On friday, i was attempting an active track session, and as I drove off in a boat (the subject) the Mavic just hovered in its place not moving. I assumed this was because it had not tracked the subject somehow. No problem, I tried to fly it manually and catch up but the Mavic would not respond to input. I flicked to P, S, P to try and get some response, and still nothing. The controller was flashing "joystick" on the screen, and the the app have "joystick" written next to the icon at the top of the menu bar.
I've not seen 'joystick' before, but i couldn't get it out of 'joystick' mode, and so therefore couldn't fly. I tried pause, C1/C2, killing and reloading the app, and nothing would get a response from the mavic. The most that would happen was the mavic would seem to move a few feet from its position, and as soon as I release the sticks it would go straight back, like it was on some kind of leash.

In the end all I could do was force a RTH, which I had fortunately set as some relatively large land nearby. I wouldn't always do that, especially using over water, and RTH would only be used in a real last ditch scenario, or battery problem - i wasn't expecting to have have an issue within my first minute. It was very alarming.

So what caused the mavic to get into this mode, and how can I get out of this mode in the future if it happens again? It feels like a bug, as nobody can explain it on other forums i use.

Do I need to send my logs somewhere to be analysed?

thanks, Richard

Hi Richard, could you please clarify your current firmware version?
Please sync the flight records from DJI GO app then provide me with your DJI account email.
I'll help to check it.
Besides, if your DJI account email the same as your forum email?

I had this EXACT SAME exact issue yesterday, literally the same.  On a boat, doing active track, boat was too fast for the mavic (it was a bit windy) tried to switch to sport mode to catch up the Mavic to the boat, and then got the "joystick" mode on the controller. Also lost video on the DJI Go 4 app several times and had difficulty getting the app to reconnect.   Mavic wouldn't respond to any controller input, had to turn the boat around and go back towards where I lost video.  Mavic finally started responding again , needless to say, a very scary experience

did you use some 3rd party app to controll the drone? thats usually when joystick mode kicks in. had the same yesterday with hanger 360, but a switch to sport and back gave me the controls back.

UCBarkeeper Posted at 2017-5-19 00:25
did you use some 3rd party app to controll the drone? thats usually when joystick mode kicks in. had the same yesterday with hanger 360, but a switch to sport and back gave me the controls back.

Same here.
2 days ago I did active track with my car in profile mode and the drone barely moved. When switching to sport mode to catch up, I got the joystick notification on the controller and the mavic did not move whatever stick input I gave. After successful RTH and land I could fly again.
Yesterday I attempted to follow a hot air balloon on its way up in active track mode. The drone refused to get higher on my stick input and I got this notification again (no stick input resulted in a moving drone). RTH again did the trick and I could abort the RTH by switching to S and all manual stick control was restored.
I use a Nexus 5X phone with DJI Go app, having the latest Android and latest firmware in the Mavic. My phone's regularly crashing, but that's for another topic.
Hoping for a solution to this problem fast. Maybe DJI can explain the Joystick mode in the meanwhile ?

bartjes Posted at 2017-6-5 01:26
Same here.
2 days ago I did active track with my car in profile mode and the drone barely moved. When switching to sport mode to catch up, I got the joystick notification on the controller and the mavic did not move whatever stick input I gave. After successful RTH and land I could fly again.
Yesterday I attempted to follow a hot air balloon on its way up in active track mode. The drone refused to get higher on my stick input and I got this notification again (no stick input resulted in a moving drone). RTH again did the trick and I could abort the RTH by switching to S and all manual stick control was restored.

Tried removing all flight data, clear & disable (local) video cache, disable auto rotate (the app will rotate anyway regardless of the phone setting)
Flew about 30 minutes on 2 sessions in total, S & P mode manual and also active track / profile. My phone was much more responsive during all these actions and there was no need for reset. I'll try some more later but the weather has turned and I have little time on weekdays to fly.
Thanks for the tips so far.