My iPhone Shortcuts and DAT file Transfer/Upload Process

[kjmasson]

This forum has been awesome for me, so I wanted to give back a little bit. I know there have been other threads on this, but maybe someone new can benefit who hasn't seen or doesn't even know the other threads exist about this.

I recently started using my iPhone's "Shortcuts" app to run a pre and post flight setup which prepares my phone for flight. I forget which forum members suggested it in another thread, but thanks for that. I thought I'd share my "shortcuts" and see if anyone has anything to add, while at the same time providing a starting point for anyone looking to set these up on their phone.

PRE-FLIGHT
In the "Shortcuts" app, I created one called "Fly Mini" which has the following steps:

1. [Brightness] Set Brightness to 100%
2. [Volume] Set Volume to 90%
3. [Settings] Turn Do Not Disturb On ; Until Turned Off
4. [Scripting] Play Sound (this is just a confirmation notification)
5. [Scripting] Open DJI Fly

POST-FLIGHT
This one I called "Flight Ended":

1. [Brightness] Set Brightness to 50%
2. [Volume] Set Volume to 50%
3. [Settings] Turn Do Not Disturb Off
4. [Scripting] Open Files
5. [Scripting] Play Sound (again, this is just a confirmation notification)

NOTE: regarding number 4 in "POST-FLIGHT", the reason for this to remember to grab that DAT log file from your files and move it to a dropbox folder on my phone before the app syncs with DJI and removes it.

Don't forget, you can add these shortcuts as an app icon on your iPhone (which is kinda wonky) or as a "Widget" (which works great). Do this by clicking the blue circle with the three dots while creating or editing either shortcut.

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For more information on these files and why that's important, check out this thread: Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide

HOW I transfer my DAT file from the "Files" app (you need to have the dropbox app on your phone):

1. In "Files", click the "Browse" icon at the bottom.
2. Under "Locations", select "On My Phone"
3. Go into the "DJI Fly" folder and scroll down to find the "FlightRecords" folder and tap it.
4. Scroll down to the "MCDatFlightRecords" folder and tap it.
5. *In there you should find one or more files "YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS_FLY###.DAT", tap **"Select" at the top, and then select that file.
6. At the bottom, tap the "upload/share" button that looks like a box with an arrow pointing straight up from the middle of it.
7. Tap the "Open in Dropbox" in the second row of icons. (if it is not here, you may need to add it by scrolling to the right and tapping the "More" icon.
8. This will open dropbox where you can select a folder to which you'd like to save the .DAT file.
9. Select a folder, and top "Save" at the top right.
10. Wait for the file to upload to dropbox and then you can exit the apps and you're good to go.
11. Go into DJI fly and ensure "Auto Sync" is turned off in the "Settings" section. (In app go to: Profile > Settings > Sync Flight Data > toggle the switch)

NOTES:
* for number 5, if you have selected to automatically sync log files to DJI in the DJI app settings, there may not be any files in this folder because they tend to get removed once DJI fly syncs flight records with DJI (Many folks sync to DJI in order to easily fetch their logs from DJI into the AirData.com website). To ensure this doesn't happen, ensure you alway do step 11.
** After you do this once, the "Files" app remembers and you should only have to tap this file and it will automatically open the "Dropbox" app and put you at step 8.

Good luck and I hope this helps out some folks.

Happy Flying (and logging).

KJ

 

[EyesWideShut]

@kjmasson, Great idea! I'm always forgetting to turn the volume up so I miss hearing the lovely lady talking to me.

I'll add one point to mine, to start screen recording with mic on and go thru some basic checking and setting in the fly app - like confirming LOS settings, RTH altitude etc etc. When reviewing I often see warnings I missed hearing or things I should or shouldn't have done. It's also a good backup to have with the flight screen video and info on it. I go back and delete the recordings every few days.

 

[ff22]

@kjmasson, Great idea! I'm always forgetting to turn the volume up so I miss hearing the lovely lady talking to me.

I'll add one point to mine, to start screen recording with mic on and go thru some basic checking and setting in the fly app - like confirming LOS settings, RTH altitude etc etc. When reviewing I often see warnings I missed hearing or things I should or shouldn't have done. It's also a good backup to have with the flight screen video and info on it. I go back and delete the recordings every few days.

New to this ipad stuff. I created his Shortcut. But how do I edit a shortcut to add your Screen Recording? Is Screen recording an inherent feature or do I need a separate app?

 

[EyesWideShut]

New to this ipad stuff. I created his Shortcut. But how do I edit a shortcut to add your Screen Recording? Is Screen recording an inherent feature or do I need a separate app?

I have yet to download the needed "Shortcuts" app recommended by @kjmasson . But the "Screen Recording" iPhone app is in the phone's Control Center. Go to >Custom Controls< to add the icon to show in the Control Center Panel and you can then turn on/off video audio recording from there. Here's a LINK to some videos on how to customize the control panel.

I've been doing all the adjustments, like brightness, volume, screen recording manually and haven't tried @kjmasson shortcuts trick yet. Would also like to be able to set some of the parameters in the Fly App like RTH LOS, max altitude, distance, auto frequency, etc. etc. but don't think "shortcuts" can do that. Anyone know??