Comparisons
ForeFlight Alternatives for Android: What Actually Runs in 2026
August 21, 2026 · 13 min read · by Vincent Wu, Founder, Ascent EFB · Updated August 26, 2026
TL;DR: ForeFlight publishes no Android app, and its own support documentation says there are no plans for one. The real Android options are Garmin Pilot ($109.99 a year US Standard), iFly EFB ($94.99 a year plus add-ons), SkyDemon ($139 first year, $115 after), and the free pair, FltPlan Go and Avare. Ascent EFB is iPhone and iPad only, so if you are staying on Android, we are not your answer, and the rest of this post is written for you anyway.
Is there a ForeFlight app for Android? No. ForeFlight publishes iPhone and iPad apps only, and its own support documentation says there are no plans for an Android version, checked August 26, 2026. The closest Android replacement is Garmin Pilot, at $109.99 a year for US Standard. iFly EFB, SkyDemon, FltPlan Go and Avare also publish Android apps.
Awkward part first, because you did not come here to be sold something.
Ascent EFB does not run on Android. It is iOS and iPadOS only. No beta, no waitlist, no "coming soon." If you fly off an Android tablet and want an app today, close this tab at any point and go look at Garmin Pilot. We would rather be useful and lose the sale than waste your evening.
Methodology, and yes we are biased. We build Ascent EFB. Since Ascent is not an option for you here, the bias mostly cuts against us in this post, but you should know it anyway. The rule we hold ourselves to: every price, plan and platform claim below was read from that company's own published page, with the date we read it, and we do not characterise anyone's product in our own voice. Everything was checked on August 26, 2026, except Garmin's US plan prices, read from Garmin's published US plan catalog on August 8, 2026. Where we could not source a claim, we cut it rather than guess.
Context on who is writing this, since our name is a mess in search results: Ascent EFB is an electronic flight bag app built by Geospatios and launched in August 2026. Not the Subaru battery, not the UK flight school. An aviation app.
At a glance
| App | Best for | Key strengths | Price as published (USD/yr) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garmin Pilot | The closest like-for-like ForeFlight replacement on Android | Published on Google Play and the App Store, integrates with Garmin panels and receivers | $109.99 US Standard, $209.98 US Premium |
| iFly EFB | A lower base price, and households mixing iOS and Android | Published multi-platform upgrade, IFR data sold as a separate add-on | $94.99 base, IFR data +$55, multi-platform +$29.99 |
| SkyDemon | One subscription covering a PC and a tablet | Free Play Store download that unlocks with your subscription credentials | $139 first year, $115 after, or $15/mo |
| FltPlan Go | A free planner and filer, or a free backup app | Free on both platforms, Garmin-owned, real charts and filing | Free |
| Avare | Zero-budget Android flying, and open-source users | Free, FAA charts, airport data, no account, source on GitHub | Free |
| ForeFlight | Not an option on Android | iPhone and iPad only, no Android version published | $130 to $390, tiered |
| Ascent EFB | Not an option on Android | iPhone and iPad only, one plan, 3D terrain and full offline | $59.99 first year, then $89.99 |
Every figure above was read from the vendor's own published pages and checked on August 26, 2026, except Garmin's US plan prices, read August 8, 2026. Prices move. Check before you pay.
First, the thing you actually searched for
ForeFlight publishes ForeFlight Mobile for iPhone and iPad. Their own published support documentation says the app does not run on Android and that there are no plans for an Android version, and that has been their stated position for years. Checked August 26, 2026. If it ever changes, believe ForeFlight's page over ours.
So "ForeFlight for Android" is not a waiting game. It is a fork in the road: different app, or different tablet.
What actually runs on Android
Same four headings for every app, in the same order, so you can compare like for like.
Garmin Pilot
Key features. Charts, planning and filing, weather, traffic and terrain, plus integration with Garmin panel avionics and Garmin ADS-B receivers. It is published on both Google Play and the App Store, so it is the one paid app here that covers a household running both platforms without a second decision.
Who it suits. Android pilots who want the nearest thing to a like-for-like ForeFlight replacement, and anyone flying behind a Garmin panel, where the hardware integration is a reason to pick it beyond the platform question.
Pricing. $109.99 a year US Standard, $209.98 a year US Premium.
Sourced note. Prices from Garmin's own published US plan catalog, read August 8, 2026. Platform availability from Garmin Pilot's own Google Play and App Store listings, checked August 26, 2026. Garmin publishes a feature comparison per plan, so read the page for the plan and platform you are actually buying rather than any summary, including this one.
iFly EFB
Key features. A full EFB with charts, planning and a moving map, sold as one base subscription with optional add-ons rather than as tiers you climb.
