Flight planning app that doesn't require Apple device.

I'm looking for a flight planning app (like Garmin Pilot or ForeFlight) that doesn't require an Apple device. Would anyone know of one?

 

Avare and fltplan go

 

Garmin Pilot

 

Iflygps

 

Flight planning is different from inflight monitoring.

I use several options for planning, from my home desktop computer. Leidos and AOPA flight planner are all pretty good.
For inflight, I use Avare.

 

I’m a bourbon or two in and bypassed this. Planning and EFB app are two different animals.

 

Being a user of an I Pad and an Android tablet with two different apps, (yes, I know - I have a problem), IMHO it is hard to beat F Flight, especially when it comes to planning. There is a reason it is the most popular. A used I Pad mini from Gazelle wouldn't be that bad if you got it to only use for F Flight.

 

My go-to would probably be an inflight app.

 

E6B and a chart.

 

The only Zuckerberg quote I can get behind was when he said, directed at Apple, "not everyone's business model can be selling overpriced hardware to rich people". My family spends 3X what I do on phones and replaces them 3X as fast. Apple is a scam.

 

Not religious about platforms - I have the new(ish) iPad mini dedicated to FF. I did try a couple of the other apps; nothing really wrong with them, except FF was simply "better" - meaning the navigation and features suit my peculiar particulars best. . .FF does seem to be the more intuitive of the bunch.

 

Garmin Pilot

 

I used garmin pilot on android. I then bought an iPad mini specifically to use GP in flight as my android tablets would crash all the time. GP is a much better experience on ios. I also tried FF since I was mad about having to shell out for an apple tablet, but I still preferred GP.

Before I had a plane that tied me into the garmin ecosystem, I used ifly gps, which I really liked and ran well on android (and windows, which is a feature i miss). Updating was frustrating, but it never crashed in flight.

 

The average person only uses about 10% of the features of any software. I use Blender, and my guess is know less than 1% of its features. That's all great when you are sitting at home exploring. In a cockpit simplicity is supreme. FF is chock full of features, which is great on the ground, but not so great in the cockpit unless you are very proficient. I like Avare because it does just a handful of things, the main one being showing the little airplane icon on the map.

 

Avare and DroidEFB.

There are others...

 

I will check out Garmin Pilot. Thanks for the info!

 

To follow up on this... yes planning is different from flying. I do my planning on GP as well, but I use my 10" android tablet. Flight planning sucks on the mini; the screen is just too small.

 

Personally, I've never used an inflight app before. Though my CFI uses Foreflight (that and Garmin are the most popular with the CFI's in my area), I'm really not familiar with all of the other apps out there.

 

The higher price is Apple's doing. Replacing 3X as often sounds like a choice. My wife upgraded from an iPhone 4 to a 10 a few years ago (7 years with the phone), more recently I upgraded from a 6 to a 12 (6 years). We've both got a number of years to go before our next upgrade--we don't need the 'latest'.

 

I don't think it's a scam, I think it's an addiction. They give Apple devices to young children in school and suddenly they're addicted to Apple devices for life... Pretty much the dealer / addict model with parental support!

 

Isn't that akin to teaching pilots in Cessna or Piper aircraft so they buy your model after training?

 

Not really. There isn't an open source version of Cessna or Piper.

 

I heard Garmin Pilot Android version isn’t kept as updated as the Apple version. Is that true?



OP - if you’re a student, then F Flight might be better. You’ll get to sharpen your W&B work, route planning, weather awareness, airport conditions - runways, patterns, etc - , sectional charts, etc.

Just staring at the charts over and over, zooming in, land marks, air spaces, will be helpful with the learning process.

 

New features lag by 6 months or so, but honestly I can't remember the last new feature I cared about. Updating charts is a mess on android, and there are various bugs and stability issues that pop up from time to time. I was having a problem getting weather data a month or so ago, but they seem to have fixed it now.

 

True. One example in android GP is the inability to load an instrument procedure into the flight plan. You can view the plate though.

 

The top vote-getters in the Android EFB world are (alphabetical order)
Avare
FltPlan Go
Garmin Pilot
iFlyGPS

Avare and FltPlanGo are free. Don't know how you feel about that but I'm not completely impressed by either except as a VFR tool or backup (I have both on my phone as an IFR backup).

As others mention, Garmin Pilot's Android version tends to lag behind the iOS version in feature set, but it's still a good EFB. And, of course there's the advantage of a lower learning curve if you already have Garmin. The interface and flow are substantially the same as the GTN panel mounts.

iFlyGPS is the front runner to me. They have been around for a while. The company used to compete with the old Garmin x96 handhelds 20 years ago. The app is rock solid, runs on Android, iOS, and Windows, and has a feature set that will match most anything else out there needed by a light piston pilot, with a couple of tricks others don't have.

There are others. DroibEFB is the oldest Android offering, but I don't think its feature set had kept up. (I have a friend who is a devout anti-Apple guy. Used DroidEFB for years. Then he went on a "real" cross country trip with a pilot using Foreflight. Word is, he's buying an iPad now.) And I don't think anyone mentioned WingX yet. Once a great iOS app, there is an Android version, that is not much more than a promise of an EFB. I would put them in the Avare/FltPlan Go category. Fine for VFR (where you might not care about anything more than a chart reader and Chart Supplement tool.

 

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider the key features missing for IFR flight?

 

I found that incredibly hard to believe so I fired up my old android tablet with GP and sure as sht, u can't load procedures. I'll be damned.

 

You say scam, I say cult.

 

Doesn’t work very well. I trained in a Tecnam, rented Pipers, bought a Beechcraft.

 

I’m an iFly user. FF has better briefings, otherwise I think iFly is better and it runs on Android, iOS, and Windows. I’m using an iFly 740b in the cockpit and I’m quite happy with it.

 

I started with Garmin Pilot because I have an allergy to Apple and their products (as I type this on an M1 Max MBP... sigh) -- but I agree, GP isn't great on android, and worse, you can't find a high quality/high performing android tablet to save your life, it's all $99 trash. I moved to an iPad promptly and have stayed with GP on iOS since.

So in your shoes OP, try the trial for sure, but I'd try any of the other suggestions in here on android. Or get an iPad

 

I think this is the real issue. GP (usually) runs fairly well on my 10" Samsung, it's the $100 8" tablets that crash & hang. There's just nothing quality available in that size other than the ipad mini. You can get higher quality 10" android tablets, but they're too big (IMO) for the cockpit, and they cost as much as the Apple offerings.

 

I've never had any issue with GP crashing on my 7/8" Samsung tablets, either. However, I haven't been using it much the past year or two with reduced flying.

 

Why are you avoiding Apple?

 

I live in the world of experimental aircraft ...

 

I didn't state it as an absolute as there are some rebels among us.

 

Because it's expensive? At least that is a huge part of why I avoid it.

 

I’m with you. F Flight on the ground. I fly in the air. If I had to pick only one, slight edge to FFlight. But I’m not that normal - so I have both

 

I had both for a while, but when FF raised their price last year I dumped it. I’d rather have a little more difficulty on the ground and better ease of use in the air.