Variograph vs FlySkyHy: an iPhone instrument and a post-flight platform

FlySkyHy and Variograph do not do the same job at two different times — they do two different jobs at two different times.

What FlySkyHy is for

FlySkyHy is an in-flight instrument for iOS. It turns your phone into a vario, a map and a navigation aid: live climb and sink, altitude, airspace and waypoint information, flight logging. That is the side of things that gets your iPhone out of your pocket and ready to fly.

An instrument in the air has exactly one job: show the present state legibly. A good one does not try to analyse the past, because nobody reads analysis while flying.

What Variograph is for

Variograph starts after you land. Upload the IGC file FlySkyHy recorded and the track is read from scratch:

• Thermals and glides separated, each with duration, gain and average climb
• Net vario: your wing's sink is added back to give the air's real climb — which is what makes two flights on two different wings comparable at all
• Energy altitude: the "false thermal" moments where you simply traded speed for height get filtered out
• Wind profile, safety score, 3D replay
• The archive that accumulates over a season: takeoff collection, per-wing performance

Using both

• Fly — with FlySkyHy on your phone.
• Export — save the flight as IGC.
• Upload — drop it into the dashboard. No editing needed; the raw file is stored and the signature survives.
• Read — thermals, wind, scores.

Nothing in this asks you to give up FlySkyHy, and nothing should: Variograph has no job to do in the air.

Where the difference actually shows

On a single flight the difference is small — FlySkyHy shows a flight summary too. The gap opens as flights accumulate.

Once you have ten flights, "how is my season going?" is an archive question, not an instrument question. Lining up 14 flights off the same hill, separating a wing change from a wind change, seeing which conditions make you bail early — none of that comes out of one flight. It comes out of the sum of them.

Which question goes where

FlySkyHy: Am I climbing right now? What is my altitude? How far to the airspace?

Variograph: How strong was the air in that thermal, really? Which way was the wind at 1500 m? Has my glide genuinely improved on the new wing?

Common questions

Can I fly on an iPhone and still use Variograph?

Yes. Variograph runs in the browser; fly on iOS and upload the file straight from the phone.

I have a GPX, not an IGC — is that fine?

Fine. Both upload. IGC's advantage is that it carries barometric altitude and a signature.

Do I need a subscription to analyse?

Uploading flights and the core analysis are free. Some features such as the AI debrief sit behind Pro.

Further reading

How solid the analysis is depends on the raw track: IGC data quality. Other comparisons: XCTrack, FlyMe, LK8000.