Fly no longer supported on any iPad Minis!

[PhotoDB]

I've used nothing but an iPadMini 5 for better than a year now - no problems for either Mavic 3 or Mavic 2 Air.
Just received the $309 RC Controller, from Amazon, so we'll be trying that later this week.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

I've been using the Mini 5 and haven't had any issues with it at all. The Mini 4 however will throw out that "CPU overloaded" message.

 

[Chrislaf]

@cheddar-man, I can understand you not wanting to go to an Android tablet BUT if you are just purchasing the tablet to use as a screen to fly your drone you might want to give Android a try - it's not all that bad. I say this as a long time Mac user and iOS user. Although there are some quirks and I still find that iOS works smoother than the Android system, there are some advantages you may find if you try an Android tablet.

One of the big problems with iPads and iPhones is the screen dimming in hot weather which doesn't seem to be a problem with Android tablets at least not the cheap one that I have to use with my older drones. Also, generally speaking, you can often get an Android tablet with similar specs to a particular iPad at a lower cost than an iPad. The problem with Android is there are so many choices that it can be overwhelming but that is where this site can help. @msinger even has a link on his site that tells you how to optimize an Android device so that you can get the best performance out of it.

Regardless, as others have said DJIs compatibility list is usually not up-to-date and accurate so if you end up going with a newer iPad it will likely work with Fly. Just wanted to let you know that as a long time Apple user the differences between the two operating systems these days aren't that great and that either device will likely work well.

Good luck with your search and choice.

Chris

 

[Chaosrider]

I bought a Mini 4 a month ago just to fly my Mini 2 but kept getting this error message and sometimes it just quit so it's gone back to the seller.
It is this that made me contact DJI in the first place as this iPad was on their approved list until recently!

View attachment 153390

This may be a dumb question, but do you always close all of the other apps on the device before launching DJI Fly?

That's what I do, but then, I'm a Droid Guy...

;-)

 

[PHZ]

I get that nastygram all the time on my iPhone 6s. This morning was the first time I noticed a real issue. I was flying about 20’ from me and the rc N-1 disconnected with my Mini 2, albeit only for a second or two.
DJI Fly is a bloated, underperforming app relative to DJI GO 4. Yet, it is a cpu hog. It is too bad they couldn’t make GO 4 compatible with the newer drones.

 

[cheddar-man]

This may be a dumb question, but do you always close all of the other apps on the device before launching DJI Fly?

That's what I do, but then, I'm a Droid Guy...

;-)

I don't have anything else on the iPad!! Just the Fly App.

 

[cheddar-man]

I've been using the Mini 5 and haven't had any issues with it at all. The Mini 4 however will throw out that "CPU overloaded" message.

Interesting, even though it runs iOS 15+
Maybe I'll get one to try it.
Just checked the specs and yes the 5 has a more powerful processor and an extra 1Gb RAM.

 

[blusnapper]

I’m using the Apple iPad Mini 6. No problems.

 

[Robert Prior]

The iPad Mini 4 came out in late 2015 and uses an Apple A8 Processor, current versions of Fly, perhaps even older one's would have over-whelmed the CPU in the Mini 4.. AirPlane mode, and even force quitting all the apps does nothing when the CPU's processing power is overwhelmed by the requirements of the App.

True, but when I bought my Mavic Mini the iPad Mini 4 was listed as a supported device. One of the updated I downloaded because it had "bug fixes" gave me a version of Fly that my device can no longer run properly.

I'm still rather annoyed at DJI for that. Something in the release notes (which I always read before installing an update) that devices xx and yy are no longer supported would have been enough for me to not install the update (and my Mavic Mini would be more reliable when flying).

 

[Robert Prior]

I get that nastygram all the time on my iPhone 6s.

When I was given my iPhone 6s last October I was excited because I thought I could finally fit my Mini into a smaller bag for hiking. Turns out that it is so overloaded that I get the overloaded message before I even spin up the rotors.

I really wish there was a way to install an older version of Fly, from a couple of years ago before the Mini 2 came out and Fly was less bloated.

 

[Macinfo]

I've just had an update from DJI;
The Ipad Mini 5 is compatible as long as the iOS version is not iOS 15 or later, hence we advise using an older Ipad version such as iPad Pro (9.7-inch), iPad Air 2 (9.7-inch), iPad mini 4 (8-inch), iPad Pro (10.5-inch), iPad Pro 2018 (11-inch), and iPad Pro (12.9-inch).

This has confused me even more as I had the Mini 4 and it was "overloaded"!

I think DJI is confused.. I am running Fly on an iPhone 12 Pro Max running IOS 15.6, and Fly works fine, no issues

Even though if you want to get picky, iPadOS is not exactly the same as IOS for an iPhone, I would not expect Fly to care, specially since others are using a iPad Gen 5 seemingly without issues, though perhaps they are not on iPadOS 15. but unless they purposely have not updated, they are probably on version 15.

the iPad Mini 5 may indeed have enough CPU to run the current version of Fly, though that could change. If you want to insure some success, get a 6th Gen Mini, it should have CPU to spare with a jump from A12 to A15 Bionic..