Who it suits. Pilots who want a lower base price, and households running a mix of iOS and Android devices, which is what the published multi-platform upgrade is for.
Pricing. $94.99 a year base, IFR data as a separate $55 a year add-on, and a $29.99 a year multi-platform upgrade. Add IFR data and you are at $149.98, so do that arithmetic before you compare sticker prices.
Sourced note. All three figures read from iFly's own published plan page on August 26, 2026. How many devices each covers is set out on that page, so read it rather than trusting a summary.
SkyDemon
Key features. Planning and moving map across a PC and mobile devices on one subscription. The Android app is a free Play Store download that unlocks with your subscription credentials.
Who it suits. Pilots who plan at a computer and fly off a tablet, and want one subscription covering both.
Pricing. $139 to pay today, $115 on renewal, or $15 a month.
Sourced note. Prices and device coverage read from SkyDemon's own store page on August 26, 2026. SkyDemon publishes its data coverage areas and a minimum supported Android version on its own site, and raises that Android minimum over time, so check both against where you fly and what tablet you own before you subscribe.
FltPlan Go
Key features. A real planner and filer with charts, on both iOS and Android, now part of Garmin.
Who it suits. Pilots on no budget, and anyone who wants a second app on the tablet that costs nothing to carry.
Pricing. Free.
Sourced note. Platform availability and price from FltPlan Go's own App Store and Google Play listings, checked August 26, 2026.
Avare
Key features. Moving map on FAA charts, airport data and plates. Open source, published on Google Play and F-Droid with source on GitHub. No account, no subscription.
Who it suits. Android-only pilots on zero budget, and people who want to see the code they are flying with.
Pricing. Free.
Sourced note. Platform availability, price and licensing from Avare's own Google Play and F-Droid listings and its public GitHub repository, checked August 26, 2026.
Where Garmin Pilot still wins
Specifically, and this is the concession that matters most in this post: Garmin Pilot runs on the tablet you already own, and Ascent EFB does not. Garmin publishes it on Google Play, checked August 26, 2026. Nothing we build changes that for you today.
Second, the panel. If you fly behind Garmin avionics, Garmin publishes connectivity between Garmin Pilot and the panel on its own Garmin Pilot product pages, checked August 26, 2026, including moving a flight plan between the tablet and the panel. That is a daily-workflow advantage that has nothing to do with which app has the nicer map, and no amount of software design elsewhere replaces it.
Choose Garmin Pilot if you are staying on Android, or your panel is Garmin, or you share an aircraft with someone whose tablet is Android. All three are good reasons, and none of them are arguments we can win.
What Android pilots should actually think about
The app is the easy part. The harder questions are about the slab of glass, plus a few that are true of any EFB on any platform.
| Consideration | Why it matters | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Screen brightness | A cockpit in afternoon sun is a brutal viewing environment. If you cannot read the map on downwind, nothing else about the tablet matters | Published nits, not processor benchmarks. Try to see one outdoors before you buy |
| Thermal behaviour | Tablets on a yoke mount in a greenhouse cockpit get hot, then throttle or shut down. This hits iPads too | Android tablets span many makers and thermal designs, so ask pilots flying your exact model what survived a summer |
| GPS receiver | Plenty of Wi-Fi-only tablets have no GPS at all, and a moving map with no position is a PDF viewer | Confirm your exact model has GPS, or budget for an external or ADS-B receiver, which most pilots end up carrying anyway |
| Mounts and cases | More Android form factors means fewer off-the-shelf mounts sized for your device | Check a mount and a kneeboard exist for your exact tablet before you buy the tablet |
| Chart currency and AIRAC | Cycles change every 28 days, and flying an expired plate is a real problem, not just paperwork | How the app tells you a cycle expired, whether it updates in the background, and how large the download is |
| Offline coverage | Cell coverage at altitude is not a plan, and neither is hangar Wi-Fi | Whether charts, plates, weather and terrain all cache or only some of them, and how you tell at a glance what is cached |
| Traffic and weather sources | Both are only useful if you can act on them fast | Whether traffic needs a receiver, and whether the weather briefing is a wall of text or a picture you read in one look |
| Terrain | This is where design shows most. A flat chart makes you decode elevation, a 3D view hands it to you | Whether you can see the shape of the ground at a glance on a night arrival, and which plan it is included in |
| Price at the plan you need | Entry prices are marketing. The plan or add-on stack that carries your features is the real price | Price the plan with the features you will actually use, then compare those numbers |
Longer version of all of that in our platform-agnostic guide to choosing an EFB.
