My Fix for the Mavic Mini RC Orientation Issue on iOS.

[kjmasson]

Are you having orientation issues (which I too was having) whereby the orientation icon at the bottom of the phone display in DJI Fly was showing the AC facing the wrong way and indicating the AC was behind me (when clearly it was not)?

I found a fix that worked for me!

The iPhone has two settings for the compass;
1) Magnetic - which is based on the earth's natural magnetic signal,
2) True North - which uses the phone's connected satellites to determine orientation and where North is.

In "Settings", select "Compass".
In there you will see the True North toggle. -- Turn it "ON".

Now the phone's internal compass (which apparently struggles with interference from the RC) uses Satellite signal to determine which way North is and therefore, where the AC is in relation to it.

Hope this works for you guys.

[ iPhone SE with iOS 13.4.1 ]

KJ

 

[RSDonovan]

Good to hear, but my suspicion is that True North must have a downside otherwise it would be the default? That said, the fact that it can be toggled means theres a reason for using True North which should be documented by DJI...

 

[kjmasson]

Good to hear, but my suspicion is that True North must have a downside otherwise it would be the default? That said, the fact that it can be toggled means theres a reason for using True North which should be documented by DJI...

True. I suspect one down side would be a situation where the phone doesn't have enough GPS signal to determine True North. However, in that case, the Mavic likely won't have enough Satellites for full function either.

Maybe traditionalists prefer a good, old-fashioned compass, and that's why iOS defaults to Magnetic North.

Either way, this makes me happy again.

 

[Occams Razor]

Interesting solution because True North is not that different than Magnetic North, at least on my iPhone. Someone in another forum had suggested flipping an iOS phone 180 deg in the mount to fix the issue. In any case, I will try your approach on my next flight. Thanks for posting.

 

[JMynes]

Interesting solution because True North is not that different than Magnetic North, at least on my iPhone. Someone in another forum had suggested flipping an iOS phone 180 deg in the mount to fix the issue. In any case, I will try your approach on my next flight. Thanks for posting.

The difference between True North and Magnetic North changes depending on where you are on the planet. In some locations the two are directly in line, thus zero difference. There is a small area near the North Pole where they are 180 degrees apart.

 

[Rex Peters]

Are you having orientation issues (which I too was having) whereby the orientation icon at the bottom of the phone display in DJI Fly was showing the AC facing the wrong way and indicating the AC was behind me (when clearly it was not)?

I found a fix that worked for me!

The iPhone has two settings for the compass;
1) Magnetic - which is based on the earth's natural magnetic signal,
2) True North - which uses the phone's connected satellites to determine orientation and where North is.

In "Settings", select "Compass".
In there you will see the True North toggle. -- Turn it "ON".

Now the phone's internal compass (which apparently struggles with interference from the RC) uses Satellite signal to determine which way North is and therefore, where the AC is in relation to it.

Hope this works for you guys.

[ iPhone SE with iOS 13.4.1 ]

KJ

Did you do a compass calibration on your phone as well and did you do the toggle while connected to the controller? I looked at my phone and it was already toggled. When using your phone compass, the top of the phone is the direction indicator. When you have the phone placed in the controller and you are facing North, the top of the phone is facing East. So now when you open the map in the Fly app, even if the drone is flying directly northbound away from you, the map shows the drone flying to the right (in the direction the top of the phone is pointing)

 

[CareyL]

Interesting solution because True North is not that different than Magnetic North, at least on my iPhone. Someone in another forum had suggested flipping an iOS phone 180 deg in the mount to fix the issue. In any case, I will try your approach on my next flight. Thanks for posting.

16 degrees here.
Latitude: 49° 15' 0" N
Longitude: 123° 7' 60" W

 

[kjmasson]

Did you do a compass calibration on your phone as well and did you do the toggle while connected to the controller? I looked at my phone and it was already toggled. When using your phone compass, the top of the phone is the direction indicator. When you have the phone placed in the controller and you are facing North, the top of the phone is facing East. So now when you open the map in the Fly app, even if the drone is flying directly northbound away from you, the map shows the drone flying to the right (in the direction the top of the phone is pointing)

Hmm... Very good point. My iphone doesn't have a calibration that I could find other than a "toggle" for auto calibrate (which was on). And that makes sense about the iphone top facing North unless you change the orientation and lock it before connecting your phone to the DJIFly. I would suspect in that case, it keeps North whichever way is locked as the top. Could be wrong though. I'll have to do some more testing.

It would be nice if it just worked. :-/

 

[ff22]

The difference between True North and Magnetic North changes depending on where you are on the planet. In some locations the two are directly in line, thus zero difference. There is a small area near the North Pole where they are 180 degrees apart.

And it is or was moving relatvely fast recently:

Magnetic North Shifting by 30 Miles a Year, Might Signal Pole Reversal

The magnetic pole is moving faster than at any time in human history, causing major problems for navigation and migratory wildlife.

www.mnn.com