It seems that DJI Fly has started automatically storing photos from the drone (DJI Mini 2) in the folder DCIM/DJI Album on my Android device.


I can see the benefits of not having to manually export the images, but the problem is that Google Photos automatically backs up all subfolders in the DCIM folder, and there's no way to turn that feature off. This results in all photos taken with the drone being automatically backed up to Google Photos, which quickly fills up the free storage and makes browsing my normal phone camera photos a nightmare.


Is there any way to make DJI Fly either not auto-save the photos on the phone, or at least save them in some other location (outside the DCIM folder)?


One could argue that this is a fault with Google Photos, and I agree. But hell will freeze over before Google will listen to all the complaints about this problem and do anything about it. So I guess the only possible option is to change the folder in the DJI App.


If this is not possible at the moment, it would be a HUGE improvement if the possibility to change the folder or turn off the auto-save feature could be added to the DJI Fly app.

Thank you for reaching out. Currently, this function is unavailable but we'll forward this feedback to our developers. After the engineers' evaluation, significant suggestions or requests will be implemented via the firmware update, app update, etc. For any updates, please stay tuned to the latest news on our DJI official website at www.dji.com.  Thank you for your understanding and support.

DJI Paladin Posted at 9-18 21:22
Thank you for reaching out. Currently, this function is unavailable but we'll forward this feedback to our developers. After the engineers' evaluation, significant suggestions or requests will be implemented via the firmware update, app update, etc. For any updates, please stay tuned to the latest news on our DJI official website at www.dji.com.  Thank you for your understanding and support.

This is MUST HAVE feature! Everything under DCIM folder gets backed up by google photos and is eating up storage in no time. I had to disable google photos backup feature immediately after the dji fly update! It would be MUCH better to store everything under PICTURES/DJI Album instead like other apps do it! This way the user could select the folder for backup manually! Please make this possible asap.

Please this would be a huge help!

There is a way to turn off the feature that the drone saves all images to the phone. In the camera view, go to the three dots in the top right corner, camera tab, scroll all the way down, turn off cache, and also turn off auto sync HD photos (or something like that, I can't remember the exact name).

DJI Paladin Posted at 2022-9-18 21:22
Thank you for reaching out. Currently, this function is unavailable but we'll forward this feedback to our developers. After the engineers' evaluation, significant suggestions or requests will be implemented via the firmware update, app update, etc. For any updates, please stay tuned to the latest news on our DJI official website at www.dji.com.  Thank you for your understanding and support.

This needs to be addressed. Not being able to select the folder to avoid Google backing up is the number one problem I have with DJI fly app. Means I cannot download and edit on the go. Major pain

djiuser_pt48vRPgVqgQ Posted at 3-18 09:11
This needs to be addressed. Not being able to select the folder to avoid Google backing up is the number one problem I have with DJI fly app. Means I cannot download and edit on the go. Major pain

We will surely take note of this. Thak you for your understanding and support.

Same pain here, change this wil be a huge improvement!

Please I really need to change the folder to my sdcard for example!!
Thanks

djiuser_agalqKMdV36h Posted at 7-10 23:38
Please I really need to change the folder to my sdcard for example!!
Thanks

Hi there. We're sorry if this has been requested in the past but has not been implemented yet.
We acknowledge that we have received the same concerns and suggestions from other DJI Pilots before. What we will do is continue to record such feedback and ensure that it reaches our related team. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you. We hope this will be considered soon. Your understanding is greatly appreciated.

DJI Paladin Posted at 7-24 00:14
Hi there. We're sorry if this has been requested in the past but has not been implemented yet.
We acknowledge that we have received the same concerns and suggestions from other DJI Pilots before. What we will do is continue to record such feedback and ensure that it reaches our related team. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you. We hope this will be considered soon. Your understanding is greatly appreciated.

something new? the problem continues

djiuser_QC6WHioXmN6b Posted at 8-20 13:58
something new? the problem continues

We're sorry if this has been requested in the past but has not been implemented yet. We will continue to let such feedback reach the designated team for consideration. Thank you for your understanding.

Same pain.. any chance to push it forward ?

