iPhone w/o sim card

[N5ODJ]

I'd like to buy an unlocked iphone8Plus for my Mavic2-S. I only will use this phone with my drone & the factory controller, not using it as an actual telephone. For data transfer, etc, I can use wi-fi. Will the phone work without a SIM card?
Thanks, Robert

 

[sbunting]

I'd like to buy an unlocked iphone8Plus for my Mavic2-S. I only will use this phone with my drone & the factory controller, not using it as an actual telephone. For data transfer, etc, I can use wi-fi. Will the phone work without a SIM card?
Thanks, Robert

That's exactly my setup and the iPhone, like any smart phone, is a computer that just happens to make traditional telephone calls. You go to most any large city and the homeless folks have phones, most without SIMs, and hop on any free wireless. VOIP call services abound, so no SIM, no plan, and free communications. I just tether my iPhone connected to the controller to my main iPhone with the SIM. Viola, internet if I want it. Works really well.

 

[N5ODJ]

That's exactly my setup and the iPhone, like any smart phone, is a computer that just happens to make traditional telephone calls. You go to most any large city and the homeless folks have phones, most without SIMs, and hop on any free wireless. VOIP call services abound, so no SIM, no plan, and free communications. I just tether my iPhone o my controller to my main iPhone with the SIM. Viola, internet if I want it. Works really well.

Awesome! That's good news & thanks for the reply. I just got a new iphone & the case won't allow the plug-in wire (tether?) to fit. :-0 So I've ordered that 8+ for the drone.

 

[millbah]

I have the same configuration, but I am having a bad experience with Dronelink. The iPhone 8 is not strong enough to drive the app. Just flying with the sticks works fine. You have to look at a phone with 4gb ram & fast processor, ie phone younger than 2 yrs, if you are looking at map mission planning level of flying. Maven works like a dream as it is not as resource demanding.

 

[sbunting]

I'm using DJI FLY, just for clarification and I don't bog it down with anything except DJI and Bu4UFly. No issues at all. The phone is squeaky clean, as it no bloat apps at all. I have done some Hyperlapse work with it. No issues.

A little background. Someone stole my identity and ordered the phone from Verizon, on my nickel of course. I guess they weren't smart enough to ship it anywhere except to me, so it came to me. I told Verizon it was on them, not me, as I had caught it shortly after the transaction went through and put a halt to it, fraud alert, the works. Nonetheless, they sent it to me anyway. Verizon is CDMA and I'm strictly a SIM card person, as I travel abroad a lot and the rest of the world is GSM (SIM cards). So, I told Verizon I had no use for it, didn't want it, and they could do a courier pickup, since I had no plan to drive to their nearest office (didn't know where it is and didn't care, still don't). You know what? They told me to keep it. Go figure! They blacklisted it on the U.S. networks, but it will also accept a SIM, so I tested it overseas and it works over 'there'. Nonetheless, it was a perfect candidate for a dedicated smart phone for my Mavic Air 2 with no SIM. Bare bones, pure and simple. Would I buy a new one for this purpose? No! If I had one collecting dust, yes. If I could buy one cheap, likely so. With my line of work, I have well over a hundred mobile phones on the shelf and this is the one I decided for this purpose. I also plan to pull data from it for drone forensics testing, so it serves a purpose beyond the obvious.