Comparison

On Instruments vs Planes Control!

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

Head to head
About

On Instruments

Hone your instrument flying skills with this simulator. Navigate various courses by precisely managing heading, altitude, and airspeed. Features multiple difficulty levels, including courses with instrument failures.

Highlights
  • Instrument scanning practice
  • Multiple course difficulties
  • Heading, altitude, airspeed control
  • Attitude Indicator failure simulation
  • Score maximization
Features
Read full description

Practice and hone your IFR instrument scanning skills while playing a variety of courses “On Instruments”. Each course includes a series of heading, altitude, and airspeed changes that must be flown with precision to maximize your score. Courses are divided into Easy, Intermediate and Expert Levels. Additional courses without course guidance are available, as well as a series with an Attitude Indicator failure.

About

Planes Control!

Guide aircraft to safe landings while avoiding hazards like storms and enemy attacks. Control over 60 different planes and helicopters across 13 challenging levels. Engage in aerial combat, fight wildfires, and manage air traffic in this addictive simulation game.

Highlights
  • Draw flight paths for aircraft
  • Avoid collisions and environmental hazards
  • Pilot over 60 types of planes and helicopters
  • Engage in aerial combat
  • Fight wildfires with air tankers
  • Navigate diverse and challenging levels
Features
Read full description

Take control of the sky and land your planes avoiding collisions and enemies. Guide your planes to ensure safe landing in this incredibly easy to learn yet surprisingly addictive game! Get an adrenalin rush while avoiding dangerous collisions, blazing storms and tornadoes, put out forest fire, get ready to repel an attack of enemy fighters and fight off an alien invasion! GAMEPLAY Planes Control is an game with simple controls. Draw lines with your fingers to determine the path each plane will follow as they find their way to land or to engage the enemy. This sounds easy? You will need fast fingers and strategy to manage all your planes and keep the sky under control. AIRCRAFTS You can navigate more than 60 different planes and helicopters including airliners, WWII fighters, jet planes and tilt rotors while playing Planes Control. Beside this, you will enjoy flying the SR-71 Black Bird (the world's fastest plane), the Antonov 225 (the largest aircraft in the world to fly multiple times) and famous combat planes like the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, the F-14 Tomcat or the Apache AH-64 combat helicopter. LEVELS Planes Control has 13 awesome levels for mobile devices plus 6 new levels full of challenges created for tablets. More levels are on the way. • Earn your wings on a holiday resort, guiding your planes and helicopters. • Aerial combat! Shoot down hostile planes and helicopters over the scorching desert. • Air Tankers: Fight wildfires by dropping water with your planes and helicopters. • Storm Carrier landings: Command your military fighters and helicopters between the clouds and rain. • Navigate canyons in the Arizona’s Desert. • Successfully land your Aircraft during a tornado outbreak. • Night landings: Switch your landing lights on and find your way around the airfield. • Keep an eye on emergency calls and give priority landing to the planes that are running out of fuel. • Avoid cargo planes flying around your air space. • Land your planes in the middle of an alien invasion ! READY FOR A CHALLENGE? Earn new and different achievements in every level and challenge yourself to the limit. Please sit back, fasten your seatbelt and enjoy taking control of the sky – download Planes Control now! ⓘ For the latest inside information from Rarepixels: ► Like us at https://www.facebook.com/planesApp ► Visit us at http://rarepixels.com/games/planes-control/ ► Follow us at https://www.twitter.com/planes_control

Screenshots

On Instruments4 screens
Planes Control!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Planes Control! at Free against On Instruments's $2.99. Planes Control! also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (6.8K vs 9). On Instruments's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment 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

Planes Control! is free to download; On Instruments costs $2.99 up front. Planes Control! sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. On Instruments asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Planes Control! holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Planes Control! has 6.8K ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of On Instruments's written reviews are positive against 79% of Planes Control!'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

On Instruments ships an update every 8 months, Planes Control! monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
On Instruments versus Planes Control!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOn InstrumentsPlanes Control!
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.4 (9 ratings)4.7 (6.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews79.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings96.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAircraft Training Aids, LLCAntonio Calvino Esquer

Customer experience

On Instruments

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%

Planes Control!

All ratings6,833 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews421 reviews
Positive79.1%
Neutral8.1%
Negative12.8%

Bugs and requests

On Instruments

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Planes Control!

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezes on iOS 14
  • High score not recorded correctly
  • Planes colliding off-screen
  • Notification bar interfering with gameplay

Requested features

5 requests
  • More level options and customization
  • Ability to pause and resume games
  • Improved tutorial and instructions
  • Difficulty settings for each level
  • Leaderboards and achievements

In-app purchases

None

On Instruments

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

Planes Control!

One-time10
  • Pack of 5× Rescue Teams.$0.99
  • Unlock all HD Levels$0.99
  • Classic levels$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Unlock "Time Machine" levels!$0.99
  • Unlock "10th Anniversary" levels!$0.99
  • Three crashes per game.$1.99
  • Classic levels and no ads$2.99
  • Pack of 20× Rescue Teams.$2.99
  • No Ads.$2.99
  • Pack of 50× Rescue Teams.$4.99

Questions

Is On Instruments free?
On Instruments costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Planes Control! free?
Planes Control! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, On Instruments or Planes Control!?
Planes Control! is rated higher. On Instruments averages 4.4 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Planes Control! averages 4.7 from 6.8K ratings.
Do On Instruments or Planes Control! have ads?
Planes Control! shows ads; On Instruments does not.
Which is updated more often, On Instruments or Planes Control!?
On Instruments ships an update every 8 months, and Planes Control! monthly. Most recently, On Instruments was updated on September 24, 2026 and Planes Control! on October 3, 2026.

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