While contemplating the massive layoffs at ForeFlight just a few months after being sold to private equity and how some users we talk with wonder how long they’ll hang on to this powerhouse iPad program in fear of price increases and a perception of at least some instability, Russ Niles reminded me that it was at AirVenture Oshkosh somewhere around 2010 that we first spotted ForeFlight Mobile HD. Years later, having grown into one of the most popular programs, users might be more inclined to find an alternative, but I think the iPad will certainly live on as a must-have cockpit companion. That being said, there are other worthy apps worth considering that just don’t get nearly enough consideration. They’re either under-marketed or they’re simply overshadowed.
So in the coming months we’ll take a look at these alternatives and flesh out the features, compatibility issues, costs, and considerations for using them in your ops, with suggestions on how you might choose if you’re willing to make the change—whether it’s ForeFlight or any other flight planning app. It will be no small task given their layers-deep feature set and functionality.
As we launch our app review series, I thought it’s worth rewinding the tape for a macro look at how we got here. It’s a remarkable aviation success story for ForeFlight and its iPad interface—a terrific, well-rounded program that I sure hope will thrive and continue to advance for years at a price that’s palatable for the masses.
Sixteen Years Ago
The iPad was relatively new to the world and while there were awkward early-gen tablet computers running basic if not clunky aviation programs (they were called EFBs for electronic flight bags), most pilots didn’t think about shlepping the big tablet into the cockpit. I certainly didn’t, with well-worn binders of 2010-vintage Jepp plates and now-faded paper charts collecting dust in my airport office as proof. In its early days, the iPad was the preverbal fish out of water in flight.
For one, the early iPad was proving too big for the typical GA perch. Screen glare, overheating, and fingerprint smudges were other issues, as was the dilemma of feeding positional data into an iPad that didn’t have a 3G cellular interface. Of course, these issues created a healthy market for aviation accessories—from kneeboards to external Bluetooth GPS receivers (remember the Bad Elf?) and even portable mounts for attaching the thing to the instrument panel. Moreover, the mere thought of using an iPad for actual navigation was enough to make an FAA inspector overheat in the polyester. The FSDO my shop worked under at the time threatened to prohibit them without prior approval but quickly lost the battle. Meanwhile, ForeFlight, founded by Jason Miller and Tyson Weihs (both pilots) a few years earlier, was onto something with its program initially intended for displaying aviation weather graphics on the iPad’s decent screen. I’m pretty sure we did a show video on the trick interface and moved on.
But as time went on, the big iPad—warts and all—was proving to be an excellent chart reader. Meanwhile, Garmin was relentlessly cranking out portable purpose-built GPS mapping systems that were well suited for flight, including XM Weather and eventually charts and more. And while Apple’s specs said the early iPad’s operational altitude limit was 10,000 feet, I recall taking one higher in a turbo Mooney and it worked fine, probably because it used solid-state flash, and presumably because a floating drive head wasn’t an issue. Soon there were a handful of utilitarian aviation apps appearing in the Apple App Store, including ForeFlight, where the iPad interface showed both sectionals and IFR enroute charts with acceptable scaling, plus it was slick to swipe a finger to pan across the charts and even pluck waypoints and other useful data along the way. With ForeFlight (and app competitor WingX), you could access weather/route briefings. The iPad was becoming more than a slick electronic chart reader, thanks to ForeFlight’s brain power.
I recall that ForeFlight Version 8 somewhere around 2016 really kicked the app to a high level, with the biggest update since 2011. It was when the program got the distinguishing “aeronautical layer” feature set that included airports, airspace, airways, waypoints, VORs, and other critical flight data normally found on a sectional chart. Magically, the data scaled and changed dynamically as you panned and zoomed the chart, decluttering information as you zoomed out and adding just the right information as you zoomed in. If you zoom in far enough on an airport, you even got the airport diagram. Zoom in further and taxiway labels appear. A modern way to navigate—using the iPad as the source—was upon us. Pilots were taking notice, and older ones still resisted the tech and soldiered on with paper charts.
