Getting ready to buy an IPAD mini or  10 inch to fly my Mavic Air 2 ?   Need advice .    Trying to understand  what features are required or lost  if  I use an IPAD mini or Gen 8 "WIFI ONLY"   compared to a IPAD models with  CELL/GPS .      
** I know I can fly it  without WIFI or cell , however don't know how the controller maps  get it data..   Internal GPS or CEll GPS .   If i use an ipad without cell / wifi service , what  features are lost if any .   
1,  Does the IPAD require celluar / GPS service ?  Explain

2.   Can I update the home location during the flight without WIFI/Cell service ?
       3. Does the controller/ drone control the maps displayed in DJI fly   or  is pulled from the  Iphone / Ipad with cell service ?

4.  If using the IPAD with no wifi or GPS , what features are lost ?

   

Without cellular you'd need to cache the maps over WiFi before flying if you intend to use them otherwise, no different

W/o a data connection you cannot self-authorize in the field, update maps, stream video to social media accounts, or change the homepoint on the fly. The non-GPS-dependant features can be worked around if you use a cellphone that supports acting as a wifi hotspot. Hope this helps.

To clarify on the home point, the Air 2 allows you to set a new home point to 1) The drone's location, 2) the controller location, or 3) a point on the map.

Without GPS, you can still do #1, you can't do #2, and if you have cached the maps (or connected to wifi or hostpot) you can do #3.

Otherwise, you have good answers in terms of limitations (have to pre-cache maps, can't authorize if need be without cell).  One more is the location information of the controller compared to the drone has the potential to be less accurate, although even the wifi only ipads still approximate location from wifi signals and such.

Hello there. Thank you for reaching out and for these information you have shared. In addition to this post. You will be needing an internet when updating your DJI Fly application. It is recommended to put your mobile device on airplane mode while flying it would lessen the interference like receiving calls and text messages while on flight. In addition it is not necessary to put your device in airplane mode but please make sure there is no such calls/text message or any notification that will interrupt you when using your device while flying your DJI Drone. Thank you and have a safe flight always.