Drone control apps

July 05, 2020, 08:37 AM

Krazeehorse

Drone control apps

I'm a rookie here. Bought a DJI Mavic pro (used) and used the DJI Go 4 app on my iPhone 7 to start. I want to go to my iPad or buy an iPad mini. Go 4 is not compatible with my iPad 4. I see there are a variety of apps out there. What do you guys use?
Thanks, Kevin

July 05, 2020, 09:02 AM

vandrv

I have a Mavic Air and my iPad Air 2 works with the DJI app.

July 05, 2020, 09:13 AM

cas

Can you expand on the iPads a little as I've heard conflicting answers?

What do you really need?

1. A Celular capable iPad.

2. A cellular capable iPad, but the cellular doesn't have to be currently activated.

3. Any iPad, Wifi or cellular/Wifi.

July 05, 2020, 09:17 AM

Krazeehorse

If you go to the DJI Go 4 page in the App Store it tells what models are compatible. I don't think cellular is necessary. I assume it's Bluetooth between the controller and your phone or tablet. I made an offer on an IPad Mini 2 today. I think that size might be a nice compromise as a controller. I think Go4 is fine in my limited experience but there may be better things out there.

July 05, 2020, 09:29 AM

cas

Reading your reply I started laughing. I don't know why I asked, I realize now I have all the necessary components on hand to test for myself. lol

ETA: yes and no. Learned my old iPad mini is not compatible, but I think just because it's too old for the app.

July 05, 2020, 10:17 AM

maladat

It used to be that non-cellular iPads didn't have GPS. I'm not sure if that is still true. I can imagine that might be an issue given the geofencing, automatic return, etc., features used by drones.

July 05, 2020, 12:07 PM

VictimNoMore

A lot of people have had success using Litchi https://flylitchi.com/
I've never used it, but have read first-hand reports of users.

July 05, 2020, 04:19 PM

1s1k

quote:
Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
I'm a rookie here. Bought a DJI Mavic pro (used) and used the DJI Go 4 app on my iPhone 7 to start. I want to go to my iPad or buy an iPad mini. Go 4 is not compatible with my iPad 4. I see there are a variety of apps out there. What do you guys use?
Thanks, Kevin

I use an iPad mini 4 because it still fits into the controllers handles on the Mavic and it works great with Go4. And no you do not need cell service to use an iPad with your Mavic.

Just about anyone that doesn't use the standard DJI software will use Litchi.

July 05, 2020, 04:33 PM

V-Tail

quote:
you do not need cell service to use an iPad with your Mavic.

If the app needs GPS, you need an iPad that is capable of using cell phone service, but you do not need a cellular data plan.

Reason: the GPS hardware in iPad is bundled with the cellular chip, so wifi-only iPads can not provide GPS without an external dongle. The GPS works just fine without cell service.

Tip: If you have a wifi+cell iPad, it will whine every time it is booted, if there is no cellular SIM installed. It does not need to be an active SIM, does not actually need cell service, the OS just does not like an empty SIM slot. The guys at The Apple Store gave me an inactive SIM, popped it into the slot, and the whining ceased.

July 05, 2020, 05:26 PM

1s1k

quote:
Originally posted by V-Tail:
quote:
you do not need cell service to use an iPad with your Mavic.
If the app needs GPS, you need an iPad that is capable of using cell phone service, but you do not need a cellular data plan.

Reason: the GPS hardware in iPad is bundled with the cellular chip, so wifi-only iPads can not provide GPS without an external dongle. The GPS works just fine without cell service.

Tip: If you have a wifi+cell iPad, it will whine every time it is booted, if there is no cellular SIM installed. It does not need to be an active SIM, does not actually need cell service, the OS just does not like an empty SIM slot. The guys at The Apple Store gave me an inactive SIM, popped it into the slot, and the whining ceased.

That makes sense. My iPad does not have cellular service so I never thought about it being capable of it or not.

July 05, 2020, 06:23 PM

lopezp

I use both the DJI Go4 app and Drone Deploy. I primarily use Drone Deploy for automated mapping, but it could be used for free flight.

July 05, 2020, 09:45 PM

911Boss

If you tether your WiFi only iPad to your iPhone via your phones hotspot, the DJI app can pull the GPS info from your phone to the app.

July 05, 2020, 10:07 PM

VictimNoMore

Why would it be a GPS issue?
The GPS receiver and magnetic compass are on board the UAV.
I can see a problem with the Google Maps not appearing due to no internet connectivity on a wi-fi-only iPad. You can simply pre-load your area map to get around that, however.

July 05, 2020, 11:31 PM

1s1k

quote:
Originally posted by VictimNoMore:
Why would it be a GPS issue?
The GPS receiver and magnetic compass are on board the UAV.
I can see a problem with the Google Maps not appearing due to no internet connectivity on a wi-fi-only iPad. You can simply pre-load your area map to get around that, however.

Yep as long as you know where you are going to fly yes you can Cache the maps ahead of time. Today I flew 3 hours from my house and never cached the maps I always watch the view of the camera and don’t pay much attention to the maps.

July 05, 2020, 11:41 PM

jimmy123x

Get a newer Iphone and get the DJIA remote control that the newer IPHONE plugs into. It is the best way to control the drones with DJIA stuff.

July 05, 2020, 11:42 PM

jimmy123x

quote:
Originally posted by VictimNoMore:
Why would it be a GPS issue?
The GPS receiver and magnetic compass are on board the UAV.
I can see a problem with the Google Maps not appearing due to no internet connectivity on a wi-fi-only iPad. You can simply pre-load your area map to get around that, however.

Wifi IPAD's do not have GPS capability. You need a cell model IPAD for that.

July 06, 2020, 02:19 AM

911Boss

quote:
Originally posted by VictimNoMore:
Why would it be a GPS issue?
The GPS receiver and magnetic compass are on board the UAV.
I can see a problem with the Google Maps not appearing due to no internet connectivity on a wi-fi-only iPad. You can simply pre-load your area map to get around that, however.

GPS receivers on the drone don’t tell the app the controller location. Some of the automated modes have the drone fly a pattern relative to the controller or follow the controller so GPS coord of the controller is necessary as well.

July 06, 2020, 05:46 AM

Blume9mm

You guys sure know more about this than me... I have enough trouble just taking off and landing....My biggest problem is there are a number of areas I work in that DJI won't let me take off because it is inline or near an air port. The logic escapes me in that with all the programing that goes into these things... just limit the maximum height the drone can fly to something like 60ft (not meters).

July 06, 2020, 06:26 AM

maladat

That's a result of FAA regulations, not DJI being stupid.

July 06, 2020, 07:42 AM

V-Tail

quote:
Originally posted by jimmy123x:

Wifi IPAD's do not have GPS capability. You need a cell model IPAD for that.

Two choices for GPS on an iPad:

An iPad with cellular capability. You do NOT need a cellular data plan, but you do need the cellular capability because the GPS hardware is bundled with the cellular hardware.
A GPS receiver dongle. These generally work just fine, and since many are WAAS enabled, the location accuracy can be, and usually is, more accurate than the built-in GPS in cellular capable iPads. The downside is, it's another thing to schlep.