Hello all,

I just bought my DJI Mavic Air Fly More Combo (Arctic White, EU version) yesterday. Really happy with the product so far and I've been busy today with reading all instructions and set-up everything for a first "test-flight" (I just launched the drone and let it land basically).
So far so good, but during my test I noticed I didn't have any live feed/video transmission from the drone to my phone. The screen is just black, but all other data (telemetry such as distance, speed,... works fine). No errors before take off were shown either and all apps/firmware updates are installed.
My phones' brand is a WIKO Lenny 3 (Android 6.0). I know it's not in the list of "recommended phones" to use, but is this related to the drone/app or something else?

I tried to take a photo during my testflight and that worked fine, so it seems as if it's more related to the app. I've read some things here on the forum about people having the same issues with sparks and fixing it by downgrading the app. Has anyone experience with that. Does downgrading mean I could lose "functions" or are these updates rather improvements/bugfixes?

I haven't tested any older versions of the app as I have the drone since today, so any suggestion to what version I should revert to, is more than welcome too!

Hope to be able to fly soon :-D Thanks a lot for the help!

Kind regards,

Yoshi

Hi, we're sorry for the inconvenience that it caused. I would like to ask if you could still control the gimbal? Have you tried to remove the SD to the aircraft to see if there will be changes? You may try to reset the camera, uninstall the application or try a different mobile device to isolate the problem. You could refresh the firmware using the DJI Assistant 2 which can be downloaded using this link: https://www.dji.com/downloads. Please keep us posted on the latest progress. Thank you for your support.

Most likely, your smartphone lacks RAM. Is it 1 GB? A minimum of 3-4 GB is needed.

DJI Tony Posted at 7-31 13:15
Hi, we're sorry for the inconvenience that it caused. I would like to ask if you could still control the gimbal? Have you tried to remove the SD to the aircraft to see if there will be changes? You may try to reset the camera, uninstall the application or try a different mobile device to isolate the problem. You could refresh the firmware using the DJI Assistant 2 which can be downloaded using this link: https://www.dji.com/downloads. Please keep us posted on the latest progress. Thank you for your support.

Thanks a lot for your fast reply DJI Tony!
During my first flight I tried to fly without using a micro SD card at all. (Just worked with the internal 8 GB), as I was just trying out to launch and land the aircraft to test the functionallity.
The gimball seems to work as it keeps following the horizon when flying/moving the aicraft manually.

For now, all I did was test to fly the drone with my mother her phone, which is a samsung galaxy 7 edge and this just worked fine, right from the start! (Still need to check the other functions though, but the weather and relative heavy wind conditions, do not allow me to fly at the moment!)

I'll come back whenever I'm able to test my new Mavic Air completely

Vofas Posted at 7-31 23:26
Most likely, your smartphone lacks RAM. Is it 1 GB? A minimum of 3-4 GB is needed.

Thank you so much for your reply Vofas! I just tried with a phone which has 4 GB of RAM and this worked like a charm! Guess my WIKO (which has just 1 GB of RAM indeed), can't handle the app. Kind of sad as I didn't read anything about that regarding the required specs (though kind of expected it).

Yoshi_Mertens Posted at 8-2 06:19
Thanks a lot for your fast reply DJI Tony!
During my first flight I tried to fly without using a micro SD card at all. (Just worked with the internal 8 GB), as I was just trying out to launch and land the aircraft to test the functionallity.
The gimball seems to work as it keeps following the horizon when flying/moving the aicraft manually.

Hi, thanks for the update. I would like to clarify that using different mobile device would rectify the situation? Please keep us posted on the latest progress regarding this matter. Thank you for your support.

Yoshi_Mertens Posted at 8-2 06:21
Thank you so much for your reply Vofas! I just tried with a phone which has 4 GB of RAM and this worked like a charm! Guess my WIKO (which has just 1 GB of RAM indeed), can't handle the app. Kind of sad as I didn't read anything about that regarding the required specs (though kind of expected it).

I know from my own experience that the old versions of DJI Go 4 (1.5-2 years ago) worked fine on my phone with 3 GB RAM. Then, after the updates, large delays in the video on the smartphone screen began (1-2 seconds). I had to change the phone to another, where the memory is 6 GB.

DJI Tony Posted at 8-4 13:05
Hi, thanks for the update. I would like to clarify that using different mobile device would rectify the situation? Please keep us posted on the latest progress regarding this matter. Thank you for your support.

Yes indeed! I didn't do anything to the drone as I was pretty sure everything worked. I tested with 2 different phones:

1. A Samsung Galaxy S7, which seems to work fine (4 GB RAM)
2. A Gigaset GS270 plus (3 GB RAM)

I did most stuff with the Gigaset phone so far, and I was able to take a few pictures and film a short clip. Did some additional testing with the active track feature and the gesture mode and both worked too. When using the Gigaset, I did notice some lag in the video feed when flying for 20/30 m max from the RC. I performed the test in the field, far from houses etc and the phone wasn't connected to the internet either. I assume the minimal requirements for a smooth feed will be 3 to 4 GB as Vofas suggests too.

Should I perform some additional tests? I also noticed that, even in the field, the drone asks for a compass calibration (nearly every time). I always ignored it, and moved the drone/rebooted it, but last time I stood in the field and just had to calibrate it again. Is that normal, or does that relate to the app/phone too? (Message appeared on all 3 tested phones)

Vofas Posted at 8-4 21:07
I know from my own experience that the old versions of DJI Go 4 (1.5-2 years ago) worked fine on my phone with 3 GB RAM. Then, after the updates, large delays in the video on the smartphone screen began (1-2 seconds). I had to change the phone to another, where the memory is 6 GB.

