Took the Phantom 4 out for a shoot in the mountains of SW Virginia.  Simply refused to work without uploading the latest version of the App.  It was about 80 miles to the closest cell tower.  We wanted the sunrise over the Blue Ridge.  All 6 people in the crew want to say thanks for making them get out of bed at 4AM for nothing.  

  

  

So for the people at DJI, let me explain what that did.  I go on shoots that last for weeks.  I'll be 500 miles to the closest internet.  Cell phones are out of the question.  I show up with a drone that has to access the internet, all at the whim of IT at DJI.  Now answer this question:  With this new policy of forcing us to immediately download the latest version of the App, exactly what would be my choice of action other than to sell my now undependable Phantom and buy another Product, not made by DJI?  

  

A checklist is always a good idea with all these aircraft, a simple preflight checklist would have saved the day for you, if it's a business your running and others are depending on you, then you must except some responsibility.

I don't understand how this could happen without access to the internet.  It must have wanted an update earlier while you had internet access.

I believe if you run Litchi exclusively, you wouldn't have problems like this.  

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-4-9 08:52
A checklist is always a good idea with all these aircraft, a simple preflight checklist would have saved the day for you, if it's a business your running and others are depending on you, then you must except some responsibility.

Appreciate the input.  38 years network TV experience here.  I don't pack the morning of the shoot.  And I'm not going to unpack part of the gear to see if that particular device still works.  I had used the drone two days before and it worked perfectly.   I'm very good at what I do, but equipment that requires that I check it the morning of the shoot is not in the professional realm of products I have used since I bought my first Aeroflex.   And that's the question I am asking: do I move on to more dependable, professional equipment?  

You could get the plus RC, they take forever to update it and it's not something you can even update the GO app yourself with.

fanse15dee88 Posted at 2017-4-9 09:00
Appreciate the input.  38 years network TV experience here.  I don't pack the morning of the shoot.  And I'm not going to unpack part of the gear to see if that particular device still works.  I had used the drone two days before and it worked perfectly.   I'm very good at what I do, but equipment that requires that I check it the morning of the shoot is not in the professional realm of products I have used since I bought my first Aeroflex.   And that's the question I am asking: do I move on to more dependable, professional equipment?

I understand where your coming from, but we do know that this can happen with dji, however you make good points about the problems this can cause.
I wouldn't imagine it would be difficult for dji to send previous notifications to customers of specific dates of new firmware, say 48hrs.

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-4-9 08:58
I don't understand how this could happen without access to the internet.  It must have wanted an update earlier while you had internet access.

I believe if you run Litchi exclusively, you wouldn't have problems like this.

that's a great point because I wondered the same thing.  I definitely didn't have access.  My ipad doesn't have cel service.  I was working with a client.  Really embarrassing.  

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-4-9 09:14
I understand where your coming from, but we do know that this can happen with dji, however you make good points about the problems this can cause.
I wouldn't imagine it would be difficult for dji to send previous notifications to customers of specific dates of new firmware, say 48hrs.

GoPro did the same thing.   They would change their app and unless you could update immediately, it simply wouldn't work.  But as another poster said, how did it even know to request the internet without being on the internet?  

Of course, I store the gear at an office with wi-fi, but the ipad is turned of.  its really strange.   

trance728- Posted at 2017-4-9 09:09
You could get the plus RC, they take forever to update it and it's not something you can even update the GO app yourself with.

What is plus IC?  I'm an old film maker who still shoots a lot out of Bell Jet Rangers.  I love the drone because it makes the camera fly.  I don't really know that much about them.  

fanse15dee88 Posted at 2017-4-9 09:29
What is plus IC?  I'm an old film maker who still shoots a lot out of Bell Jet Rangers.  I love the drone because it makes the camera fly.  I don't really know that much about them.

The plus remote controller, with the built in screen.

fanse15dee88 Posted at 2017-4-9 09:26
GoPro did the same thing.   They would change their app and unless you could update immediately, it simply wouldn't work.  But as another poster said, how did it even know to request the internet without being on the internet?  

Of course, I store the gear at an office with wi-fi, but the ipad is turned of.  its really strange.

Weird, mainly because the latest App upgrade is Version: 4.0.6 , which was released  Mar 16, 2017...  about 25 days ago.

fanse15dee88 Posted at 2017-4-9 09:29
What is plus IC?  I'm an old film maker who still shoots a lot out of Bell Jet Rangers.  I love the drone because it makes the camera fly.  I don't really know that much about them.

