Comparison

Flying Upwind vs SkyWx

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

Head to head
About

Flying Upwind

This tool provides essential weather data for general aviation pilots, including winds aloft, airport conditions, and hazard information. Visualize wind profiles in 3D and access NWS forecasts and alerts for safe flight planning.

Highlights
  • Winds aloft visualization (3D ribbon/particle)
  • Decoded METARs and TAFs with flight category coding
  • Hazard maps (TFRs, SIGMETs, AIRMETs, NOTAMs)
  • NEXRAD radar and wind map overlays
  • NWS area forecast discussions and alerts
  • Works on phone, tablet, and desktop
Features
Read full description

Flying Upwind is a free weather briefing tool built for general aviation pilots. Get the weather data you need for flight planning — all in one place, at a glance. WINDS ALOFT Hourly wind speed, direction, and temperature at every altitude from surface to FL140+. Visualize wind profiles with interactive 3D ribbon and particle views. AIRPORT BRIEFING Decoded METARs and TAFs for nearby airports with flight category color coding (VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR). See current conditions and forecast timelines at a glance. HAZARD AWARENESS Active TFRs, SIGMETs, AIRMETs, and NOTAMs plotted on an interactive tactical map with NEXRAD radar and Windy wind overlay. NWS FORECASTS Local NWS area forecast discussions, hourly forecasts, and weather alerts for your location. FEATURES Winds aloft from surface to FL180+ with hourly resolution 3D wind visualization (ribbon and particle modes) Decoded METAR current conditions cards Decoded TAF forecast timeline with flight category coding NEXRAD radar and Windy wind map overlays TFR map with details and fly-to navigation SIGMET and AIRMET hazard polygons Filtered NOTAMs per airport NWS area forecast discussions Works on phone, tablet, and desktop No account required, completely free

About

SkyWx

Features
Read full description

Fly with the whole weather picture in front of you. SkyWx is aviation weather built for how pilots actually brief: one map, every layer that matters, and a route briefing that follows your corridor from takeoff to touchdown. THE MAP • Worldwide radar • Winds aloft — barbs at the level you choose • Icing and turbulence, filtered by flight level • Convective clouds and CB tops • Jet streams and high-level SIGWX • SIGMETs, G-AIRMETs and CWAs • Volcanic ash and tropical cyclones • Aurora and space-weather radiation advisories Scrub forward in time and up and down the flight levels — the hazards move with you. ROUTE BRIEFINGS Enter any city pair and get the corridor, not just the endpoints: • Turbulence, icing and CB along your track • Winds aloft at your cruise level • En-route NOTAMs, drawn on the map • Take-off and destination alternates, filtered to runways you can actually use • METARs and TAFs for every field that matters YOUR FLIGHTS, ALREADY THERE Add a leg by flight number, import a roster from CSV, or subscribe to your crew calendar feed. Your next flight is always one tap from a full briefing — and now you can show your active route right on the weather map. YOUR FLIGHTS, STRAIGHT FROM YOUR CALENDAR SkyWx reads your calendar and finds the flights in it. It spots a flight number in an event — "BA295" in the title, the notes, or the location — and resolves it to a real origin and destination, so a roster entry becomes a briefable route without you typing a thing. No flight number in there? It falls back to airport codes instead ("ESSA → EGLL"). Flying a published roster? Paste your crew calendar link once — webcal or .ics, an iCloud published calendar or an airline feed — and your flights land in Routes. That path needs no calendar permission at all. Rosters change. SkyWx keeps up: when a flight is cancelled or moved off your roster, it drops out of Routes too. Your next flight is always one tap from a full briefing — and you can show the active route right on the weather map. NO ACCOUNT. EVER. No sign-up, no password, no email address. Install and brief. FREE • Airport watchlist with live METAR and TAF SKYWX AVIATOR — $0.99/month, first 3 months free • Every weather map layer • Full route briefings, end to end Situational awareness only. SkyWx is not a navigation system and is not a substitute for an official pre-flight briefing or the aircraft's own systems. Always cross-check. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Flying Upwind4 screens
SkyWx4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Flying Upwind at none against SkyWx's 1. Flying Upwind also leads on update cadence (every 8 days vs monthly) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.5). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. SkyWx sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.99 per month. Flying Upwind asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Flying Upwind ships an update every 8 days, SkyWx monthly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Flying Upwind versus SkyWx: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFlying UpwindSkyWx
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB34 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJosh PerryThrottle AB

In-app purchases

None

Flying Upwind

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

SkyWx

Subscriptions1
  • SkyWx Aviator3 Months trial$0.991 Month

Questions

Is Flying Upwind free?
Flying Upwind is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SkyWx free?
SkyWx is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Flying Upwind or SkyWx have ads?
Neither Flying Upwind nor SkyWx shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Flying Upwind or SkyWx?
Flying Upwind ships an update every 8 days, and SkyWx monthly. Most recently, Flying Upwind was updated on October 31, 2026 and SkyWx on October 31, 2026.

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