Airplane Mode enabled on iPad or cell phone?

[tbw]

Is it necessary to enable the “Airplane Mode” on my iPad or Galaxy S10 phone when flying my Mini. If so, why? What are the consequences if I don’t enable it?

 

[RichR]

No, it's not necessary to use airplane/flight mode. However if you're in an area with high radio interference then reducing that coming from the phone can help. In the manual DJI tell you not to make or receive calls whilst the app is in use, but otherwise you can usually leave your phone connected to the network as normal.
If you see signal strength warnings, then consider turning off wifi and bluetooth at least (because they're on similar frequencies to the RC to AC link).
I've never needed to, but some people get poor range if they don't. It depends a lot on where you are and what interference is present.

 

[FoxhallGH]

If you stop your mobile data connection, you will lose the ability to see a real-time map of the area you are flying over. You can cache maps before you go to the area, but personally, I just stop Bluetooth & Wi-Fi.

 

[fificap]

Just try without airplane mode, then if you face disconnection, see if airplane mode fixe it!

 

[FoxhallGH]

Is it necessary to enable the “Airplane Mode” on my iPad or Galaxy S10 phone when flying my Mini. If so, why? What are the consequences if I don’t enable it?

Feedback on this and other forums does definitely indicate that you should at least turn Wi-Fi off on your mobile device - as this removes a very close source of RF interference to your MM controller.

 

[gymnast46]

I’m very new at this. In a few months I’ll be traveling outside of the country and hope to fly my Mavic mini. To prevent roaming charges on my iPhone, I’ll have flight mode engaged. If I’m reading the responses correctly above, I’ll still be able to use the drone?

 

[RichR]

Yes, it'll still work fine. You don't even need a phone plugged in at all to use the Mini (although it does restrict what you can do, and you've no idea what the camera's seeing).

 

[CareyL]

Is it necessary to enable the “Airplane Mode” on my iPad or Galaxy S10 phone when flying my Mini. If so, why? What are the consequences if I don’t enable it?

Get any mapping on your device and then you are good to go for airplane mode. It saves power. Your Android device, (Galaxy S10), will drain an additional approximately 500 mA from your controller. This can start to be an issue after 3 batteries of flight. You can mitigate this with an OTG & power bank. See the pic: