What are Currently the Best EFB’s for IPad?

I can’t imagine any better than ForeFlight for capabilities and responsiveness of the development team to suggestions/new features. I tried Garmin Pilot, which is fine also, but only use it now for DB updates via flightstream. Downside is those two are a bit pricier than other options.
 
If you like to spend money on bells and whistles you probably don't need: Foreflight
Otherwise: Fltplan Go
Spend the difference on gas and go fly
 
I switch between Foreflight and Garmin Pilot every few years. I'm currently using Garmin Pilot because my avionics database subscription includes an upgrade to the premium-level Pilot and because you have to pay for the app to use Database Concierge. I kind of hate it. There are some strong points relative to Foreflight, but some of the most basic tasks are a maze of taps through different screens. For example, I loaded it up on my phone just now and the map page is up. The last flight I put into the map is loaded. I tap to edit and get a list of waypoints with four tabs on the bottom. To see the distance between waypoints, I have to tap the NavLog tab. To look at the winds at different altitudes, I have to tap the PERF tab. (I have no idea why they capitalized all of PERF but not the others.) I recall Foreflight being much more efficient to accomplish these things.

FltPlanGo has a terrible interface but has two advantages over Foreflight and Garmin Pilot. First, it's free. Second, you can load multiple countries' charts for free. So I keep it installed on my iPad in case I ever actually do go north of the border into Canada. But the interface is so bad that I have never succeeded in planning or executing an actual flight with this app.
 
While I hate paying for FF, I think it's worth every penny.
I have used FlyQ (1 year) and FltPlan GO (many years) in the past. FltPlan GO is amazing, considering it's free, but it's just not up to the safety and ease of use as FF.
 
I can’t think of page that takes more than 3 taps to get to with Garmin Pilot. Generally is a tap on the map (like an airport), then tap on one of the pages in a radial menu (like weather, directto, information), then for information tap on a submenu (frequencies, procedures, fuel).

If you have Garmin avionics GP has the same look. And if get the database bundle you’ll get the premium upgrade to GP, so all in it costs $99. I think FF all in is $360.

The best part is the dynamic charts, I hate the static government charts that other ones use, you can have those too but I never use them.
 
Whatever the underlying OS, I think there are two distinct subgroupings to this question.

One subgroup is VFR vs IFR. For example, based on having used all of them geared to the US market, I think FlyQ is a great VFR choice, but not so good for IFR, mainly in the flight planning area.

The other subgroup is compatibility. If you are flying Garmin equipment and want to have to have a feed for GPS and AHRS data without an extra portable, and want FlightStream flight plan transfer capability, you are pretty much excluding everything other than Pilot, ForeFlight, and FltPlan Go.

Beyond that, it’s all a combination of personal preference and what you are used to.
 
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I've used FltPlan Go for many years and I'm on my first year using FF. I'd say FF has some nice features, especially the weather briefing/planning, something that sucks on Fly plan Go. It's better to have everything in the app instead of having to go to multiple sites and the app to plan a flight.
That said, I'm still debating continuing the FF subscription. I don't use its logbook, w&b, and lots of other features. I mostly use the weather pages, airport and maps.
 
Foreflight has been and is the best, hands-down. They have such a large lead at this point that I doubt any competitor is ever going to knock them from their throne.

Garmin Pilot is in second place - some great features for those of us who use Database Concierge, and the iPad version is a very solid EFB with some nifty features/UI concepts which FF doesn't have.

These two products are head-and-shoulders above everything else, but they are also the most expensive offerings. If the price is an issue, I'd probably lean towards FltPlan Go. It's a clunky and painful to use app compared to the other two, but it's free, after all.

Over five and a half years of practical tests: almost all of my applicants who used an EFB brought ForeFlight - a small smattering of them were Garmin Pilot users.

I have never seen FlyQ, FltPlan Go, etc. on a checkride.
 
Ryan F. said:
Foreflight has been and is the best, hands-down. They have such a large lead at this point that I doubt any competitor is ever going to knock them from their throne.
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I agree they are not likely to get knocked off. Even Garmin had to allow compatibility due to FF's strength. But be sure you are not conflating popularity with quality. Remember BetaMax?

Foreflight had a huge headstart. Foreflight Mobile for the iPhone appeared in 2008. It became available for the iPad in January 2010. When I started using FF almost exactly a year later, there were only two choices - Foreflight and WingX (an Android tablet was still in the wishful thinking stage). I went to a presentation and chose FF over WingX because of a small interface difference.

