Help
Contact the publisher
Kestrel is published by Patient Thread Ltd. For help with the game, a purchase question or a privacy enquiry, email us and a real person will reply.
chris@patientthread.com We will never ask for your Apple Account password, a verification code or payment-card details. Apple handles all payments; we cannot see your card.Fly with the on-screen stick, or tap Use tilt to steer with the phone's motion. iOS asks your permission the first time. Centre tilt in Settings sets the neutral position; Sensitivity adjusts the response. You can switch back to the stick during a flight.
JET is conventional flight, STOL angles the nozzles for short take-off, and HOVER rotates them down for vertical flight. GEAR raises and lowers the undercarriage; the brake button is the wheel brake on the ground and the airbrake in the air.
Switch between cockpit, chase, overhead and side views. Radar shows contacts, Landing view looks ahead on the approach, and Day and Night change the lighting where the sortie allows it. The Ground briefing in Settings repeats all of this inside the app.
New pilots fly with wings-level assistance. TAKE CONTROL hands you the aircraft; LEVEL returns to assisted, wings-level flight if things get away from you. The Demanding setting in Settings tightens landing limits and arms an evasive drone; leave it off for the two-target combat lesson until you are comfortable.
Everything optional is a one-time, non-consumable purchase. There are no subscriptions, currencies, random rewards or paid performance advantages, and your call sign is always free.
| What | Contents |
|---|---|
| Highland Accord | Ten mountain and evacuation sorties, including two air-combat sorties. |
| Ember Strait | Twelve desert and fleet sorties, including three air-combat sorties and two missile interceptions. |
| Ten cosmetic items | Three aircraft paints, two pilot helmets, two nose markings, a cockpit badge set, a lucky fox and a brass nameplate. Each sold separately. |
| Original locker | Collection: Arctic, Midnight and Copper paints, the badge set and the lucky fox. |
| Pilot collection | Collection: Storm and Rescue helmets, Fox and Compass nose markings and the brass nameplate. |
If you already own every item in a collection the app will not sell you the collection again. A collection you partly own still costs its full displayed price, and the app tells you which items overlap before you buy.
| Your career | Your Apple purchases |
|---|---|
| Training passes, sortie results, qualifications, decorations, call sign, settings and equipped items. Saved in the app's settings storage on your iPhone, normally included in your device backup. Never sent to us. No cloud sync. | Campaign packs, cosmetics and collections you have bought. Recorded by Apple against your Apple Account. Brought to another phone with Restore purchases. |
Restoring purchases does not restore career progress, and a device backup does not restore purchases. Deleting the app removes its local save; if you want to keep a long career, make sure your iPhone backup is on before you delete or change phones.
Apple has not returned the product to the app. Check that the phone is online and signed in to the App Store, then tap Refresh shop. The app never shows a made-up price; buy buttons stay disabled until Apple answers.
On a child's Apple Account with Ask to Buy, the purchase waits for the family organiser. Nothing unlocks and nothing is charged until Apple confirms approval. A declined request simply leaves the content locked.
If you cancel Apple's sheet, the payment fails, or the app is interrupted mid-purchase, nothing unlocks and nothing is charged. Apple completes an interrupted transaction when it can, and the app picks it up on the next launch or when you tap Restore purchases.
If Apple refunds a purchase, that content locks again the next time the app learns of it. Career records you earned while you owned it are kept. A cosmetic you had equipped falls back to the free standard equipment, and an item stays owned if another purchase you still hold includes it.
Apple processes every payment and decides refunds, so please use Apple's channels for refund requests:
If Apple asks you to contact the developer, email chris@patientthread.com. We can check how the app behaved, but we cannot see your payment details or issue App Store refunds ourselves.
Email chris@patientthread.com with the subject "Kestrel bug report" and as much of this as you can:
Never include your Apple Account password, verification codes or payment details. We aim to reply within two working days.
Kestrel is a fictional naval flight game: a made-up squadron, a fictional carrier and simplified flight and weapons models inspired by the jump-jet era. It is entertainment. It is not a flight-training product, not a simulation of any real aircraft or operation, and no real military organisation is involved or endorses it.
Read the Kestrel privacy policy for what the app does and does not do with your data.