 

[Robert Prior]

iPad mini 4 (8-inch)

That's what I've got. It struggled with later versions of Fly. iOS was 13 (I think) — definitely not 15 because chap at the Apple Store warned me not to update to the latest iOS.

 

[SimonP]

Its been a while since I had my mini 1 and 2 but I was sure that the flyapp worked on the Mini 4 that I have, but then it may be that the later versions may be the issue

Very odd. I bought an iPad Mini 5 five months ago, specially to use with my Air 2S and Mini 2.
No problems so far and have used both drones this week.
Bigger screen are over the top….conspicuous and clunky. My iPhone 12 pro screen goes almost back when warm which is all the time as I live in a hot place.

 

[SimonP]

I think DJI is confused.. I am running Fly on an iPhone 12 Pro Max running IOS 15.6, and Fly works fine, no issues

Even though if you want to get picky, iPadOS is not exactly the same as IOS for an iPhone, I would not expect Fly to care, specially since others are using a iPad Gen 5 seemingly without issues, though perhaps they are not on iPadOS 15. but unless they purposely have not updated, they are probably on version 15.

the iPad Mini 5 may indeed have enough CPU to run the current version of Fly, though that could change. If you want to insure some success, get a 6th Gen Mini, it should have CPU to spare with a jump from A12 to A15 Bionic..

I’m using the Mini 5 with ios 15.6.1

 

[Meta4]

Interesting, even though it runs iOS 15+
Maybe I'll get one to try it.
Just checked the specs and yes the 5 has a more powerful processor and an extra 1Gb RAM.

The iPad mini came out in 2015 ... it was great for the time, but that time is back in the past when the DJI apps keep getting more demanding.
Even the Mini 6 still only has 3GB of RAM.

I'm always amused to hear people saying they wouldn't consider an Android device, or that (they believe) DJI software runs better on Apple.
I've used two Android tablets since April 2015 (7 years now) and the DJI apps have performed flawlessly, without a single glitch over a couple of thousand flights.
The older one still works as well now as when it was new.
And no dark screen or shutting down because of cold or heat.

 

[cheddar-man]

The iPad mini came out in 2015 ... it was great for the time, but that time is back in the past when the DJI apps keep getting more demanding.
Even the Mini 6 still only has 3GB of RAM.

I'm always amused to hear people saying they wouldn't consider an Android device, or that (they believe) DJI software runs better on Apple.
I've used two Android tablets since April 2015 (7 years now) and the DJI apps have performed flawlessly, without a single glitch over a couple of thousand flights.
The older one still works as well now as when it was new.
And no dark screen or shutting down because of cold or heat.

So don't be secretive Meta4, what were/are those great Androids?

 

[Meta4]

So don't be secretive Meta4, what were/are those great Androids?

There are plenty of good ones, but the ones I use are Huawei's M3 and M5

 

[Macinfo]

The iPad mini came out in 2015 ... it was great for the time, but that time is back in the past when the DJI apps keep getting more demanding.
Even the Mini 6 still only has 3GB of RAM.

I'm always amused to hear people saying they wouldn't consider an Android device, or that (they believe) DJI software runs better on Apple.
I've used two Android tablets since April 2015 (7 years now) and the DJI apps have performed flawlessly, without a single glitch over a couple of thousand flights.
The older one still works as well now as when it was new.
And no dark screen or shutting down because of cold or heat.

I am always amazed at the clear presence of piles of anecdotal data of people having for more issues with Fly on Android over IOS on these forums, DJI's forums, more. slews of threads with Android problems, wanting to revert, etc... The fact you cannot get it from the Google Store, for whatever reason that is.. You can only get Fly for Android from DJI if you want to be secure..

You can ignore it perhaps because you're technically savvy enough and have no issues.. But others are not, and I think its relatively clear that Android is not as secure, or stable as IOS is.. Almost every Android update forces DJI to fix some Android issue, which seems really rare with IOS.. I am assuming we can probably agree to dis-agree here..

Sure, IOS has its issues too, you cannot revert versions at all, once you upgrade, thats it.. DJI did provide some way to install older IOS versions once upon a time, but I don't think they can do that anymore. The devices can suffer from heat, but so can others... just takes a little effort to work around that. Nothing is perfect...

 

[Meta4]

I am always amazed at the clear presence of piles of anecdotal data of people having for more issues with Fly on Android over IOS on these forums,

I note that the majority of those anecdotes come from Apple fanciers.

I wouldn't try to tell anyone that Android is better than Apple ... but in my experience it's at least as good as Apple devices for running DJI software.
Use whichever you are comfortable with, they are all good.
Just make sure you have a powerful processor and plenty of RAM.

 

[cheddar-man]

The main reason I prefer Apple for my drones is that our phones are iPhones and our computers are Macs, they all talk to each other, very easy to transfer info between them. An Android would be isolated!
Also "the box" says it all!