Comparison

Visual Traffic Pattern vs Active Runway

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

Head to head
About

Visual Traffic Pattern

Visualize runway traffic patterns with magnetic orientation matching your aircraft's heading. Includes wind component diagrams for crosswind and headwind calculations. Designed for pilots on iOS devices.

Highlights
  • Visual traffic pattern reference
  • Magnetic orientation matching
  • Wind component diagram
  • Heading indicator control
  • Runway crosswind/headwind calculation
Features
Read full description

The Visual Traffic Pattern provides a complete visual reference to a selected runway's left or right traffic pattern. With a single finger rotation a pilot can easily view the runway, crosswind, downwind, base, and 45 degree entry headings associated with that runway's traffic pattern. The magnetic orientation of the runway can be rotated to match the aircraft's heading to allow the pilot to visualize the aircraft's approach to the selected runway. Additional features include compass control of the Heading indicator and a built in Wind Component diagram which will allow you to easily determine runway crosswind and headwind components before takeoffs and landings. This app is designed for optimal viewing and use on an iPad or iPhone 5 and above. This app requires iOS 8.0 or greater.

About

Active Runway

This app simplifies runway calculations for pilots, offering quick and easy decisions in the cockpit. It displays the runway with the least crosswind based on available runways and wind direction, and can also pull airport weather to automatically calculate the preferred runway.

Highlights
  • Quick runway calculations
  • Least crosswind display
  • Airport weather integration
  • Automatic preferred runway calculation
  • Offline functionality
Read full description

When your workload is high, calculating the best runway for landing can be difficult. Active Runway makes it quick and simple. Built for pilots who need fast runway decisions in the cockpit, Active Runway is designed to be simple to use, easy to read, and fully functional without cell service. Just move the sliders to the available runways and current wind direction, then tap Calculate. Active Runway will display the runway with the least crosswind — that's it. New: Load any airport to pull current and forecasted weather, and Active Runway will automatically calculate the preferred runway for you. I hope you find this app helpful in the cockpit. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Screenshots

Visual Traffic Pattern4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Visual Traffic Pattern at 78% against Active Runway's 0%. Visual Traffic Pattern also leads on rating (4.4 vs 1.0) and ratings volume (7 vs 1). Active Runway's advantage is price (Free vs $1.99). On in-app purchases 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

Active Runway is free to download; Visual Traffic Pattern costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Visual Traffic Pattern holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Visual Traffic Pattern has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 78% of Visual Traffic Pattern's written reviews are positive against 0% of Active Runway's.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Visual Traffic Pattern versus Active Runway: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisual Traffic PatternActive Runway
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.4 (7 ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews77.8% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings7 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 9 months—
AdsNo—
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — better—
Requires iOS8.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB24 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperArthur VarrassiLawrence Masullo

Customer experience

Visual Traffic Pattern

All ratings7 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive77.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative22.2%

Active Runway

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

None

Visual Traffic Pattern

No in-app purchases

None

Active Runway

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Visual Traffic Pattern free?
Visual Traffic Pattern costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Active Runway free?
Active Runway is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Visual Traffic Pattern or Active Runway?
Visual Traffic Pattern is rated higher. Visual Traffic Pattern averages 4.4 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while Active Runway averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.

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