot reports, D-ATIS, METARs, plain-English NOTAMs, FAA ground stops and delays, active runways, gates, TSA wait times, and approach charts. SUBSCRIPTION FlightDeck requires a weekly or yearly subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. It renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel it anytime in your Apple Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://www.tryflightdeck.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.tryflightdeck.com/terms

About

Jet Handy

Features
Read full description

Jet Handy is a logbook for the planes you see. Look up, open Overhead, and there they are — every airliner in the sky around you, pulled from live ADS-B data. Tail number, airline, type, altitude, how far away. Tap one to mark it spotted, or log the whole sighting with notes and photos. THE COLLECTION Every airline's fleet, tail by tail. Browse by continent, open American or Lufthansa or Qatar Airways, and tick off the airframes you've actually seen. A counter tells you how far you've got. OVERHEAD Live aircraft near you, refreshed every fifteen seconds, on a map and in a list sorted by distance. See a plane, find it in the list, mark it — no squinting at a tail number you couldn't quite read. THE SKY LOG For the sightings worth remembering. Date, tail, airline, type, where you were standing, and what you thought. Add photos: they stay on your iPhone and are never uploaded anywhere. FLOWN The tails you've personally flown on, with the date. A separate collection from the ones you've watched from the ground, and a surprisingly good way to remember trips. BADGES Small milestones, quietly kept. Ten spotted. Five flown. SYNCED, AND FINE WITHOUT SIGNAL Your collection syncs with the Jet Handy website, so it's the same list on your phone and in a browser. Spotting tends to happen where the signal is worst, so anything you record without a connection is saved on the device and sent on automatically once you're back in range. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No ads. No analytics. No tracking, of any kind. Your photos never leave your phone, your location is never stored, and your data stays yours — export a full backup whenever you like, and delete your account from inside the app if you ever want to. Jet Handy needs a free account, and works best somewhere you can see the sky.

Screenshots

FlightDeck4 screens
Jet Handy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Jet Handy at none against FlightDeck's 6. Jet Handy also leads on ads (none vs shown). FlightDeck's advantage is chart position (#27 vs unranked). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. FlightDeck sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days. Jet Handy asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
FlightDeck versus Jet Handy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFlightDeckJet Handy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.5K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews18.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.5K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationSubscription—
Best chart rank#27 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size163 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAttractsTypo Fire

In-app purchases

6 purchases

FlightDeck

Subscriptions6
  • FlightDeck Pro$6.997 Days
  • FlightDeck Pro$12.997 Days
  • FlightDeck Pro$19.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • FlightDeck Pro$49.991 Year
  • FlightDeck Pro3 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • FlightDeck Pro3 Days trial$69.991 Year
None

Jet Handy

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is FlightDeck free?
FlightDeck is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Jet Handy free?
Jet Handy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do FlightDeck or Jet Handy have ads?
FlightDeck shows ads; Jet Handy does not.

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