Quickstart
WingsLevel installs from your phone's browser, with no app store. Pick your phone below, then follow the steps for your first flight. Do the install and the downloads at home, on Wi-Fi.
The app lives at wingslevel-app.ppoinha.com. Installed, it opens full screen from its own icon, keeps the screen on and works with no connection.
Needs Android 10 or newer and a phone with a gyroscope (most phones since 2018).
Needs iOS 16.4 or newer. If you declined a permission, allow it again in the iPhone's Settings under Safari (Motion & Orientation Access, Location), then reopen the app.
Do this once at home, on Wi-Fi. Settings is the gear at the top left of the attitude indicator.
The first start stores the app and the airport and navaid data on the phone, so everything works with no signal in the air.
Settings → Terrain Manager (offline areas). The areas where you are come first, then every country by continent: download the ones you fly in. Then tap Enable Synth Vision to see the 3D terrain.
The app checks for new airport data by itself when it is online. To check now, tap Settings → Update Aviation Data.
When a new version is ready, the app shows what is new when it opens. Tap Update now, or Later to keep your version; it asks again each time you open it.
Settings → Taildragger: Nose Up on the Ground: tap + until it shows your aircraft's nose-up angle when parked (from the flight manual, or a level app on the cabin floor). Then level the horizon on the ground as below. For a tricycle aircraft leave it Off (0°).
The basics, in the order you need them.
Open the app, read the safety notice, tick the box and tap OPEN WINGSLEVEL. Keep the phone still while ALIGNING shows (about 5 seconds). Mount it upright, facing you, on a charging cable. The app stays in portrait and does not turn in steep turns. For a sideways mount, choose Settings → Screen Orientation → Landscape, then level the horizon again.
The GPS icon at the top left of the attitude turns green with a good fix, yellow with a weak one and red with none. Wait for green before taxiing.
On the ground, in the mount: Settings → Level Horizon (Hold Still). Keep still until LEVEL: captured. The app learns by itself if the phone points slightly left or right of the nose, on the takeoff roll. After moving the mount, tap Reset Nose Alignment. Flying a taildragger? First set Taildragger: Nose Up on the Ground to its ground angle, so level flight reads level.
Attitude in the middle, ground speed on the left tape, GPS altitude and vertical speed on the right, turn indicator and slip ball below. A red X means a sensor or the GPS is lost: never trust a value it covers.
Tap the DIRECT key on the HSI, then Nearest Airports, Airports (search by ICAO code or country), Nearest Navaids or Navaids, and tap one. Follow the magenta course; distance, ETA and ETE show at the top. Tap that banner for runways and frequencies. CANCEL clears it.
During a Direct-To a sign with the code and distance stands on the destination in the attitude view. The green circle shows where the aircraft is really going: turn until it sits on the sign. If the destination is behind you, an arrow at the side shows which way to turn, for example 158° R.
Line up with a runway within 5 NM and the attitude view shows its centreline and gates down a 3° path by itself. Fly the green circle through the gates. Tap RWY at the bottom left for the parallel runway, again to hide it. During a Direct-To, the RWY AUTO chip under the airport picks the runway in advance. A VFR aid only.
Drag your finger around the outer ring of the HSI to move the heading bug. Dragging inside the rose turns the compass card, to match it to your aircraft's compass. CARD under the heading shows that alignment.
Tap the altitude tape. Pick the altitude with −1000, −100, +100 and +1000, then tap Set. The orange bug shows on the tape and as ALT BUG under it. Tap the tape again to change it or Clear it.
If the heading is wrong, tap Settings → Start Mag Cal, take the phone out of its mount and slowly draw a figure-of-eight, turning it face up, face down and on each side. The bar fills as you go; the app says Compass calibrated and shows the new heading when it is done.
Settings → Night Mode (Red) turns the instruments, buttons and dialogs red on black; the GPS icon then shows its state by brightness, brightest with no fix. The button at the top right of the attitude makes it full screen with a heading tape. Turn the phone sideways for attitude and HSI side by side.
Settings → Enable Synth Vision shows the terrain around you: green well below, yellow near your altitude, red at or above it, with runways, lakes and roads. If the GPS is lost, the terrain is estimated for 30 seconds (GPS LOST), then switched off until the GPS returns.
The sensors pause while another app is on screen, so keep WingsLevel open in flight. The screen stays on by itself; keep the phone charging on long flights.
Every feature in detail, with screenshots (runway approach path, terrain downloads, data and app updates, flight recorder, warnings and troubleshooting): WingsLevel user manual (PDF).
Ready? Open the app
Safety notice. WingsLevel is a non-certified situational-awareness aid. It is not approved by EASA, the FAA or any other authority, must not be used for primary navigation or IFR flight, and consumer phone sensors can drift or fail. Always maintain visual reference and cross-check with the aircraft's instruments. The pilot in command remains responsible for the safe conduct of the flight.