Why some pilots buy an iPad anyway
Not a pitch, just the shape of the market. ForeFlight, FlyQ and Ascent EFB all publish iPhone and iPad apps and no Android app, per their own store listings checked August 26, 2026, so the iOS catalogue is simply larger, and mounts, cases and kneeboards follow the hardware. If you were already replacing your tablet, a used or refurbished iPad opens all of that up on top of everything that already runs on Android. If your Android tablet works fine, that is a bad reason to spend money.
The part worth knowing before you compare any of these
If you do end up shopping on iOS, do not do it off a feature table. Every mature EFB lists the same rows: charts, weather, traffic, terrain, planning. The rows are a wash, and a table full of checkmarks will tell you these apps are interchangeable.
Flighty and a browser flight tracker also technically show you the same flight. Nobody who has used both thinks they are the same product.
EFBs are in exactly that spot right now. Most of the incumbents were architected a long time ago, and it shows the moment you open one, in how many taps a question costs and how much decoding your brain does before the picture means anything. None of that appears in a comparison table, which is why comparison tables keep insisting these apps are interchangeable.
Terrain is the clearest place to see it, because it is the same data presented two ways. A sectional gives you contour shading and spot heights, and you build the mountain in your head. A 3D view hands you the shape of the ground the way you see it out the window. On a night arrival into rising terrain, or scoping a pass before you commit, that is the difference between reading and knowing, and it is worth testing in any app you are about to pay for.
This is Ascent, and it is iPad and iPhone only. Included so you know what we are and are not claiming.
Ascent EFB
Same four headings as every app above, for fairness, with the platform caveat repeated because it is the whole point of this post.
Key features. 3D terrain, which is the reason to look. Geo-referenced FAA charts including VFR Sectionals, Terminal Area Charts and IFR Enroute Low, High and Area. Full weather: METARs, TAFs, radar, winds aloft, AIRMETs and SIGMETs. Live traffic, airport info, geo-referenced taxi diagrams, and full offline caching, so all of it works with the tablet in airplane mode. One plan, no tiers, no add-ons.
Who it suits. iPhone and iPad pilots. Not you, if you are staying on Android.
Pricing. $59.99 the first year, $89.99 a year after that.
Sourced note. This one is ours, so it is not third party and you should not read it as such. Check it yourself on the App Store listing or at ascentefb.com. What we will not oversell: your own aircraft shows as a 2D heading-up puck, not a 3D model, the terrain is the three dimensional part, and Ascent does not have geo-referenced approach plates or synthetic vision. Our full alternatives roundup covers the iOS side properly.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a ForeFlight app for Android?
No. ForeFlight publishes iPhone and iPad apps only, and their own support documentation states there are no plans for an Android version. Checked August 26, 2026.
What is the best ForeFlight alternative for Android?
Garmin Pilot is the closest like-for-like, at $109.99 a year for US Standard per Garmin's published pricing, and it publishes the same category of capability on both platforms. iFly EFB is the cheaper paid option at a $94.99 base per its own plan page, and FltPlan Go and Avare are free.
Does Ascent EFB have an Android app?
No. Ascent is iPhone and iPad only, and we are not going to pretend otherwise to keep you on the page.
Is there a free EFB for Android?
Two worth knowing. FltPlan Go is free on iOS and Android and is owned by Garmin. Avare is free, open source and Android only, published on Google Play and F-Droid with source on GitHub. Both cost nothing to carry alongside a paid app.
Should I switch to an iPad just to get ForeFlight?
Only if you were replacing the tablet anyway, or you need something that exists only on iOS. Garmin Pilot on a tablet you already own beats a rushed hardware purchase. For the total-cost view either way, see what an EFB actually costs in 2026.
If every EFB lists the same features, how do I actually choose?
Fly them. Feature lists converged years ago, so what separates these apps is how many taps a question costs and how much decoding you do before the picture means anything, and that only shows up in the airplane. Count taps on a real cross-country, then buy the one you stop fighting first.
Prices, platform support and plan structures were read from each vendor's own published pages and checked on August 26, 2026, except Garmin's US plan prices, read from Garmin's published US plan catalog on August 8, 2026. They change over time. Ascent is our product, so treat our opinions about it as ours; every claim about another app here is limited to what that company publishes itself, and we encourage you to verify it before buying. Any EFB is a supplemental aid to situational awareness, and final authority rests with the pilot in command. For the wider market, see The Best EFB Apps in 2026, Compared.
Try it yourself
Ascent is the modern EFB for iPhone and iPad. One plan, $89.99 a year, everything included.
Get Ascent on the App Store