Unsustainable? Think Again
As subscription-based aviation apps (including ForeFlight) became more advanced, plenty of us in the journalist camp were skeptical anyone could actually turn a worthwhile profit from these programs to maintain a sustainable business. Of course, subscription prices weren’t nearly at the price premium they are today. I remember moderating an aviation app forum at AirVenture where ForeFlight, WingX, BendixKing and a few others were strutting the capabilities of their apps, all with competitive monthly fees that looked to be chicken feed compared to the masses of pilots who still weren’t convinced cockpit apps made sense. Getting pilots to buy the subscription when the free trial ended was the familiar problem. Plus, with so many free resources on the web, any fee-based solution must offer serious added value. But when the cockpit-sized iPad mini (70% of the size of a regular iPad) came along, the market never looked back, and soon we were all embracing it as not only a replacement for paper but for doing so much more even though the small screen was a stretch for aging eyes. You could buy a basic iPad mini for $199.
As every pilot in the world began flying with the iPad (and Android tablets, too), the cockpit app market became competitive and of course subscription prices inflated, especially with a full-up menu of electronic Jepp plates. But over at ForeFlight, the Mobile program for iPad was advancing to the point of it being something that loyal users couldn’t do without. It became so popular as a flight planning tool and inflight utility that around 2016 ForeFlight announced what everyone was waiting for and that was two-way compatibility with Garmin avionics, including the ability to interface Garmin’s GDL-series ADS-B transceiver on its Mobile iPad app. That interface has grown to include wireless connection with panel equipment, and ForeFlight became mostly a seamless interface in the Garmin avionics ecosystem (and for other third-party avionics gear, including Avidyne, Aspen, and uAvionix to name a few), though Garmin’s own Pilot app is the company’s primary focus for interfacing with its integrated OEM and aftermarket panels. We’ll of course cover that in our app coverage—it’s a serious capability.
Guard That Data
No matter how or why we got to where we are with our dependent use of iPad programs for flying (and that includes a wide swath of GA, airline, military ops, and everything in between), pilots are worried about losing their data. If you switched to an electronic logbook relying on the app to keep track of your cherished flight experience, you understand. Some users I talk with have decided to go back to logging time the old-fashioned way (I never stopped scribbling in a paper log) and have offloaded all the digital logs to date—a smart idea.
Last, we can’t effectively cover the current app market without your input. If there’s an app that’s been working for you—and that includes programs for Apple and Android devices, we want to know about it. What have you run into for limitations, where it shines, and why you made the switch from another app—no matter which one. Drop us a line at feedback@avbrief.com.
Really cool–looking forward to the reviews and user comments.
Why do people insist on putting their portable ads-b units/ipads/whatever on that portion of the windscreen shown in the title picture? Not only is that a crucial spot to view yaw when the nose is high, but also a very helpful spot to look during landing to judge depth perception. Not to mention all the traffic that could be lurking there…oh wait, we don’t have to look for traffic anymore we have ads-b in.
I’ve heard younger CFIs say flying a plane without ads-b in was “scary”. Good grief!
Now get off my porch..
“I’ve heard younger CFIs say flying a plane without ads-b in was “scary”. Good grief!”
Absolutely, it is scary! In the pre-ADS-B days while on a training flight with my CFI for my commercial rating, we had a near-miss during cruise from traffic that came from below and behind us. We were in a low-wing, so no amount of “see-and-avoid” would have allowed us to see this traffic.
After having ADS-B In and seeing how much traffic is out there that I can’t visually identify (even knowing their exact location!), if the plane I’m flying in doesn’t have In, I carry my portable with me (I have yet to fly in a plane that doesn’t have Out, so the ground stations are at least being “woken up” so my In provides as near a full picture as it can).
