I’ve long been a harsh critic of DJI’s app development team for pushing updates that not only don’t improve the app but actually make it worse especially for older aircraft.
That assessment still stands, it is going to take much more to reverse that track record but I will still give a small credit to DJI for finally fixing some old bugs that date all the way from the beginning and fixing some more recent particularly annoying bugs.
4.3.38 fixes a bug that has been present in every app all the way back to the first version of DJI Go 4 relating to tap fly. Previously, when starting a tap fly mission the drone would violently pitch forward as fast as possible to reach the set speed as quickly as possible. On the Mavic Pro this would cause the camera to violently snap downward as the drone has a built in function that forces the camera downward when the drone abruptly pitches forward. This is to prevent the gimbal from smashing into the mechanical stop of the tilt motor. Previously I had to set a slow initial tap fly speed and slowly increase the speed slider to the desired flight speed to avoid this. Now with the new update the drone gracefully eases to the set tap fly speed. This is a welcome and surprising fix because this bug was not talked about much.
Next, and this is a big one for some folks, in relatively recent versions of the DJI Go 4 app, DJI added a warning message when the drone got more than (I think it is 4000 ft) from the home point to warn the pilot about maintains VLOS and local regulations. In the version it was introduced and every version since, this warning message could not be dismissed or at least if it was dismissed it would show back up right away. This was ridiculous because VLOS from the operator is not determined by distance from the home point. If piloting the drone from a vehicle or boat which is perfectly legal in most cases then you can maintain VLOS easily even if the drone is far from the home point.
In the latest update the warning still appears but it can be dismissed and will not reappear. I personally am perfectly fine with this arrangement.
Like I said it’s not enough to reverse the resentment from previous app updates but I think it’s important to call out DJI for doing something in the right direction even if it is a baby step.
This is specifically for the iOS version of the app. I don’t have an Android device so I can’t say if these bugs were fixed or even existed in the first place. If anybody knows please let us know.
That assessment still stands, it is going to take much more to reverse that track record but I will still give a small credit to DJI for finally fixing some old bugs that date all the way from the beginning and fixing some more recent particularly annoying bugs.
4.3.38 fixes a bug that has been present in every app all the way back to the first version of DJI Go 4 relating to tap fly. Previously, when starting a tap fly mission the drone would violently pitch forward as fast as possible to reach the set speed as quickly as possible. On the Mavic Pro this would cause the camera to violently snap downward as the drone has a built in function that forces the camera downward when the drone abruptly pitches forward. This is to prevent the gimbal from smashing into the mechanical stop of the tilt motor. Previously I had to set a slow initial tap fly speed and slowly increase the speed slider to the desired flight speed to avoid this. Now with the new update the drone gracefully eases to the set tap fly speed. This is a welcome and surprising fix because this bug was not talked about much.
Next, and this is a big one for some folks, in relatively recent versions of the DJI Go 4 app, DJI added a warning message when the drone got more than (I think it is 4000 ft) from the home point to warn the pilot about maintains VLOS and local regulations. In the version it was introduced and every version since, this warning message could not be dismissed or at least if it was dismissed it would show back up right away. This was ridiculous because VLOS from the operator is not determined by distance from the home point. If piloting the drone from a vehicle or boat which is perfectly legal in most cases then you can maintain VLOS easily even if the drone is far from the home point.
In the latest update the warning still appears but it can be dismissed and will not reappear. I personally am perfectly fine with this arrangement.
Like I said it’s not enough to reverse the resentment from previous app updates but I think it’s important to call out DJI for doing something in the right direction even if it is a baby step.
This is specifically for the iOS version of the app. I don’t have an Android device so I can’t say if these bugs were fixed or even existed in the first place. If anybody knows please let us know.