I have indeed considered switching - Pilot and iFly being the top two contenders - but, even though don't use all it's features, my use has become second nature and the chances are small very small that will happen so long as I fly IFR (familiarity) and teach (there's that market share again).
 
if everything was free - Id still choose foreflight... and I have a garmin stack, so theoretically GP should have a slight bump in advantage. Ive used Fltplan and a few others, but always seem to come back to Foreflight. It just accomplishes what I need to do and its weather and everything else is just what you need without switching to a ton of different options. The only thing I really wish it did was to split screen show the scratch pad and map screen when copying my IFR clearance to see and be able to input that in to send it to the panel without switching back and forth..
 
^^^ Same here. I have both- the performance plus version of FF and basic GP to be able to use concierge/connext to wirelessly update DB's on Garmin avionics.
 
There is no best EFB. There are a number of EFBs at different price points and options and pilots with differing flight experience, mission requirements, and budget. Without a doubt FF is the most premium product and the most highly marketed EFB.

The most appealing option with FF is Jeppesen charts, yet few avail themselves of that option.

Some pilots are tied at the hip to Garmin or FF because they bought a Garmin transponder and FF has a royalty agreement with Garmin that gives them no other choice if they want to use that transponders capabilities. There is certainly better transponder options than Garmin that will allow the owner to use the EFB they want.

It’s rather difficult to justify to a student on a budget they need FF when WingX at 99 cents will work admirably for them.

For instrument training, I like my students in the most simple EFB with the lowest task load. For that I like SkyCharts, which is a couple bucks a month.

Due to marketing by FF and baseless pilot recommendations, many pilots believe they need a premium product when few actually do.

I have used all the EFBs, the one I like the best is IFly. That is based on solely personal preference, but the EFB I use is WingX because it is free to CFIs and I cannot justify the expense of FF because I would not use most of the features it offers.
 
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I locked in a lifetime subscription to FlyQ 5 years ago. I had foreflight for a few years at that point. Tried out FlyQ concurrently with Foreflight on iPad and couple others on android. FlyQ seemed the best for me at the time and still remains my go to because I know it the best. I think that is more important. Almost all of them have equivalent necessary features for flying VFR or IFR. But it doesn't matter how much you or how little you spend if you don't know how to use the product effectively. I'll go back to Foreflight someday when an employer is footing the bill for it or otherwise requires it.
 
After years of silence, there is an small update,
IMG_4874.jpeg
 
It's still in beta, but Avare X will be available for iStuff (and Windows!).
 
Dana said:
It's still in beta, but Avare X will be available for iStuff (and Windows!).
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I grabbed it for Android. So, where is the flight planning function? I thought Avare was pretty weak in this area unless going airport to airport direct, but AvareX doesn’t seem to have any.
 
farangutan said:
I locked in a lifetime subscription to FlyQ 5 years ago. I had foreflight for a few years at that point. Tried out FlyQ concurrently with Foreflight on iPad and couple others on android. FlyQ seemed the best for me at the time and still remains my go to because I know it the best. I think that is more important. Almost all of them have equivalent necessary features for flying VFR or IFR. But it doesn't matter how much you or how little you spend if you don't know how to use the product effectively. I'll go back to Foreflight someday when an employer is footing the bill for it or otherwise requires it.
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I think FlyQ is an excellent VFR EFB and tell new pilots (who ask for recommendations) to look at it. But it’s IFR flight planning always left me cold.
 
I think most people are going to say Foreflight is the "best" in this category. You can make all sorts of other choices if you bring in cost associated with it - but the question wasnt "best value", it was "best. And that being the case - if all of them were free - then I think FF with Jeppesen charts is going to be really tough for any of them to beat and say its better.

Some will want Garmin GP for the chart uploading to Garmin avionics instead of using the SD cards, but that isnt really an EFB feature more so that Garmin just wraps that in to GP. That being said - you cant go Jeppesen plates that way anyhow - just the PilotPak Jeppesen charts which isnt what most want.
 
midlifeflyer said:
I think FlyQ is an excellent VFR EFB and tell new pilots (who ask for recommendations) to look at it. But it’s IFR flight planning always left me cold.
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I don't doubt foreflight may have more advanced IFR flight planning tools but I'm genuinely curious what IFR flight planning features you think are lacking.
What appealed to me when I was trying out both was that I didn't have to pay extra for geo-referenced approach plates and airport diagrams. You can quickly pick arrivals and departures and add or remove those fixes and transitions in the flight plan. Scratch pad and feature to write notes on maps and plates and diagrams, document storage. I'm a pretty low-time pilot so I'm stumped on what else I would need.
That being said, I absolutely noticed that FlyQ crashed while in flight much more often than Foreflight. However, the last year and half it has been rock solid and I flew 3x more hours last year than previous years average.
 
robin ardoin said:
^^^ Same here. I have both- the performance plus version of FF and basic GP to be able to use concierge/connext to wirelessly update DB's on Garmin avionics.
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Exactly the same here. Performance Plus FF and basic GP only for database concierge to the 650xi via FS510. Had a free sub to GP a long time ago and used it for a bit... then switched to FF and never looked back. No particular reason - just like the interface and operation of FF better than GP.
 
farangutan said:
I don't doubt foreflight may have more advanced IFR flight planning tools but I'm genuinely curious what IFR flight planning features you think are lacking.
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It's mostly about FlyQ automatically creating flight plans for you. For IFR, you put in a departure and destination on the Map page and it automatically creates a Victor airway flight plan. If you do it in the Plan page and check off the box to use recently cleared routes, it does the same thing, unless it's very limited source has more than one recent ones. I'm saying very because it appears different EFBs and websites either use different sources for these or a different algorithm about what it considers "recent."

