Flying with a phone w/o service plan & caching maps

Brianwithaneye · Jun 3, 2021

Good evening all-
Experienced pilot but sold my Yuneec a few years ago. Now a mini 2 owner and I want to get a 2nd device (another phone) to use as my viewfinder, mainly as my iPhone SE gen 1 is not compatible with the flight controller.
I’m thinking an iPhone 8 or X.
Looks like from what I have gathered on reading here, I can use a phone with no service plan & download Dji fly via WiFi when I’m home.
Then I understand the maps won’t work when I fly. But if I was in a cornfield in Nebraska and there was zero cell service would maps not work there, even if I had a service plan.

It’s been a frustrating go of it, figuring out that my SE isn’t compatible.
so- for me maps isn’t a complete deal breaker as I flew for almost 3 years without one but it’s also a feature that could be handy. I just don’t want to pay $30 a month for a plan so I can have the privilege of flying with a map on occasion & I don’t understand the cache your map thing..

Thanks and I look forward to learning a lot here.
Cheers from Kansas City

Gagey52 · Jun 3, 2021

Welcome to the forum from the land of Oz. Enjoy your Mini 2 a great a/c. Can’t you cache your maps on the phone using Wifi?

spudster · Jun 3, 2021

Brianwithaneye said:
I just don’t want to pay $30 a month for a plan so I can have the privilege of flying with a map on occasion & I don’t understand the cache your map thing..

Thanks and I look forward to learning a lot here.
Cheers from Kansas City

baristabob · Jun 4, 2021

Android user here and I use either my tablet or old phone with GPS on and see maps fine.

Yeunglings · Jun 4, 2021

Don't forget that you should be able to tether your display phone to the one in your pocket so that everything is connected. I fly with wifi only tablets all the time without any connection whatsoever but just Hotspot them off my phone when I'm concerned about being up to date and accurate.