Yes I did notice that too! I tested on a phone with 3 GB (see post above), which gives me some video feed, but it does lag, even though I was facing the drone and no obstacles were between the RC and the drone. (I don't want to break it :-P)
As soon as I do some faster movements/rotations, It's clear that the phone can't keep up with the video transmission.
What phone do you suggest atm? I already spend a decent amount on the drone, so I don't want to spend more to a phone which I just want to use for flying

Yoshi_Mertens Posted at 8-6 11:01
Yes indeed! I didn't do anything to the drone as I was pretty sure everything worked. I tested with 2 different phones:

1. A Samsung Galaxy S7, which seems to work fine (4 GB RAM)

Hi, thanks for the update. May we know what happened upon using the Samsung S7? Gigaset device is not part of our recommended list, therefore, the application may not work smoothly. Actually, using different mobile devices may run the app flawlessly due to the capability of the phone. However, since it's not part of our recommended device, the behavior of the application may change especially if there will be an application or firmware update. We do appreciate your understanding.

Yoshi_Mertens Posted at 8-6 11:05
Yes I did notice that too! I tested on a phone with 3 GB (see post above), which gives me some video feed, but it does lag, even though I was facing the drone and no obstacles were between the RC and the drone. (I don't want to break it :-P)
As soon as I do some faster movements/rotations, It's clear that the phone can't keep up with the video transmission.
What phone do you suggest atm? I already spend a decent amount on the drone, so I don't want to spend more to a phone which I just want to use for flying

I specifically bought Xiaomi Mi8 for a drone. It has 6 GB of RAM. The delay in transmitting a video signal does not exceed those specified in the instructions.

DJI Tony Posted at 8-6 16:07
Hi, thanks for the update. May we know what happened upon using the Samsung S7? Gigaset device is not part of our recommended list, therefore, the application may not work smoothly. Actually, using different mobile devices may run the app flawlessly due to the capability of the phone. However, since it's not part of our recommended device, the behavior of the application may change especially if there will be an application or firmware update. We do appreciate your understanding.

You're welcome, thank you for following up and helping me out in the first place! Well nothing went wrong with the Samsung S7, It's just not my phone (neither is the Gigaset). When it's available, I can use the Samsung (which is on the recommended list), but until I have my own phone, I'm relying on others.

But basically it's possible to run the app and fly with many phones, when they've enough RAM, but DJI only guarantees and tests the phones enlisted on the store page of the Mavic Air/drones in general, I'm I right?

Vofas Posted at 8-6 21:06
I specifically bought Xiaomi Mi8 for a drone. It has 6 GB of RAM. The delay in transmitting a video signal does not exceed those specified in the instructions.

Thanks a lot for the info and your suggestion, will take a look at buying a new compatible phone in the future! :-)

Yoshi_Mertens Posted at 8-7 10:21
You're welcome, thank you for following up and helping me out in the first place! Well nothing went wrong with the Samsung S7, It's just not my phone (neither is the Gigaset). When it's available, I can use the Samsung (which is on the recommended list), but until I have my own phone, I'm relying on others.

But basically it's possible to run the app and fly with many phones, when they've enough RAM, but DJI only guarantees and tests the phones enlisted on the store page of the Mavic Air/drones in general, I'm I right?

Hi, we do appreciate giving us the feedback with this particular matter. There are a lot of devices that were released in the market especially for the Android devices and due to that, we couldn't test them all for compatibility matter. However, our designated department is doing the best to provide more option for phone compatibility. We're not opposed to our valued DJI customers for what mobile device they would like to use with our DJI Go 4 app. Feel free to use the preferred phone for as long as the DJI GO 4 app works properly.

DJI Tony Posted at 8-8 14:16
Hi, we do appreciate giving us the feedback with this particular matter. There are a lot of devices that were released in the market especially for the Android devices and due to that, we couldn't test them all for compatibility matter. However, our designated department is doing the best to provide more option for phone compatibility. We're not opposed to our valued DJI customers for what mobile device they would like to use with our DJI Go 4 app. Feel free to use the preferred phone for as long as the DJI GO 4 app works properly.

You're welcome and thanks a lot for the feedback! Will look around a bit and decide on what phone I can buy in the future :-) Thanks once again for the support!

Yoshi_Mertens Posted at 8-9 10:02
You're welcome and thanks a lot for the feedback! Will look around a bit and decide on what phone I can buy in the future :-) Thanks once again for the support!

It's my pleasure, Yoshi! May you please always have a safe flight. Cheers!

Just wanted to give an update regarding the video transmission and my experience with different types of mobile devices here.
So initially I started by trying with my Wiko Lenny 3, which was able to control the drone, but no video transmission/live feed was coming through. The main reason for this was the lack of RAM (only 1 GB of RAM).
Then I tried with a Gigaset GS270 (3GB RAM), which also works fine. Same goes for the Samsung Galaxy S7 (4GB RAM), which also is on the recommended list.
At this moment I have a brand new phone received from Motorola and this one seems to work pretty fine too. This device was released last summer and runs on Android One (Android 9) and also has 4GB of RAM.
So the final verdict (based on my experience) is that it's possible to run the DJI GO 4 app with the last updates till today and fly without any problems with these phones:

1. A Samsung Galaxy S7, which seems to work fine (4 GB RAM)
2. A Gigaset GS270 plus (3 GB RAM) - Android 8
3. Motorola One Action (4 GB RAM) - Android One (Android 9)

Please note that I always try to fly with the phone in Airplane mode, to avoid notifications during flight :-)

Here's one of my first shots! Now it's time to play around with all settings and learn how to fly