Easy example: Plan a flight from my home base, KTTA to Saint Simons, KSSI. FlyQ tells you there aren't any and automatically creates this long waypoint to waypoint to waypoint flight plan that even takes you several miles offshore, which is completely unnecessary.

I won't even focus on Foreflight which gives you 7, including two simple ones (one of which is Direct) which have combined listing of being "recently" cleared about 45 times. Go to SkyVector and you have two, one of which is one of the two most used, and the other using airways. Same if you go to FltPlan.com (which is what FltPlan Go! uses).

Yeah, you can accept it and edit (a little more cumbersome than in other EFBs ) or paste it from one of the other online sources, but unless it's really only an in-flight app, the flight planning component, especially from a company that started as an online flight planer, should be better.

Opinions will differ, but to me, while this is a minor annoyance VFR and the product is superior in other ways (most specifically the georeferenced charts you don't pay extra for), it's an IFR non-starter for me.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Opinions will differ, but to me, while this is a minor annoyance VFR, it's an IFR non-starter for me.
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I've spent a little time playing with some of the lesser-known EFBs just in case an applicant brings it with them on a practical test. I would have to agree, the featureset for these other products is so limited that they're difficult to use for IFR ops. VFR is its own animal, maybe these products would be a better fit for simple operations. I always end up with FF and GP... then there's everything else.
 
I prefer Garmin Pilot but Foreflight is also excellent. There exist free efbs that work but seemed a bit clunky to me
 
Ryan F. said:
I've spent a little time playing with some of the lesser-known EFBs just in case an applicant brings it with them on a practical test. I would have to agree, the featureset for these other products is so limited that they're difficult to use for IFR ops. VFR is its own animal, maybe these products would be a better fit for simple operations. I always end up with FF and GP... then there's everything else.
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The other one that I think is really good for IFR, although it doesn't get a lot of play, is Stratus Insight. Originally Aerovie, Appareo picked it up after the termination of the partnership with Foreflight
 
midlifeflyer said:
I grabbed it for Android. So, where is the flight planning function? I thought Avare was pretty weak in this area unless going airport to airport direct, but AvareX doesn’t seem to have any.
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AvareX works similarly, you can either search for waypoints (airports, navaids, or intersections) on the plan page, or select them on the map.

AvareX is very much still a work in progress... they're trying to clean it up and remove some of the clutter and rarely used features of the old version. Perhaps too aggressively, but they're listening to feedback on the Avare forum.
 
midlifeflyer said:
It's mostly about FlyQ automatically creating flight plans for you. For IFR, you put in a departure and destination on the Map page and it automatically creates a Victor airway flight plan. If you do it in the Plan page and check off the box to use recently cleared routes, it does the same thing, unless it's very limited source has more than one recent ones. I'm saying very because it appears different EFBs and websites either use different sources for these or a different algorithm about what it considers "recent."

Easy example: Plan a flight from my home base, KTTA to Saint Simons, KSSI. FlyQ tells you there aren't any and automatically creates this long waypoint to waypoint to waypoint flight plan that even takes you several miles offshore, which is completely unnecessary.

I won't even focus on Foreflight which gives you 7, including two simple ones (one of which is Direct) which have combined listing of being "recently" cleared about 45 times. Go to SkyVector and you have two, one of which is one of the two most used, and the other using airways. Same if you go to FltPlan.com (which is what FltPlan Go! uses).

Yeah, you can accept it and edit (a little more cumbersome than in other EFBs ) or paste it from one of the other online sources, but unless it's really only an in-flight app, the flight planning component, especially from a company that started as an online flight planer, should be better.