Foreflight/iPad/Sentry will also work in planes having a transponder, but lacking “Out”, albeit a little strangely. It of course knows where you are very precisely via GPS/WAAS. The location of area traffic comes from ground stations and is displayed. With “Out” on board, it immediately knows which one of those uplinked targets is you. Without “Out”, it takes positional information from surveillance radar and compares it to your GPS position to identify you relative to other targets. But radar accuracy degrades with distance and the Feds are shutting down rural SAR radars (one of the promised cost savings to going with ADS in the first place). When the error is great enough to put you outside of the safety “biscuit”, it will show you as another aircraft! And issue a collision alert! Seeing me and my shadow when away from terminal areas pushed me into installing ADS-B out on my glider …
GPS receivers need a clear, or as clear as possible, view of the sky. Metal blocks the signal. Hence, the suction cup, unless you have a fiberglass (not carbon fiber) airplane.
Please make sure to review iFlyEFB – a real gem that runs on Android and even has its own high brightness hardware device available. Being an Android user, I’ve been their customer for years and have seen the app evolve to be highly competitive with ForeFlight (at least to this VFR pilot). Looking forward to all your reviews!!
Ditto! I have used the iFly EFB app for over a decade and it is every bit as good, if not better than, Forflight. Plus, it’s more economical. Please do include it in your review.
Agree! iFly is a great app that has been – intentionally? – ignored by much of the aviation press like this site.
Manny you need to go read the editorial above—we said we aren’t ignoring these other apps and have set out to review each of them.
I use Stratus EFB and Droid EFB. I have rarely seen them mentioned in the aviation press. It’s always foreflight foreflight…..and sometimes Garmin.
Ref aging eyes, please comment on the ability to control font size throughout the app…annoying to have to use readers when the app could help. Realize it will clutter, but I’d prefer to have the option to control the tradeoff myself (google maps is just as annoying, maybe they need a few more old fart SW dev’rs still coding)
//
If FF goes overseas for SW dev they may lose their DOD market, tho it may not be a large enough fraction to matter to FF’s new owners.
“If FF goes overseas for SW dev they may lose their DOD market”
My understanding is that is precisely what they are doing with the firing of a bunch of their staff.
Agreed wholeheartedly as you zoom in for a better view of the detailed information ( taxiway letters or street names) the desired text shrinks
Very true, what you say about the ways in which the apps help us keep e-logbook records. I have 14,000+ hours worth of records in Garmin Pilot, going back 12-15 years through a corporate career & personal flying, including engine trend data even. Converting paper to silicon took a LOT of work. I have considered a switch to Foreflight but they use a different database methodology (last I checked, FF is a “flat-file” simple speadsheet, Garmin uses a more sophisticated relational table method). I believe this makes switching one to another quite complicated–more trouble than it is worth. If you guys get any intel on this aspect in your survey, I would be interested (and grateful).
I appreciate what you all are doing here. Keep up the good work as I keep steering my applicants your way.
With 14Khrs of data, I’d be interested in your backup/restore procedures.
Please include FltPlanGo, iFlightPlanner, and AvareX
I’ve been using FlyQ by Seattle Avionics for years and it will run wheels with Foreflight in most every way a GA pilot would want.
Me, too. FlyQ software was free and I took advantage of a deal that they offered several years back and paid $400 for LIFETIME VFR and IFR databases. The only shortfall with FlyQ is that it can not decode my Garmin-345 ADS-B In/Out transponder. Garmin encrypts their datastream and will not make it available to Seattle Avionics. Garmin’s response to my query was, essentially, “Too bad. You should buy ForeFlight” I don’t know who makes the Stratus but you can build your own Stratux from a kit on Amazon or buy a ready made unit. It works great!
Garmin pilot quit in flight over the Zuni Indian Reservation stating that my paid subscription had expired. Nowadays, if any avionics need replacement, I avoid Garmin. My Avidyne IFD-440 is a stunning upgrade over the Garmin 430W (newer tech, of course).
