I have previously seen some recommendations to turn off the WiFi on the phone or even to put the phone into airplane mode while flying because this is supposed to improve the range of the Mavic Mini a lot. I was not convinced and I wanted to understand how much impact this can actually have on the range. I was also curious if the WiFi is the only connection on the phone which can have an impact on the range, or also the mobile data and Bluetooth.

So I did some range tests today myself with my Mavic Mini (CE version), to see if turning off the phone's connections (WiFi, mobile data, Bluetooth) actually can make a difference.

Test conditions:
- rural environment, where there is some WiFi pollution, but not much really
- no obstacles between the controller and the drone
- controller antennas pointed correctly (upward, perpendicular to the line between the drone and the controller)
- transmission mode set to auto (not manually set to 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz or to any particular channel)
- temperature: 2 degrees Celsius
- wind: around 10-12 km/h or less at flight altitude (including the gusts)
- drone battery fully charged, controller battery almost fully charged
- flight altitude (relative to takeoff point): 115 m (DJI states that optimal range can be obtained around 120 m)

I have previously flown in the same environment multiple times, but at lower altitudes (around 60-70 m high) and with the phone's connections (WiFi, mobile data, Bluetooth) ON and could never achieve a range greater than 600 m.

In a first test I turned off all connections on the phone after takeoff except the GPS (location). I did this by putting the phone into airplane mode (which effectively turns off WiFi, mobile data and Bluetooth). I was able to achieve a maximum distance of slightly above 1900 m and the video feed was quite stable until around 1700-1800 m, with just a few interference warnings. However, I hated that the mobile data was off because the DJI Fly app would not allow me to switch between fly modes. So I took off in P mode and I had to stay in P mode until I landed. This can be really dangerous if you fly in stronger winds because if the drone starts to be blown away, you cannot quickly switch to S mode to give it more power. You have to turn on the connections on the phone, completely exit the DJI Fly app and start it again and only after that will it allow you to switch modes. Definitely very bad practice.

In a second test I flew the same path, all conditions were identical, but this time I did not put the phone into airplane mode, I only turned OFF WiFi, leaving mobile data (and GPS) ON, which allowed me normal control in the DJI Fly app, being able to switch between flying modes during flight. This way I was able to achieve a maximum distance of slightly above 1800 m (so just a little bit less compared to the previous test), but the video feed was not quite as stable, there were more interruptions and interference warnings and the instability started as low as 1200 m away.

My conclusions so far:
- The combination of flying high (at 115 m vs at 60-70 m in previous tests) and turning OFF WiFi on the phone has a huge impact on the range, effectively trippling it (600 m -> 1800-1900 m). I'm not sure which matters more, though, the flight altitude or the turned off WiFi. Remains to be tested further...
- Putting the phone into airplane mode after takeoff (vs turning OFF only WiFi) has little impact on range (1900 m vs 1800 m) but it does affect the stability of the connection and results in less interruptions and less interference. However it disables important functionality in the DJI Fly app and in my opinion is dangerous and not worth it.

I plan to find a day with identical or very similar weather conditions and fly the exact same path, with WiFi turned ON, but at 115 m high, to see how much of the range improvement actually came from the turned off WiFi and how much from the increased altitude.

Before anybody jumps at me all panicked that at 1800-1900 m there's no way to maintain VLOS with the drone, yes, that's perfectly true. In fact you can't really maintain VLOS even above 600 m. I'm not suggesting that anybody should fly that far, including myself. This was just a test carried out over some barren hills at the edge of a village where the chances of causing any damage to anybody or anything are virtually zero. But if you're a stickler for the rules or you can't find a safe environment then don't attempt such tests.

Hello and good day Un4Seen. Thank you for sharing these information and for sharing your experience with us. Please keep us posted on your next tests. Thank you and fly safe always.

Today I tried to carry out more tests to see if the great range improvement described in the previous post was mostly caused by the high flight altitude (120 m) or by turning off the phone's connections. I can honestly say that after today's experiment I'm more confused then ever and I have no idea any more what is causing the extremely large range variations.

As a first experiment I went to the exact same spot as last time and lifted the Mavic Mini to 120 m height. I left the WiFi, mobile data and GPS (location) turned ON on the phone (only turned off Bluetooth). The expectation was that with the connections being ON, I will only be able to reach a short range. However, this time I flew in another direction compared to last time, to fly out against the wind so that I can return with the wind. And the Mavic Mini flew... and flew... and flew... I was out 1600 m when the connection experienced the first interruption. But then it continued flying and I reached a range of over 2800 m before the connection started experiencing more serious breaks. I'm guessing that I could have flown even farther, but I chickened out because the battery was down to 50% and I feared that it would not last the trip home. The return trip also didn't have significant interference or interruptions. And this was with WiFi ON and not in flight mode on the phone.

I did not attempt flying in the same direction again with the connections OFF because even if the Mini could have gone farther, the battery would not have lasted, so there was no point in trying. However I did turn the WiFi OFF with the next full battery and flew at the same height (120 m) in a completely different direction (this time over the village). This time the connection completely broke off around 800-900 m.

So I am puzzled by these results. It would seem that turning the connections ON or OFF on the phone does not matter that much after all. It would seem that interference from populated areas has a much more dramatic effect on the range. But I'm not convinced that this is the only explanation, so I will continue to carry out similar experiments in the future until I can finally understand what is causing the flight range of the Mavic Mini to change so very much. The one thing that seems to be proven consistently is that flying higher (at around 120 m) improves the range in all cases, but this is not the factor that influences it most.