FirstFIDS vs DHC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FirstFIDS
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With over 3 billion passengers travelling on over 1 million commercial flights every year, airports and airlines are constantly seeking innovative ways of sharing information to enhance the overall experience of their customers whilst optimising resources and reducing cost. Zafire have created a low-cost, simple, yet powerful flight information display system (FIDS) designed to enhance communication between ground handlers and ramp managers whilst on the move, thereby enhancing the passenger experience and improving service levels. FirstFIDS is a cloud-based solution sharing data across the globe and providing instant access to key flight and operational information. Using a simple, secure app we can distribute all arrival, departure, terminal and airport information across multiple staff devices including smartphones and tablets from anywhere in the world.
DHC
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To enroll to use the DHC-Mobile Maintenance app please contact: De Havilland Customer Service by email dehavillandcustomerservice@gilmore.ca or phone 1-800-795-6661. Bringing Paperless¹ Efficiency to Line Maintenance! This application requires a subscription to De Havilland Technical Publications. Using the DeHavilland Mobile Maintenance© application, line and heavy maintenance crews can enjoy the benefits of going paperless¹ by being able to store and access publication data instantly from their iPad© – without WiFi. This solution combines automatic publications and Temporary Revision (TR) updates in one application. De Havilland Mobile Maintenance© enables maintenance facilities to achieve paperless¹ operations simply and efficiently. Accessible Instruction for Continued Airworthiness (ICAs). Up to date. All in one place. Fast and easy, iPad© users simply enter their license code, then ‘sync’ the iPad© app to De Havilland Online Technical Publications. Updated publications are automatically downloaded, indexed and ready to use.in minutes, aircraft maintenance engineers can add text, add signatures to tasks and email them to the fleet maintenance personnel. Automatic revision updates. No more manually inserting revisions and Temporary Revisions (TRs) into De Havilland maintenance manuals. These are automatically inserted into the correct sections and distributed across every iPad© in the operator’s fleet by De Havilland Technical Publications. Valuable time is saved, and maintenance crews are always ready with the latest publications. ¹ Paperless refers to the process identified in the relevant aviation industry requirements pertaining to paperless operations. Use of the De Havilland Mobile Maintenance© application does not relieve operators and their maintenance control or engineering crews of their responsibility to comply with applicable airworthiness authority approved documents.
Verdict
FirstFIDS and DHC 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
FirstFIDS ships an update every 13 months, DHC every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FirstFIDS | DHC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 13 months | Every 8 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPad | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 92 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zafire Limited | De Havilland Aircraft Company of Canada Limited |
In-app purchases
FirstFIDS
No in-app purchases
DHC
No in-app purchases









