Every time I power down the Air, replace battery, whatever - I always need to recalibrate the compass. What in the world? What gives with this? I didn’t need to do this with my Spark. Please help and advise. Thanks in advance.

Haven't had this issue yet, as a matter of fact I haven't had to calibrate the compass yet, even right of of the box, only have 4 flights on it so far. Are you in a magnetically cluttered area?

QuadKid Posted at 2018-2-18 03:48
Haven't had this issue yet, as a matter of fact I haven't had to calibrate the compass yet, even right of of the box, only have 4 flights on it so far. Are you in a magnetically cluttered area?

No buts definitely been cold outside.

Cold temperatures may impact on this too but definitely magnetic interference. The MA compass is also different to the Spark.

Yeah that is weird I have about 53 flights on mine and I have not had to calibrate once and I'm definitely in an urban environment

According to the manual (v1.2)
If these conditions apply it is recommended that the compass is calibrated in any of the following situations occur flying out doors:
1) Flying at a location farther than 31 miles (50 km) away from the last flight location.
2) The aircraft has not been flown for more than 30 days.

There is a note at the end of the section.
The aircraft is able to take off immediately once the calibration has completed successfully.
If you do not take off within three minutes of completing the calibration, it is possible that another compass interference warning
will appear while the aircraft is on the ground. If this happens, it indicates that the current location is not suitable for flying the aircraft due to
the level of magnetic interference.

I am having the exact same issue here in Charleston ... every time I power the Mavic Air on I have to reset the compass.  I have an email out to DJI support ... I'll let you know what they say.  I've used the drone in multiple different environments and I've talked to other DJI owners here in Charleston and they have not had the same issue w/ the Mavic Pro.

Consider if there might be strong interference either in your location or on your person.  Try taking off from a different place and also consider what you're wearing.  I think I saw something about the Apple watch interfering with the compass.  Perhaps that or something similar?

Greetings, I am having the same issue here in Ottawa Canada. I have a P3A and the Mavic Air. P3A rarely needs a calibration but the Mavic Air "ALWAYS" needs a calibration. The location is irrelevant. I must calibrate, sometimes 3X before it will let me fly. I just take it as a normal...par for course. I usually fly in very rural areas over water, forest, etc. No chance of actual magnetic interference...was even on a frozen lake today. No freaking magnets around, lol....just snow and ice. Oh yeah!

Hopefully, some future firmware update will fix the issue. It is important to note that my particular Mavic Air had the "shaking" problem until the latest firmware. The compass re-calibration issue has been consistent.

Well, I downloaded DJI Assistant 2 in my computer, restored factory settings and redownload the updated firmware and everything seems to be working now after taking off and landing, restarting the drone over and over this evening. It seems as though the calibration is working now.

I’m also have this issue. Every damn time i want to fly I have this issue. Sometimes the compass calibration error removed after 5 till 10 times doing a calibration. But most of the time it won’t. On a beach or lake in the middle of nowhere. It always asks for calibration. I fly 3 thimes and again I get the error.  

I'm having the same issue with my Mavic Air over the weekend, compass error every time I power up/swap batteries.  (My Phantom 4 in the same area does not experience compass problems)  I've had better luck if I hold the Air through the boot process and let it find GPS, set it down then quickly take off.  If I turn it on and let it boot on the ground, it always forces a calibration.  I've experienced no compass related issues once in flight. In general, I have been really impressed by how stable the Air has been for me so far.  

stacebaal Posted at 2018-2-19 08:30
I'm having the same issue with my Mavic Air over the weekend, compass error every time I power up/swap batteries.  (My Phantom 4 in the same area does not experience compass problems)  I've had better luck if I hold the Air through the boot process and let it find GPS, set it down then quickly take off.  If I turn it on and let it boot on the ground, it always forces a calibration.  I've experienced no compass related issues once in flight. In general, I have been really impressed by how stable the Air has been for me so far.

I've already had to calibrate the compass on the Mavic Air in the short 3 weeks I have owned it more than my Phantom 4 Pro and Spark...combined....over the past year.