He meant the RC (Remote control) -not IC. for the Phantom Pro plus, which has an inbuilt tablet with Android OS, allegedly plagued by  a swarm of problems.

I can attest to the Plus being flaky, I've only flown my P4P+ on 2 occasions in the last month all since the latest firmware update came out and was installed but both times it's told me at some point during the flight that it need to update the firmware.  When it check it in app it's the right version number so IDK what's wrong with it but I sure don't like it.  I really regret getting it, when I had my P3P and Ipad I never had any problems so far my P4P controller has only crashed once during a flight but that's one too many times.  

Mark @ post #3 made a valid suggestion - have another app as back-up, or use GO as the back-up to it. I run both iPad and Android tablets, with both DJI GO and Litchi on both. I'm not getting caught out... ;-)

"With this new policy of forcing us to immediately download the latest version of the App"

What new policy of enforced updates?
As far as I can tell, there is no such policy.
The latest app version is 4.06 (iOS) or 4.05 but mine runs happily every day on 4.02.

Get your facts right before sharpening the pitchforks and going off on a rant.

Like Labroides mentioned, simply don't update the firmware...unless maybe you didn't want to fly until you updated the firmware?
Many people don't update until enough people have deemed it as useful or safe in the newest version.

What exactly was the error message you got?

I do not have that model but it is the first time I have heard of an enforced update and there are plenty of people who have reverted to older versions and flown successfully.

Is it possible that your app did an automatic update which then wanted your RC to be updated?

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-9 14:31
"With this new policy of forcing us to immediately download the latest version of the App"

What new policy of enforced updates?

I told you what happened.  Specific questions?  

Cabansail Posted at 2017-4-9 15:50
What exactly was the error message you got?

I do not have that model but it is the first time I have heard of an enforced update and there are plenty of people who have reverted to older versions and flown successfully.

Wasn't an error message.  it was a screen that had the go emblem and an arrow to a newer go emblem, I only got one option, I pressed it and it tried to go to Safari.  Would not allow me to use the old version.  

GreenHornet55 Posted at 2017-4-9 17:12
Is it possible that your app did an automatic update which then wanted your RC to be updated?

I rarely open up the ipad when its around wi0fi. That's what i can't figure out.  

fanse15dee88 Posted at 2017-4-9 17:20
I told you what happened.  Specific questions?

What you describe hasn't happened to anyone else.
So it's difficult to believe the story as it's been told.

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-9 17:26
What you describe hasn't happened to anyone else.
So it's difficult to believe the story as it's been told.

Unless the poster was using DJI GO (v3), and possibly DJI now enforce use of GO 4 with Phantom 4 and 4 Pro. I've been using GO 4 since it was released, so no idea how 'real' this scenario is...

I note that DJI GO v3 for both platforms were updated only just a week ago.

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-9 14:31
"With this new policy of forcing us to immediately download the latest version of the App"

What new policy of enforced updates?

I agree Ive flown many times when it said "firmware update required". You can just exit out of it and update later as you please

FeariTself Posted at 2017-4-9 17:51
I agree Ive flown many times when it said "firmware update required". You can just exit out of it and update later as you please

Poster advised it was the app, not firmware, which Had to be updated.

The other thing which strikes me is that it would seem there was only one aircraft for a professional job.  That is like shooting a wedding with just one camera. I do not shoot weddings professionally but when i have done them I make sure all gear has redundancy. Spare bodies, lenses and flashes plus plenty of batteries and cards. The same thing should apply here. There is a LOT of technology involved and one break in the chain can cause a problem, as has occurred here. The same thing would apply for any brand of equipment you choose to use.

Eggs/Basket

fanse15dee88 Posted at 2017-4-9 17:22
Wasn't an error message.  it was a screen that had the go emblem and an arrow to a newer go emblem, I only got one option, I pressed it and it tried to go to Safari.  Would not allow me to use the old version.

This doesn't make sense to me. Why would an iPad try to open Safari in order to update an App? I have been using quite extensively my own iPad 4th generation (model A1460 64 Gb) for years and it just uses the App Store application to update the Apps... I can't use it for the drone, as it just does not accept the App, being too old and not powerful enough. The iPad Air 2 which I use with my P4P is the one I gave to my wife (and now I'll get a "new" iPad just for the P4P. I don't let the Apps update automatically, I just check once a day or two on the App Store and update from there, and the same happened when I updated to DJI GO 4 v4.0.6.  and it worked smoothly...