ATC Reviews

App forces you to start a free trial of their premium subscription. App opens with a brief introduction/ how it works and then proceeds to force you to subscribe to their *annual* premium subscription before going any further. 1 week free trial, and if you forget to cancel, it’s $90. Make it a 7 day free trial THEN ask if the user wants to extend it. Seems to be a good app otherwise and I’ve heard good things from other pilots. However, it seems like their game-plan is to force you to sign up for the annual plan, then let you start exploring ATC , hoping that you’ll close out of ATC and forget that you just signed up for a 90 dollar/ yr product and forget to cancel.

As an AVgeek, I love the concept of ATC especially with how detailed the maps are so you can see which taxiways are being referenced. I’m not a fan of having to sign up for a subscription from the get go when you open ATC for the first time. For what ATC currently offers which are limited US airports, doesn’t seem like it has international coverage yet. When you compare LiveATC’s coverage and $5 one time fee, ATC is nowhere near being worth $90 a year for less than 100 US only airports. Especially when you compare it to an app like Flighty that offers a lot more for a cheaper yearly subscription. I would be willing to pay $30-40 yearly for what ATC currently offers but $90 is definitely not realistic.

ATC is extremely clean and simple to use. They don’t have every airport but they have most of the major ones. Just how clean ATC is and how good it could be is the reason it is getting more than one star.

The price is absurd. Not everything needs to be a subscription service. Other apps like this cost $3 one single time. This one is much cleaner and has better features so I would be ok with paying $20 or even up to $50 one time payment if they continue to grow the available airports. But $60/yr is absurdity. Hell I would even be ok with paying $20-50 and still having banner ads (not like the annoying pop ups in flight radar).

Note to the developers: you made something that is really good and it could be really awesome but $60/year is an insane price. NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE A SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE!

The technology is very impressive, but the cost is absurd (particularly with only a fraction of airports covered). ATC is over double the cost of the highest tier FlightRadar24 subscription. I get that they’re used for different purposes, but it offers far fewer features than FR24. I won’t be paying for it, but will enjoy the trial for a week.

I gotta say, there’s no way this relatively new, niche app has well over 1,000 users paying $90/year and leaving a review. Clearly something is being gamed with the reviews.

I honestly love the functionality. Had a wonderful experience at LAS following my plane and the conversation as the pilot and this app talked about the delays. this app audio was close to live as I heard clearance given and watched planes roll.

Biggest drawback was getting back to my home airport and finding out it wasn’t supported yet. It prompted me to request it, which I did, but that’ll keep me from subscribing. Looking forward to when more airports are covered.

ATC is amazing. Best out there. A few things stand out though:
For the price you should have the same functionality as flight radar, to click on individual planes and see where they go. Also zoom and pinch the map if you want. And a view of city/street to get a better idea of where planes are at.
As someone else mentioned it’s a major battery hog. Kills my battery quickly if not plugged in and the phone gets hot.
All that said if this was $40 a year I’d be all in

As a ramp agent, I frequently deal with various types of situations that affect ramp ops, and I've always been curious to get a behind the scenes look at what the pilots are communicating about with this app. That's when I installed this app.

The moment I opened ATC, I was amazed at such attention to detail the developers brought out such as the animations and the playback feature, which I really enjoy as I'll be able to know what went wrong with a particular flight.

One thing though that I would recommend is in the next update or sometime in the future, I would really want you guys to add San Diego International Airport. Since I work ramp there, having access to my home airport would make ATC a 5 star experience. I've already requested it through ATC , but I'd love to finally see SAN throughout ATC . Otherwise keep it up!

ATC genuinely exceeded my expectations. They’ve done an amazing job of overlaying the audio onto the live aircraft in communication. The design and visuals are crisp, the controls are smooth, and everything about it is classy and thoughtfully designed. You can tell real care went into the details.

If you want to be the first to know of an incident or just enjoy following the choreography this is absolutely worth a try. Be careful though, it’s addictive.

The layout and UI is easy to navigate and well-thought-out. I love how the camera follows the ADSB tracks of the speaking aircraft and trims out silence and dead air. The team (or AI?) that posts the highlights does a good job of uploading them accurately and frequently. I find myself checking it a couple times a day to see if anything new has been posted. Keep it up!

I am loving ATC. The quality is great and I use it in conjunction with Flight Radar 24. Some features I would like to see in this app would be the ability to pin favorite airports, and a better way to zoom in and out. Also, for the amateur users (like myself) a way to know which frequency to use to hear a given aircraft. Maybe just an in app guide. Departure vs arrivals vs ground etc.