Maybe absolutely unrelated, but I was having this issue as well (having to calibrate the compass after changing the battery).  I live in a very rural area with minimal power lines around, and was starting to think maybe the rebar in the cement patio where I was taking off from was throwing the calibration off.  At the same time, I ended up getting a iPad mini 4 because the combination of my iPhone x and these old eyes was just not cutting it (needed a little more screen real estate).  Anyway, when I moved away from the iPhone x and to the iPad mini - my compass calibration problems disappeared.

Maybe this is coincidental, who knows.  I know tons of folks are using MA with the iPhone x and not having to calibrate all the time.  But I have not had to calibrate for the last week or so using the iPad mini from exactly the same area in my backyard that I was having to calibrate each time using my iPhone x.  Again, not saying this is your issue, but my calibration issues seem to subsided since the switch...

Hack Posted at 2018-2-19 09:18
Maybe absolutely unrelated, but I was having this issue as well (having to calibrate the compass after changing the battery).  I live in a very rural area with minimal power lines around, and was starting to think maybe the rebar in the cement patio where I was taking off from was throwing the calibration off.  At the same time, I ended up getting a iPad mini 4 because the combination of my iPhone x and these old eyes was just not cutting it (needed a little more screen real estate).  Anyway, when I moved away from the iPhone x and to the iPad mini - my compass calibration problems disappeared.

Maybe this is coincidental, who knows.  I know tons of folks are using MA with the iPhone x and not having to calibrate all the time.  But I have not had to calibrate for the last week or so using the iPad mini from exactly the same area in my backyard that I was having to calibrate each time using my iPhone x.  Again, not saying this is your issue, but my calibration issues seem to subsided since the switch...

So if it is the Iphone x, why not connect by wire and take your phone out of the controller.. create distance between phone and controller.. do you get the compass calibration again?

Well again, I went to the iPad mini because I was having trouble seeing the iPhone x - not because of the calibration issues.  As a by-product of switching, the constant calibration requests went away (for me at least).  The calibration requests were not much of an annoyance to me (just takes seconds to do really) - so I really did not put a lot of effort into determining root cause.  

I have not tried separating the iPhone x and controller.  Maybe when this wind dies down a bit I'll give it a try and report back.

Hi everyone. If you are experiencing this issue. Please try to check if you are using the latest firmware using DJI Assistant 2. If you are using the latest firmware, try to also Restore Factory Defaults, then update to the latest. Afterwards, calibrate the compass, ensuring you are not in an area with strong magnetic interference, or metal objects near your person at the time of calibration. Please let me know if this resolves your issue.

DJI Paladin Posted at 2018-2-19 16:42
Hi everyone. If you are experiencing this issue. Please try to check if you are using the latest firmware using DJI Assistant 2. If you are using the latest firmware, try to also Restore Factory Defaults, then update to the latest. Afterwards, calibrate the compass, ensuring you are not in an area with strong magnetic interference, or metal objects near your person at the time of calibration. Please let me know if this resolves your issue.

Still having the issue after doing all of that today. Things were fine yesterday, but it’s still happening every time I turn it on.

djiuser_spzTzoXkKjDS Posted at 2018-2-19 16:44
Still having the issue after doing all of that today. Things were fine yesterday, but it’s still happening every time I turn it on.

Hi! Please PM me the following information so that I can forward this issue to our Mavic Air engineers.

Drone: Mavic Air
Drone FW version:
Mobile Device:
Mobile Device FW version:
DJI Go 4 App version:
Screenshot of the message you are seeing:

DJI Paladin Posted at 2018-2-19 16:42
Hi everyone. If you are experiencing this issue. Please try to check if you are using the latest firmware using DJI Assistant 2. If you are using the latest firmware, try to also Restore Factory Defaults, then update to the latest. Afterwards, calibrate the compass, ensuring you are not in an area with strong magnetic interference, or metal objects near your person at the time of calibration. Please let me know if this resolves your issue.

using latest assistant , all updated refreshed firmware took it outside away from anything says normal but calibrate button is there using iPhone 6 plus with latest software and latest DJI app, flies ok not had a problem with that. Checked on my P4 no calibrate button showing with compass