I used FlyQ for a year taking advantage of their $25 student pilot first year price they offer. I was fairly happy with it and it did everything you needed. I did end up switching to ForeFlight though and it definitely is a little better and has more features. But I know flyq was improving stuff like they added graphical weather briefings which was a big plus. Hopefully they keep getting more competitive. I’d certainly like to see them in these reviews.
Do FltPlan Go. I’ve been using it for nearly 10 years now and does almost everything that ForeFlight does. Also costs $0.00. Granted, it uses NACO products, but then again, I personally prefer those, coming from military aviation.
One reason for NOT using Foreflight is because they use Jepp charts instead of NACO.
Not true. Foreflight default is NACO you pay extra for Jepp
I still carry (and use) paper charts and have an old fashioned hardbound log book for reasons that are becoming obvious-again. Paper has a lesser tendency to overheat and doesn’t require wifi, bluetooth, or cellular connection and no 3rd party can take captive my logbook until I break a reg.
Another aspect of FF that is a bit of a bitter pill is it forces new iPad purchases when they stop supporting not too long in the tooth iOS. I bet Apple just loves them for it, maybe even compensates them for it. Having just received such a notification, the results of Larry’s work will be perfect timing.
Before FF and WingX, there was Anywhere Map. Used it for years before going to FF and or Pilot.
I started with them, horrible customer “service”. Intro to that was initial buy of an installed iPaq, which was a brick on arrival. They then suggested I sort it out, after keeping my initial counter suggestion to myself, they agreed that I bought a capability and that they’d try again to deliver. Their biggest issue was they kept pushing new “features” which didn’t deliver while baseline redefined buggy…they didn’t seem to understand that the priority was not IT, Aviate, Navigate, Communicate…at least I didn’t fall for the “lifetime” subscription.
FF may be annoying at times, but at least it runs.
When I chose to go with Foreflight back in 2019, I didn’t fully appreciate one HUGE advantage it has over many/most of the others: automatic updates! This not just with charts on the ground via the web, but in-flight updates of NOTAMs and TFR’s via ADS-B. (On what was planned to be a short local flight a couple of years ago, I was informed on CTAF that my home airport had closed behind me. Called up Approach, then a FSS – neither knew about it. Punched my airport on the iPad, and by golly, the NOTAM was up, this perhaps 20 minutes after the incident!). This, in contrast to the glider “EFB” world, where little happens automatically or, if it does, you have no idea. “Turnpoint files” have to be searched out manually and are often years out of date and full of errors.
Too, Foreflight, has (had?) a huge staff of pilot/engineers making sure what’s pushed out is accurate and works with each iPad system update. One assumes Garmin is similar, but how about those cheaper options? Doubtful. I keep Avare on my Android phone just in case FF/iPad system croaks, but I’m not ready to trust it as a primary.
Anyway, when doing these reviews, please make an attempt to evaluate what’s going on behind the scenes. Can I trust what it displays in the pretty colors is timely, correct and verifiable?
Sorry, forgot to mention, discuss what happens if GPS fails? Will it give positional information, with reduced accuracy, based on cell towers? Or, in the case of my FF/cell-less iPad/Sentry, revert to still-accurate position based on other satellite constellations, from the EU or Russia. (I’ve had my panel mount Garmin go dark near military bases while Foreflight continued to chug along.)
“One assumes Garmin is similar, ….”
Yes, that is correct.
GARMIN PILOT provides updates, in-flight, for TFRs and NOTAMs via ADS-B.
(TFRs updates also available via (optional) SiriusXM subscription).
That’s in addition to GP effortless chart updates (on the ground).
I look forward to these reviews and seeing how all the different apps compare. I wish we had seen more of this before but I guess ForeFlight did have quite a corner on the market. I had use FlyQ for a year and it was pretty good and did what I needed for VFR. I did end up switching to ForeFlight which I liked better and had more features. Flyq was improving though and adding new features.
Please include Avare and the newer version AvareX in your review process. This “Open Source” project is a viable if not basic option. The absence of a user manual detracts but is not an insurmountable obstruction. It works on Android as well as Apple which is a huge benefit.