Comparison

Contrail vs Trippy

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

Head to head
About

Contrail

Instantly see all aircraft in the sky on a real-time map. Get detailed flight information, track flights you care about, and view airport departure and arrival boards. Discover notable aircraft and log your own flight history.

Highlights
  • Live aircraft map
  • Detailed flight information
  • Flight tracking and alerts
  • Airport departure/arrival boards
  • Personal flight logbook
  • Notable aircraft discovery
  • Fleet filtering
Features
Read full description

Hear a plane? Know where to look. Find aircraft nearby, follow a journey and keep the sky a glance away. Start free, with no account and no ads. WATCH THE SKY Watch the Sky shows an aircraft near your saved place, its distance, direction and how high to look. No need to open the app just to find out what is overhead. Watch aircraft near home, or see your next saved flight with its gate and departure time. On iPhone, choose a rectangular widget or a compact line to check the sky with a glance. Sky widgets are free. Readings update periodically; open Contrail for live tracking. Lock Screen widgets are available on iPhone. EXPLORE CONTRAIL Live map & trails Follow aircraft across the map. Filter by airline, aircraft type or flight phase, and explore their recent tracks. Flight details See available routes, altitude, speed, aircraft photos and registration. Check the age of the latest position. My Flights Save a flight by number and date. Follow its status, gate, delays and the aircraft operating the inbound journey. Search & airport boards Find flights, registrations and airports. Browse available arrivals, departures, gates and local airport times. Passport Keep past journeys, maps and travel statistics. Import and export CSV from Flighty, Flightradar24 and OpenFlights. iCloud logbook sync is available on iOS. Weather & airspace Explore airport weather, METAR observations, aurora forecasts and glider activity. Pro adds selected weather and airspace layers. CONTRAIL PRO (OPTIONAL) Contrail Pro adds alerts, watchlists and more ways to explore. Check current plans, prices and any eligible trial in the app. Flight alerts: Choose notifications for detected gate changes, delays, departures, arrivals and baggage updates. Live Activities · iOS: Keep one journey on your Lock Screen and, on supported iPhones, in the Dynamic Island. Discover & watchlists: Explore military, government and other notable aircraft. Get alerts when activity is detected for aircraft you follow. Flight Cinema: Replay supported past flights in 3D. Explore the timeline and camera views; some routes are reconstructed or incomplete. Specialist map layers: Explore SIGMET hazards, UK military airspace, holding patterns, activity corridors and the gliders-only filter. Watch the Sky, basic tracking, Passport CSV import/export and emergency-squawk alerts remain free. A sky widget and a Pro Live Activity serve different purposes. Coverage, timetables and aircraft details depend on the available data. Contrail is for exploration, not flight navigation. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://contrail-app.netlify.app/privacy

About

Trippy

Features
Read full description

Everyone gives you tips. A restaurant in Lisbon. A bar in Tokyo. A bakery you can't miss. They pile up in screenshots, chats, and half-remembered conversations — and vanish right when you finally land. Trippy is the quiet home for every recommendation. No feeds, no reviews, no noise. Just the places people you trust told you about, organised by city, ready when you go. SAVE EVERY TIP "You have to eat here." Save the place to its city in seconds, with your friend's note attached. It waits there quietly until you actually go. PLAN DAY BY DAY Booked a trip? Pull your saved places into days and times. What doesn't fit stays on the shelf — unplanned, but never lost. SEE WHAT'S NEAR An hour to spare in the middle of the city? Open the trip map and see which of your places is closest, and open right now. NOTES IN YOUR OWN WORDS "Order the anago, sit at the counter." The part a review can never give you stays exactly as you wrote it. NEW: SHARE A CITY Your friend knows Tokyo inside out. Now you can see their whole list — every place they've saved, with their notes, updating live as they add more. Share one of your own cities with a single link. People with the link can see that list; they can never change it. Every place stays yours. You're always in control. Sharing is off until you turn it on, notes stay private unless you choose to include them, and you can take access back anytime — from everyone, or just one person. WHY TRIPPY Reviews tell you what strangers think. Trippy remembers what your friends actually told you — and hands it back the moment you need it. Turn tips into trips.

Screenshots

Contrail4 screens
Trippy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Trippy at none against Contrail's 6. Trippy also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 5 days). On price, ads, 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. Contrail sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Trippy asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Contrail ships an update every 5 days, Trippy daily. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Contrail versus Trippy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterContrailTrippy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (10 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings10 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJacob LassenJon Trygve Hegnar

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Contrail

Subscriptions3
  • Contrail Pro Weekly3 Days trial$1.997 Days
  • Contrail Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Contrail Pro Yearly3 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time3
  • Buy me a coffee$1.99
  • Keep the servers running$4.99
  • I love this app$11.99
None

Trippy

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Contrail free?
Contrail is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Trippy free?
Trippy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Contrail or Trippy have ads?
Neither Contrail nor Trippy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Contrail or Trippy?
Contrail ships an update every 5 days, and Trippy daily. Most recently, Contrail was updated on November 5, 2026 and Trippy on October 31, 2026.

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