F vs Approach
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
F
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REAL FLIGHT. REAL MISSIONS. FULL CONTROL. F-2 MISSIONS is built on one principle: everything the real jet can do is in your hands. No stability assists, no auto-throttle. You manage speed and energy yourself, reading the HUD and instruments like a real pilot — and your skill is the only upgrade. ■ AUTHENTIC FLIGHT MODEL ・Angle-of-attack based physics — holding a banked turn with back pressure emerges from the equations, not a script ・Rate-command roll with no auto-leveling; inverted flight is possible ・Control response scales with airspeed — the jet gets heavy when slow ・Assists live in the display, never in the controls: FLOLS meatball, steering cues and gate rings guide you without flying for you ■ A YEAR OF TRAINING — a prologue and six chapters, 25 missions Fly a rookie's first year in order, until the deck stops being out of reach. Your instructor is on the radio the whole way, telling you what to do next. ・OUT OF REACH — the prologue. Your first real deck, and three approaches ・BASIC AIRWORK — 2,700 metres of runway at Matsushima. Takeoff, climb, turn, touchdown — then at night, then in weather ・PAINTED DECK — a carrier deck painted onto the runway. Short, narrow, white lines. Touch-and-go and wire traps on solid ground ・CARRIER QUAL — the real thing. Calm daylight, crosswind, night traps, and finding the boat yourself. Scored 0–100 on sink rate, centerline, wire and AoA ・LOW LEVEL — low-level runs through real Japanese terrain: the Southern Alps, the Azusa valley at Kamikochi, the Fuji circuit and over the summit, plus an offshore gate slalom. Stay under the radar, hide behind ridgelines, follow the river ・FORMATION — hold station off a leader's wing, and hold position behind a tanker's boom ・CASE ONE — the final check ride. Join up over water, fly the formation, break, and bring it home ■ COCKPIT VIEW A fully modelled first-person cockpit — instrument panel, canopy, the lot. The HUD is not a screen overlay: it is projected onto the combiner glass in front of you, so the symbology slides across the world as you turn your head. And your head is not bolted to the airframe — every g the jet pulls goes through your neck, and catching a wire throws you forward in the straps. Read the meatball the way a pilot actually reads it: through the lens. ■ NORMAL / HARD / ACE Difficulty rises through the environment — night, rain, fog, crosswind — and stricter judging. Clear NORMAL to open HARD, and ACE beyond it. On ACE you manage the landing gear and afterburner fuel yourself. Built for pilots who want to know exactly how good they are. ■ REAL TERRAIN, REAL TOWNS Japanese skies built on national elevation data, with surveyed building footprints, trees and far terrain layered on top. The Matsushima coastline, the Azusa valley and the ridges of Fuji are all the real shapes. ■ DYNAMIC WEATHER Clear, overcast or night skies, rain, fog, wind direction and speed — the same stage never feels the same twice. ■ BEYOND THE COURSE Clear every mission at NORMAL rank or better to unlock FREE FLIGHT — assemble your own sortie from scene, weather, wingmen and music, and fly with no clock and no score. The sky you get for graduating. ■ REPLAY Every flight is recorded. Review your traps from the LSO's platform, a chase camera, the cockpit or a ridgeline spectator's view — then save and share the clip. Terrain data: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) elevation tiles (DEM10B) Languages: English / Japanese Requires iOS 17 or later, iPhone, landscape only F-2 MISSIONS is an independent production, not affiliated with or endorsed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries or any government or defense entity.
Approach
Experience realistic flight landings with intuitive tilt controls. Master 32 challenging approaches across 10 real-world airports with various aircraft. Improve your skills with detailed scoring and replay options.
- Intuitive tilt controls for flight simulation
- 32 handcrafted landing approaches
- 10 real-world airport scenarios
- Multiple aircraft types
- Detailed landing performance scoring
- Replay landing sequences
- Offline play
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Forty seconds. One runway. Land the plane. Tilt your iPhone or iPad like a control column, guide the aircraft through the approach rings, and put it down where it counts. Every landing is graded, every mistake is yours, and every good arrival earns a better rank. FLY 32 HANDCRAFTED APPROACHES Take four increasingly demanding aircraft—from a nimble turboprop to a jumbo jet—into 32 focused landing scenarios. Ten real-world airports include island strips, mountain runways, steep approaches and city turns. LAND, LEARN, IMPROVE Your report scores touchdown softness, centreline, crab angle, speed, touchdown zone, wings level, rollout, rings and pace. Earn up to three stars, then replay the landing from beside the runway to see what worked. TILT CONTROLS, BUILT FOR PLAY Bank and pitch by tilting the device. Work the throttle, flaps, gear, rudder, brakes and reverse thrust by touch. Tap the artificial horizon at any time to re-centre the controls, and choose Gentle, Standard or Sharp tilt sensitivity. ARCADE FLYING WITH REAL CONSEQUENCES Wind, gusts, stalls, flap failures, engine failures, short runways and rising terrain keep every final different—without turning the game into a cockpit manual. The complete Turboprop chapter and the opening flights of every other chapter are free: 15 of 32 levels. One optional non-consumable purchase unlocks the remaining 17. No ads. No subscriptions. No account required. Plays offline.
Screenshots
Verdict
F and Approach are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. F sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Approach sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
F ships an update every 10 days, Approach every 9 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | F | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 535 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | unvell inc. | Rakesh Wimmer |
In-app purchases
F
- F-2 MISSIONS COMPLETE$9.99
Approach
- Unlock All Levels$1.99