Opinions will differ, but to me, while this is a minor annoyance VFR and the product is superior in other ways (most specifically the georeferenced charts you don't pay extra for), it's an IFR non-starter for me.
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Very interesting, and a great point. Thanks for taking the time to explain a real use case difference. That's a nice long flight. I checked it myself, I first put it in the search box right on the maps page "KTTA KSSI" then hit enter. It creates a direct flight plan. Then I did it the way you explained from the flight planning page and that's right, mine says no recent flights and generates a novel of intermediate waypoints like you describe. Perhaps because I don't fly so often on long cross countries, I've never thought of that. I usually take the time to remove and or substitute waypoints from the FlyQ generated plan if that happens, but usually I build my plans right on the map itself, adding waypoints and fuel stops deliberately, sort of how one would do it on a paper map. This morning I planned a flight from KSPG to KOPF and it does pop up with a couple recently approved route options. So it must be a hit or miss feature, which for someone that depends on it regularly for serious IFR travel is an important drawback.
 
farangutan said:
I absolutely noticed that FlyQ crashed while in flight much more often than Foreflight. However, the last year and half it has been rock solid and I flew 3x more hours last year than previous years average.
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100% agree. It's better than it ever has been.

Also agree with everything @midlifeflyer says about FlyQ.
For VFR it's fantastic, other than a few small things.
One being, you can't find any data on restricted areas, etc., regarding hours or altitudes. I believe that is available in FF?
Also, no W&B built in yet. They have been promising for years... and still are.
While the weather is good on FlyQ, there are some things that could be improved, and gathering weather data/forecasts is just better in FF from what I can tell by very limited use.
None of those are deal breakers for me at this time, but, as mentioned the IFR flight planning can be improved.
Hopefully they will, as I like there being at least some competition.

Like @farangutan I've had FlyQ about 5 years and pretty much know how to use it well. I got in with the lifetime subscription for 200 bucks on a deal, so I'm locked in to rooting for them lol.
If I find the need at some point though, I would change.
 
I just tried Avare again on my Android tablet, after a few years, due to comments here. It does not allow charts & other data to be stored on any external SD. This is a non-starter for me. The app says that Android makes this impossible since version 5, but that is totally false. Many other apps do this, and I do it as well in my own apps. It's not even hard.
 
About 5-6 years ago I bought a lifetime subscription to FlyQ. They were very limited at the time and it was priced incredibly inexpensive for the capability. I’ve been using it ever since and it does everything I want for charts and flight planning.
 
Alien Mind said:
I'm firmly with FlyQ - unlike Garmin Pilot as 'iamtheari' says, which takes many taps to get to what you want, FlyQ was specifically written to ensure your only need a total of 2 taps to get from anywhere to anywhere - I love that concept!
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I had been a fan of FlyQ but... a few years ago I paid for and received a "lifetime" subscription. That new expiration date was to be in 2 1 0 5 ! Now, they tell me that I need to purchase FlyQ 7.0+ as FlyQ is being sunsetted. How convenient for them! Now I'm expected to pay $75 per year (generous discount for previous lifetime subscribers)! And who knows what's next after all this BS. I'm switching to FltPln. Bait and switch never worked for me and it still doesn't!
 
There is another long thread on FlyQ abandoning their lifetime subscribers.

There are some really great EFB products out there. Figure out what features you really need and go from there.
 
I’m getting more excited for my switch back to ForeFlight from Garmin Pilot. I planned a short flight just now. It wouldn’t auto-populate the estimated time en route field for me even though it calculated it for each altitude I tried selecting. So I had to transfer that by hand. But what gave me enough time to post this is that, when you hit Done on a briefing, its next step is to sync your briefings or flight plans with the cloud, and it prevents you from doing anything else while it syncs.

Meanwhile, I’m batting about 0.300 for Database Concierge to actually update all my avionics. The download selection interface is clunky, it doesn’t want to prepare for updates if I made an SD card with them as a backup plan, and when I get to the plane it rarely just works. My hatred for the Windows database updater program is strong, but at least I can be angry with the time it causes me to waste on the ground instead of wasting time with the avionics drawing battery power and delaying my flight.
 
iamtheari said:
I’m getting more excited for my switch back to ForeFlight from Garmin Pilot. I planned a short flight just now. It wouldn’t auto-populate the estimated time en route field for me even though it calculated it for each altitude I tried selecting. So I had to transfer that by hand. But what gave me enough time to post this is that, when you hit Done on a briefing, its next step is to sync your briefings or flight plans with the cloud, and it prevents you from doing anything else while it syncs.

Meanwhile, I’m batting about 0.300 for Database Concierge to actually update all my avionics. The download selection interface is clunky, it doesn’t want to prepare for updates if I made an SD card with them as a backup plan, and when I get to the plane it rarely just works. My hatred for the Windows database updater program is strong, but at least I can be angry with the time it causes me to waste on the ground instead of wasting time with the avionics drawing battery power and delaying my flight.
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I have had some challenges with Database Concierge too, here and there over the last 8 years or so. It seems like some of the recent GP updates have improved its functionality. It’s been working pretty reliably for quite a few cycles now.

My application is pretty simple, I only update a GTN650 with Database Concierge, so my experience isn’t everyone’s, necessarily.
 
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