I love the clear audio and how easy it is to find past radio calls. Automatically tracking the aircraft that is communicating is a great feature. Subtitles are very accurate. However, you can’t hear transmissions from a lot of aircraft, only from this app. I also wish more airports were covered. I would be fine with the high subscription price if it covered more than one airport in my state and if I could hear more than just this app most of the time

I’ve been growing increasingly tired of clunky unpolished apps that lean so heavily on AI that it becomes an annoyance rather than a feature.

ATC is different. It feels extremely polished and the AI used is well trained and helps display the information more clearly without making false or misguided assumptions.

The whole experience really does feel as if someone was manually editing each clip to match ADSB data to the radio calls.

I would love if there was an option to go directly to the map page centered over my current location so it could be used to identify aircraft flying overhead.
It would also be nice to zoom out over an entire state or the whole country and see all air traffic (or as much as could reasonably be displayed) rather than leaving it localized to the last airport selected.

While I understand people have to make their money especially making back the initial investment made to create ATC , I believe since the Pilot community already has to deal with everything being so expensive I believe ATC should be a bit cheaper. There are many great apps out there with many users that only cost $20-$30 a year(and started that way). I believe if ATC was a bit cheaper around that price range I actually believe you guys would meet your financial requirements as well as customer loyalty and engagement. I hope my review can help take it into consideration but overall I give five stars because it is a great app. Have a great day.

ATC is amazing! I love being able to hear the this app while seeing live traffic and where the talking is coming from. It’s amazing for plane spotting or just watching planes at airports. One thing that would make ATC better is the ability to be able to hear this app while your phone is turned off. That way you can still listen to this app if you have to put your phone down or away. Please add this feature!!! This would make ATC even better!

ATC is seriously impressive. it’s been an amazing tool for learning and practicing aviation concepts. As someone actively training to become a pilot, I’ve found it incredibly helpful for building situational awareness and getting more comfortable with this app communications.
Is clean, easy to use, and engaging without being overwhelming. You can tell a lot of care went into making this both educational and fun. Whether you’re an aviation enthusiast, student pilot, or just curious about how air traffic control works, ATC is absolutely worth checking out :)

Highly recommend!

ATC is absolutely incredible for anyone even remotely interested in aviation. Being able to listen to live this app and see exactly what’s happening on a clean, realistic airport map is next-level, and the real-time transcripts make it easy to follow along without missing anything. The alerts for interesting situations are super cool and genuinely useful, and the low delay makes it feel like you’re right there in the tower. Everything runs smoothly, looks great, and clearly has a lot of thought behind it. Easily one of the best aviation apps out there right

In a month on this app I’ve heard FAR :-) more of everything in US aviation than in a few decades of radio scanning, base radios and even flying. No better or more rewarding app to experience amazing controllers and aviators calmly, professionally handling whatever/whoever happens. And so much happens. Bookmarks, save the audio, very engaged developer improving features all the time.
You can learn communication, procedures - so much here and pair with ADSB traffic or ForeFlight. Very polished and premium quality app, excellent audio, events, notifications, all deliver more than you’ll expect. Bravo!

App is amazing, overall overview of ATC , theres tons of info, events, airports already but the best part is how simple it is to maneuver yourself through it, Eric personally reached out to me after requesting early access and one of THE most down to earth people i have interacted with, quick replies, and availability for any question! Beautiful app, will for sure be spreading the word around work and to the rest of my AvGeek community overall favorite part is how it will pan over to the flight that the this app is currently talking to, really creates that visual experience. I’ll say it again, overall hands down beautifully made !

Look, I downloaded ATC as a joke to feel important while waiting for my delayed Spirit flight. Three hours later, I’m emotionally invested in Delta 472’s approach into Atlanta and genuinely stressed about a Cessna doing pattern work in Wisconsin.

ATC has ruined me in the best way possible. I now speak in callsigns. I’ve said “roger” to my wife unironically. I know what a “heavy” is. My coworkers think I’ve lost my mind because I keep muttering “cleared for the visual two-eight left” during meetings.

The real-time transcription is chef’s kiss. Finally, I can understand what those pilots are saying instead of just hearing “mxfrghble wind shear mxfrghble maintain flight level.”

250+ airports?? I’ve listened to controllers at airports I will never visit for reasons I cannot explain. It’s 2am and I’m checking if anyone’s landing at Boise. Someone is. I’m invested now.

If you’ve ever wanted to feel the vicarious thrill of aviation without any of the responsibility, training, or FAA oversight, this is your app. My screen time report is horrifying and I regret nothing.

Cleared to download, runway app store, winds calm.

ATC is unreal. Just downloaded and I’ve been scrolling for hours. The events are addicting and the audio is crystal clear. Not sure why everyone complains about the subscription, it comes down to less than 8 bucks a month.. That’s like half a Big Mac meal.. Wish I could pay for two subscriptions honestly.