Litchi vs. DJI Fly - the good and the bad of each app

[Yaros]

Hello, I bought Litchi a month ago and was trying some stuff like waypoints and orbiting, I also used DJI Fly for some other stuff like tracking and flying manually.
Here is what I noticed:

DJI Fly:

• Very good for regular manual flying has easy camera adjustments with the new 1.5.9 update
• Active track with Mavic Air 2 and Air 2S works extremely well, sad that it isn't available on the mini 2.
• Panorama auto stitching works perfectly (almost every time).
• Quickshots are cool, I don't use them much though.
• Compass/radar is very visual and reliable
• Doesn't have waypoint mode
• Doesn't have survey/mapping mode
• Doesn't have GPS based tracking/orbiting
• The frequent updates break some parts of the app always, not good

Litchi:

• The UI looks old (android 4.0 style) and also kind of sketchy to me (I know it doesn't affect flying, but still)
• Waypoint mode is great! The ability to plan and simulate on a computer is awesome!
• DJI SDK doesn't have real waypoints for newer drones, it uses Virtual Sticks and simulates, which is very annoying, but up to DJI to solve.
• Orbit mode on map (not only visually like POI) is great for some occasions
• VR mode is pretty great, head tracking is cool
• Doesn't have auto stitching panorama on Android
• Doesn't have the ability to turn on crosshair in the middle
• Doesn't have survey/mapping mode, although can be fixed by planning the mission in Mission Planner and using a custom script to convert to Litchi (not yet released, written by me)
• Active Tracking works not that well as with DJI Fly, although with the mini 2 it is quite a great alternative because mini 2 doesn't have active track with DJI Fly
• The app is pretty stable, hasn't crashed on me even once.
• I seem to be experiencing worse signal with Litchi compared to DJI Fly with my Air 2

What are your thoughts about the apps, which one do you use as main for flying? Leave a comment!

 

[jclarkw]

...

• I seem to be experiencing worse signal with Litchi compared to DJI Fly with my Air 2

...

Yaros -- So I think you are saying that Litchi works OK with the Mavic Air 2. Correct? A few questions if I may:
Does Litchi save flight logs for later analysis with, say, Flight Reader, as does DJI Fly?
Does it operate the Return to Home, Update Home Point, etc. functions correctly?
Does it run on most cell phones (which DJI Fly does not)?
In general, do you recommend it in lieu of DJI Fly, or is the Fly app still necessary?
-- jclarkw

 

[Yaros]

Yaros -- So I think you are saying that Litchi works OK with the Mavic Air 2. Correct? A few questions if I may:
Does Litchi save flight logs for later analysis with, say, Flight Reader, as does DJI Fly?
Does it operate the Return to Home, Update Home Point, etc. functions correctly?
Does it run on most cell phones (which DJI Fly does not)?
In general, do you recommend it in lieu of DJI Fly, or is the Fly app still necessary?
-- jclarkw

It does save flight data, I use airdata to sync the flight data, but you can also scan it manually in CSV format.
Return to home and update homepoint work correctly.
Litchi should work on most phones
You will still need DJI Fly, as Litchi doesn't have some settings like DJI Fly does, most settings sync.

 

[ScottTX]

Hi All, I wanted to revisit this topic, and specifically, what is the experience with the load factor that this app puts on the tablet relative to DJI Fly. I.E. does running Litchi releive you of having to use a "high powered" Apple or Android tablet?

 

[Yaros]

Hi All, I wanted to revisit this topic, and specifically, what is the experience with the load factor that this app puts on the tablet relative to DJI Fly. I.E. does running Litchi releive you of having to use a "high powered" Apple or Android tablet?

Litchi does work on lower-end devices, especially 32-bit devices, which are not supported by DJI Fly.

 

[aliendavid]

Litchi crashes every time I make a 3d panorama sphere with more than like 40 pics when stitching together… sucks….

 

[Firejay27]

I've used Litchi on my Mavic Air and I hope to use it on my MA2 when they update it for the RC Pro. I used it do a time lapse of sorts for a new building that was going up. I used Google Maps and some other resources (I had the building footprint plans from the builder) and setup my waypoints, camera angles, speed, etc from my PC. Went out every few weeks and flew the same mission and was able to use the footage to show the progression of the building being built. Sadly Covid hit and I my MA crashed (not while using Litchi) so I never got the completion of the building done as it was delayed over a year. I know people like to sometimes complain about it but I've had good luck with it so far.

 

[footfly]

Litchi does work on lower-end devices, especially 32-bit devices, which are not supported by DJI Fly.

Roger that, yes, Litchi works, as mentioned, with 32-bit and with android below 6.0.
That is part of the benefit of Litchi compared to DJI Fly. While there is a small fee, Litchi is more versatile and flexible.

 

[DougMcC]

One of the great Litchi strengths is the ability to set up way points, altitude, distance, and camera subject framing for specific cameras on various Mavics in Google Earth! These are easily exported TO Mission Hub. In the Hub you can address curved paths and altitudes etc. Save the mission and export the mission BACK to Google Earth. Then easily virtually fly that created mission. Trouble shoot and adjust the mission while at home. It is all explained with a great video available on the Hub. I have used this for some great complex fly-by video using different POI during different parts of a single mission. This works well and DJI to my knowledge offers nothing like this. The Litchi Google Earth integration works just fine. I’m flying a M2P with a SC (Android)

 

[ashyt16]

Hi All, I wanted to revisit this topic, and specifically, what is the experience with the load factor that this app puts on the tablet relative to DJI Fly. I.E. does running Litchi releive you of having to use a "high powered" Apple or Android tablet?

I believe the only reason for this requirement is because DJIFLY also records to the device running the app. Turn this off and both should be similar.
Also an important feature of Litchi is auto recording, not mentioned in the OP.

 

[ScottTX]

I believe the only reason for this requirement is because DJIFLY also records to the device running the app. Turn this off and both should be similar.
Also an important feature of Litchi is auto recording, not mentioned in the OP.

Well that would make sense although currently DJ Fly is not able to auto record to the tablet/phone. (Software bug)
I've pretty much made peace with the idea that for IOS, you need a Mini 5 or 6 or a contemporary version full size iPad (8th Gen or better) My 8th Gen iPad does fine but it's a bit cumbersome. (Makes the controller "top heavy")