OK, I found a workaround!

In Android, if a folder has hidden file named  ".nomedia" , all files there won't be scanned by the gallery app and also by Google Photos app.

I have such file in whatsapp's media folder:


So I copied it to "DJI Album" folder




That's it !

Note, need first to enter files manager's setting and configure it to show hidden files in order to see this file in whatsapp's media folder

Elady Posted at 2023-12-7 12:57
OK, I found a workaround!

In Android, if a folder has hidden file named  ".nomedia" , all files there won't be scanned by the gallery app and also by Google Photos app.

Can't really understand what's going on in your screen shots with the text. Why are you using WhatsApp as an example? Is this a solution to the OP's and my problem? Thank you.  

This is infuriating—been trying to find a fix off and on for weeks. As a company that has a virtual monopoly on the lucrative drone market, it would be nice if DJI gave back and provided solutions to these types of problems that were a result of oversight in the planning process. Never seen anything like it.

DJI Paladin Posted at 2023-3-20 02:15
We will surely take note of this. Thak you for your understanding and support.

Has this been fixed?

Tyga Hero Posted at 1-18 03:46
Has this been fixed?

We acknowledge that we have received the same concerns and suggestions from other DJI Pilots before. What we will do is continue to record such feedback and ensure that it reaches our related team. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you. We hope this will be considered soon. Your understanding is greatly appreciated.

This is going on for years by now without a solution. DJI does not seem to care about user requests which are affecting most users. It seems that DJI software developers are not capable to make a small change to their software.

djiuser_QCClye8i3pks Posted at 1-21 05:37
This is going on for years by now without a solution. DJI does not seem to care about user requests which are affecting most users. It seems that DJI software developers are not capable to make a small change to their software.

Hi, there. Thank you for expressing your feedback. Although there are suggestions that may be challenging for us to apply in reality, please know that all suggestions matter to us, and we would like to help all users be heard by forwarding this to our respective team as DJI is open to any suggestions for improvement. Furthermore, it's evidently that there were some requests previously that have been added to our DJI products which users have been enjoying until this day. Kindly know that we're always eager to improve our products to meet our customer's demands. Rest assured that we keep striving to provide an even better customer experience with all of our products.

Hello bumping this thread

I've recently bought DJI action 4

I wondered why my 100Gb of Google storage was being gobbled up. Also why so my network data allowance was being consumed.

I've subsequently found that over 50Gb of my storage is being consumed by the "DJI album" and "DJI Export" folder getting automatically backed up to Google cloud storage.

And then when I delete from Google photo it deleted the exported and edited files.

Why on earth have DJI made DCIM their default folders?  That should only be used for camera stuff, not external applications.

Desperately needing a fix!!!!

Thank you
Chris

Tyga Hero Posted at 1-18 03:45
Can't really understand what's going on in your screen shots with the text. Why are you using WhatsApp as an example? Is this a solution to the OP's and my problem? Thank you.  

This is infuriating—been trying to find a fix off and on for weeks. As a company that has a virtual monopoly on the lucrative drone market, it would be nice if DJI gave back and provided solutions to these types of problems that were a result of oversight in the planning process. Never seen anything like it.

Thanks for this

This situation is somewhat mitigated by creating hidden file .nomedia into the DJI folders.
Either copy a file as above, or you can create one yourself in command line if you know how. E.g.

"touch .nomedia" in command shell will create a blank file called .nomedia


Only works for new videos and not those already copied into Google cloud.  So to address those issues created until you go that then you need to copy the files temporarily somewhere else, delete from Google photos, create the .nomedia file, and then copy the files back again.


DJI should add option to create ".nomedia" file into this folder as a default to prevent Google backups being taken.

Same problem here. Google Drive explodes. I downloaded an app that creates this .nomedia file (Google Play - Nomedia) and does indeed prevent uploading to Google, but files are also invisible to DJI apps (Mimo and LightCut). Download folder DJI apps should be outside the DCIM folder I think.

It has been almost 18 months since this issue began.
When will this solution be implemented? After all, this is a very serious setback for Android users. When will it finally be done?