Today I was just about to update firmware on my DJI Mini 3 Pro. And on my iPad Pro (256 GB) I was going to update to a new version of DJI Fly App. - BUT I can see in update comments for the Fly App for iPad that the Fly App album will disappear. And that all movies/photos will go directly to device album = Apple Photos.  This simply does not work for Apple users who have more than just one Apple device.

My Ipad Pro, My iPhone 13 Pro and three Macs and my wife's iPad Pro and iPhone 13 all use the same Apple-ID and therefore also the same Apple Photos.  On top of this there are our Time Machine backups from the two Macs to make matters even worse. Because the Time Machine backup will backup all those data TWICE as our Apple Photos are stored locally on both Macs.

I use a 128 GB mini SD card in my drone. And by dowloading into the DJI FLy App local album on my iPad I could keep up to 128 GB raw movie/photos locally on the iPad. Then I could pick one movie at a time, edit it and then myself transfer it to Apple Photos. I could also review the raw stuff and delete what ought to be deleted. So my Apple Photos would not be filled with junk which would then be distributed to 6 other devices and two backup systems.

Bu now, when all movies/photos automatically goes to the Apple Photos album on my iPad it will then automatically be synchronized to all our devices immediately. Because Apple Photos is designed to “synchronize” all photos and movies to iCloud and from there to all devices at once. Things do not stay “local” as they probably do inl “Non-Apple” environments.

So in the extreme case I will get 128 GB synchronized via iCloud to 8 Apple devices and twice onto my Time Machine backup as well.

This places a tough burden on the need to pay for enough iCloud storage. And it can be hard on a data plan to synchronize up and down to all those devices for no good reason. - And if I then start editing and deleting, then all those changes also have to be synchronized to all devices.

I even have to make sure that there is enough free space on all those devices to handle up to 128 GB raw movies/photos. In a situation where our normal, total collection of movies/photos are a mere 76 GB. So our whole setup is simply not made to handle 128 GB extra on 8 devices.

Our setup is not unusual. It is how the Apple Eco System is designed to work and be used. So it is the normal way in the Apple world.

I am not going to update to the newest DJI Fly App for this reason.  Apple users need some solution which can keep all those raw material local on one device. So they can work with it there and then transfer some of the results to Apple Photos. All those 128 raw drone movies do not have to be on all devices, and certainly not without my control over how and when it happens. And my wife certainly do not want to see all that in her photo collection.

So, dear DJI, can I. please get the local album back in the DJI Fly app on my iPad or an understandable explanation of some other way to handle this. The local album was a perfect solution. Please let is have it back, at least as an iPad/IOS option.

A bit about Apple Time Machine. It does not work like other “backup solutions” either. So without the local album feature we really cannot use DJI Fly any more. - Time Machine (app) is the default way to take backups from a Mac. The backup is INCREMENTAL. That means that even if I delete something (like 128 GB drone movies) from my Mac it will still be in that backup. So I can go back later and retrieve some data which should never have been deleted. I can do that for any day/week/month/year as long as there is available space on the external harddisk. This can be done for any file. - Imagine how much backup space is required if just a few cases of 128 GB mini SD card data enters my Apple Eco system. - And all this will happen twice because we take a backup of both iMacs.

So, please, please give us the “local album” back in one way or another. The way it worked before this change was perfect.

Sounds like you need to setup apple ids for each person and then turn on family sharing as apple intended apple ids not to be shared.

Went to Album and most of my recent holiday footage (except 2 photos and a video) have disappeared.

So where has the App put everything - is it in my main photo album on the iPhone? I can't see it in there -  only the ones I specifically downloaded.
Also I did one of those 360 panorama pictures - (A) its disappeared and (B) without the App Album, how are we supposed to view them as the phone software doesn't work....

Come on DJI - give us the App Album back or be clear on where its putting things and what can be saved.

djiuser_t35K80s0VmAN Posted at 8-23 13:50
Went to Album and most of my recent holiday footage (except 2 photos and a video) have disappeared.

So where has the App put everything - is it in my main photo album on the iPhone? I can't see it in there -  only the ones I specifically downloaded.

The photos you had in the DJI Fly App local album are gone. This sudden change in the app gave nobody any chance to save those photos - or to decide not to save them.

New recordings from the drone goes directly from SD card in the drone into Apple Photos. - As I use iCloud everythning also goes there and then to all other devices. - If you "only" have an iPhone and don't use iCloud the Photo Album is called "camera roll" on the iPhone. - I can't verify what happens in that situation as I use iCloud synchronization for Apple Photos.

For me this app change makes use of taking movies more or less hopeless. I don't have enough storage everywhere to just dump all unedited movies into those devices. Other iPhone users or iPad users will of course discover the same problem.

I guess that the change was made by somebody who have no idea about how this affects all Apple users who are also DJI drone users. - I don't know how to contact anybody in DJI to make them understand that they have created a very big problem for all of us who use Apple Photos and iCloud. Which we all should do, as iCloud also serves as a kind of backup, so our photos won't be lost if something happens to the iPhone.