is it best to upgrade or not upgrade firmware in all birds and controllers before dji ban maybe hits the united states

[GadgetGuy]

The notion of firmware updates creating problems has been blown way out of proportion. I've been updating DJI drone firmware on all my drones promptly for the last five years and never had an issue.

Not true.

DJI has created many updates in the past that snuck Trojan Horses into the system without full disclosure, or without any disclosure in some cases, or introduced new bugs while trying to squash old ones .

These include changing GEO from being merely informational and optional with a toggle to turn it off in the software, to making it mandatory, without any disclosure that the toggle would be completely removed by the update, and also making the FW anti-rollback, so you could not revert back to the prior version after updating.

Similarly, DJI's implementation of RID broadcasting FW onto older drones was done with ant-rollback FW and without full disclosure on the Mini 3 Pro that it would cause RID to be broadcast regardless of whether the regular battery was used or not, even though there was, and still is, no legal requirement that the Mini 3 Pro broadcast RID when used with the regular battery.

 

[anotherlab]

Not sure why it would go away, other than the US decides DJI is a big threat and takes the web site down or DJI stops all firmware updates to the United States. That is the main reason for my question: will my birds still fly no matter what firmware they are flying on, whether new or old if this happens.
Thank you for responding.

While the US is a significant percentage of DJI's business, the rest of the world will still be purchasing the models not currently available in the US.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

How did you arrive at that understanding? Do you have some inside information from DJI?

I think he is referring to the evaluation that is coming due to test DJI drones for transmission of information back to China. It was ordered last year and completion due this year, yet no agency has taken the leap to conduct it.

 

[slowpony]

Criticism of Huawei - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thank you for taking the time to respond and sending me this link. Very interesting.

 

[slowpony]

I think he is referring to the evaluation that is coming due to test DJI drones for transmission of information back to China. It was ordered last year and completion due this year, yet no agency has taken the leap to conduct it.

Yes and thank you for helping to clarify my question.

 

[propflux01]

I share to OP's concern as well. Last month I dusted off my Air 3 and it would not pass hover until it got its update. Can't do much with a drone that just hovers 3 feet off the ground.

 

[slowpony]

I share to OP's concern as well. Last month I dusted off my Air 3 and it would not pass hover until it got its update. Can't do much with a drone that just hovers 3 feet off the ground.

Thank you for responding and letting me know your Air 3 can only hover until it is updated. This is the exact scenario I was looking for in my question, whether or not new or old firmware will make any difference if it comes to the day that either the US or DJI deems to Ground all DJI drones
just by flipping a switch. One question I have, did it fly flawlessly the last time you flew it before this episode happened?
Kind regards, Jack

 

[propflux01]

Thank you for responding and letting me know your Air 3 can only hover until it is updated. This is the exact scenario I was looking for in my question, whether or not new or old firmware will make any difference if it comes to the day that either the US or DJI deems to Ground all DJI drones
just by flipping a switch. One question I have, did it fly flawlessly the last time you flew it before this episode happened?
Kind regards, Jack

Yes, all had been normal until then. I normally always did updates when they came out, but in this case, life got in the way, and I couldnt fly for a few months.. That is when the issue came up. Went out to fly, said it needed an update, I ignored it, but drone wouldn't fly above 3feet, nor would it control. All it would do was hover, and land. Wouldn't turn, spin, anything. Would only start engines, and raise the 3 feet and hover. Once i updated it, it worked fine and has been since.

To be honest, with all this DJI/Government stuff going on, I am very surprised that someone hasn't come up with software/Firmware to overwrite the DJI stuff, like they did with the old NAZA controllers.

 

[High_Order1]

I forgot about that wrinkle.

You have to log into the mothership every so often, or else it reduces ceiling and distance to unuseful values.

I don't think you have to accept the updates though, is this correct?

 

[ericole]

Hello, I have been an everyday avid reader for a very long time; but this is my very first post/question. I done a search for my specific question, but I did not find an answer; so I hope I did not miss anything, and I am not breaking any of the rules. I own several DJI drones, starting with the Mini 2 thru the Mini 4 pro along with all the controllers with built in screens starting with the RM500 smart controller to the RC 2. I am a recreational flier, and all of my Air models are registered including all my Mini models. Over the years I have been very fortunate to not have any problems or crashes with any of them, thanks mostly to all the posts I have read on this site. I do have
everything updated with the firmware that activates RID; but that is about as new as it gets. All my drones and controllers work flawlessly on this firmware, and that is the reason I have stopped upgrading firmware. So hopefully if anybody knows or has thoughts on this, I will have maybe a better chance of not ending up with a bunch of grounded boat anchors if there is a hard ban on DJI and their web site goes away. I don't want this to happen just because I did or did not upgrade all to their latest firmware.
Kind Regards and thank you, Jack

I'm very much of this mindset - it all works like it should, so why update? I've seen too often where electronic/SW updates either add something (a restriction?) I don't want, or break something that was working perfectly. I have an original Mavic Pro. I'm the same way with my phones and computers - VERY slow to update to the new OS b/c that just triggers a ton of apps to update, and other things, and could break something that currently works that I have no issues with. When I say slow, I mean molasses slow. Only this year did I move from my 2010 iMac, with about 7 generations old OS because some SW I used was no longer working. That forced me to move from Quicken 2007 (!!!!) to the modern version.

 

[slowpony]

I forgot about that wrinkle.

You have to log into the mothership every so often, or else it reduces ceiling and distance to unuseful values.

I don't think you have to accept the updates though, is this correct?

Yes, I have been hit with the login about every 3 to 6 months; but never had to do any of the updates to make any of my birds fly successfully like they have in the past on the old firmware.

 

[High_Order1]

I generally update after a cooling off period, so I never thought about testing to see what the system would do.

Guess I could go to the official forum and have one of the bots tell me lolo

 

[Bad Santa]

If the US government told the American people that all the drones you purchased, for THOUSANDS of dollars, will no longer work, there'd be quite the uproar.
If DJI updates firmware, there's still this thing called, the internet, that people could use for updates.

 

[High_Order1]

unless there was a concerted campaign to sow hate and distrust among the public.

Then, they would be glad the perverts in command lost their flying binoculars....

 

[GadgetGuy]

I sandbox all of my systems with dedicated controllers and dedicated iPads that are never updated. That way, no iOS update can make my version of GO 4 or Fly incompatible with the newest iOS version, forcing the app to be updated, which can then force a FW update of the drone to be compatible with the app update!

If you insist upon using the same tablet or controller for multiple drone models, when you update the app to accommodate the newest drone model, your app version is now likely incompatible with your older FW on your previous drone models. Don't do it!

When wanting to avoid cram down changes like GEO and RID, sandboxing is the only way.

 

[High_Order1]

us android types are about to be in a worse boat; we won't be able to sideload at all.

Maybe.

 

[anotherlab]

us android types are about to be in a worse boat; we won't be able to sideload at all.

Maybe.

That is not accurate. Sideloading is not being banned across the board. Sideloading apps by unregistered developers will be blocked. DJI is already a registered Android developer.

 

[slowpony]

That is not accurate. Sideloading is not being banned across the board. Sideloading apps by unregistered developers will be blocked. DJI is already a registered Android developer.

Thanks, that is good to know.

 

[High_Order1]

That is not accurate. Sideloading is not being banned across the board. Sideloading apps by unregistered developers will be blocked. DJI is already a registered Android developer.

You are guessing.

Show me the OFFICIAL DJI store in google play, or where they are listed as a CURRENT google play store registered developer.

 

[anotherlab]

You are guessing.

Show me the OFFICIAL DJI store in google play, or where they are listed as a CURRENT google play store registered developer.

This is easily verifiable. DJI has had apps in the store and currently has the Mimo app listed in the store. They are listed as SZ Dji Osmo Technology. They can sign new drone-related apps using those credentials.

Or look at it another way: Why would DJI completely close out Android users from using their software when they can easily allow it?