DJI Fly is an app by DJI that allows you to manage your drones and fly them remotely, from your phone. It allows you to integrate your phone with your controller to turn your phone into a digital controller screen.
Using the app, you can track your flight status, including the drone’s battery level, flying mode, and signal strength. You can also adjust your camera settings to take the best pictures and videos.
Not only that, but you can edit your photos and videos after the fact, applying easy-to-use templates and using built-in editing features. It even allows you to find the best spots near you for aerial photography on the map by checking what other people in the area have uploaded.
Unfortunately, DJI Fly is not available from the Google Play Store. Instead, you have to download it directly from the DJI website as an Android application file.
That gives a lot of people pause. You might be concerned about downloading an app from a third-party source other than the Google Play Store, since you would have to mess around with your settings to allow apps from third-party sources.
In addition, there’s a reason Google banned it from the Play Store (it was previously available). While the reason for the ban is not entirely clear, it is possible that it’s due to privacy concerns.
After all, DJI is a Chinese company that is linked to the Chinese government, causing US authorities to consider it a security threat. After Google banned it from the Google Play Store, many people became hesitant to download it on their phones, worried about privacy.
DJI Fly app, however, is not the only app of its kind, there are alternatives people can resort to. In this article, we are going to talk about them at length.
Stay tuned.
Quick Summary
The best DJI Fly alternatives for flying DJI drones are:
- Litchi
- Litchi Pilot
- DroneDeploy
- Dronelink
- The DJI RC controller
Read on to learn more about each option’s features!
Best DJI Fly App Alternatives
1. Litchi for DJI Drones
The best alternative to DJI Fly is, arguably, Litchi for DJI Drones, or just Litchi for short. Unlike DJI Fly itself, this third-party app is available for download directly on the Google Play Store.
So, what can you do with the Litchi app? Let’s go over some of its features, and we will discuss compatibility at the end of this section.
The first feature is waypoint mission planning. You can easily map and plan your drone missions using its powerful mission planning engine.
On your Windows computer or Mac, you can map a path made of selected waypoints so that the drone can fly through your planned route by itself. You can even set up advanced camera moves to take place autonomously on your route.
In the Mission Hub, you can also view missions that others have created around you. It’s a great way to get some inspiration.
You can also join the community and share some of your missions yourself!
Another cool feature is the ability to make your drone follow a certain object. That can be you, using the app, which allows you to follow yourself with your drone to take amazing aerial videos while you ride a motorcycle, for example.
However, you can also select the subject to be followed to be another person using another mobile device.
Another option is having the drone orbit a certain point of interest by itself while keeping the point of interest in focus. For example, if you’re a tourist, and you want to take all-around shots of a certain landmark, you can do that, and you can control the orbit manually at any time.
You can also keep an object in focus using focus mode or track mode.
When flying your drone, Litchi lets you control both the gimbal and yaw axis. That allows you to control the drone’s horizontal movements so that you can get the best possible aerial shots from your drone.
The app even supports virtual reality. You can put your drone in automatic mode so that it flies by itself, put on your goggles, and immerse yourself in a fantastic new virtual reality world.
Not only that, but you can control the gimbal by simply moving your head in virtual reality mode! Isn’t that cool?
And, in panorama mode, you can take beautiful panoramic shots.
When you fly your drone with Litchi, it will create logs of your flights and upload them to Airdata UAV. You can view your flight analysis logs in your Airdata UAV account at any time.
If you’re an influencer, you will be pleased to find out that you can now livestream your flights from your drone! You can stream them to Facebook Live directly or to an RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) server.
You can download the app from the Google Play Store. It is also available on iOS.
It is compatible with most DJI Drones, but since there are a few DJI Drones which it is not compatible with, please verify compatibility before downloading. Here is a full list of the DJI Drones it is currently compatible with:
- DJI Air 2S
- DJI Inspire 1 (X3/Z3/Pro/RAW) & Inspire 2
- DJI Mavic (Air/Pro), Mavic 2 (Zoom/Pro), Mavic Air 2, & Mavic Mini 1
- DJI Mini 2 & Mini SE Version 1
- DJI Phantom 3 (Standard/4K/Advanced/Professional) & Phantom 4 (Standard/Advanced/Pro/ProV2)
- DJI Spark
Furthermore, it is compatible with most DJI monitors. Compatible DJI monitors include:
- DJI Crystal Sky
- DJI RC Pro
- DJI Smart Controller
- DJI Phantom 4 Adv/Pro V1 Screen
2. Litchi Pilot
What if you like Litchi, but you are using one of the newer drones from DJI? Litchi is not available for these newer drones:
- Mavic 3E
- Mavic 3T
- Mini 3
- Mini 3 Pro
Worry not, because Litchi now has a new app called Litchi Pilot for those DJI drones. However, it’s still in beta mode, so it’s only available as an Android application file download.
Nevertheless, it should be available on the Google Play Store as soon as all beta tests are done with.
You can download the Litchi Pilot beta application here.
The Litchi Pilot app supports waypoint planning. New features will be added soon, such as tracking, to make it more similar to the existing Litchi app.
Stay tuned!
3. DroneDeploy Aerial
DroneDeploy is a DJI Fly alternative that is perfect for enterprise needs. You can fly a wide range of compatible DJI drones, initiate capture, generate maps and inspection reports, and more.
It’s great for commercial use cases such as monitoring construction sites, but you can use it for anything, really.
With desktop flight planning, you can plan your flights in advance. In the app, you can fly via routes you already planned autonomously and automate everything from takeoff to capturing images.
Of course, you can also fly your drones manually. At any point in time, you can disable an autonomous flight and retake control over your drone.
After a flight, you can upload captures to the DroneDeply cloud storage.
You can combine aerial footage that you took via a DJI drone with other footage in your account, including ground footage. Being able to view them all in one place is a nice perk.
DroneDeploy integrates with AI to allow you to use artificial intelligence to handle tasks such as reporting and identification, freeing up your time and improving your workflows.
Overall, it’s a great device for generating high-quality maps and 3D images. And, if you’re worried about privacy and security, DroneDeploy is a great choice.
It encrypts your data both at rest and in transit, so your information is safe when using DroneDeploy.
You can download the app on Android and iOS.
You can use most DJI drones with DroneDeploy. Check out the list of supported models here.
4. Dronelink
Dronelink offers flight control for DJI drones. It offers both fully and semi-automated workflows and flight missions for your DJI drone.
With Dronelink, you can plan missions with its mission planner. You can follow a certain terrain, create waypoints, and set automated waypoint actions such as camera captures along the path you have created.
Before flying your mission, you can visualize your flight path in 3D by flying a drone in virtual reality. You can estimate flight time and data captures as well as other data.
By the way, you aren’t limited to preplanning your missions. You can create them out in the field, via the app.
Another option is Orbit mode, which allows you to orbit around a point of interest. You can fly in circles, spirals, or arcs around a point of interest or landmark and capture aerial footage.
Hybrid missions and flight paths that combine automated actions and manual inputs are possible as well. There are many tools you can use to automate mission planning, and during any autonomous flight, you can take control at any time.
Advanced mapping is available. In fact, you can even create vertical maps and inspections in columns and spirals for 3D modeling.
5. DJI RC Drones
You actually don’t need the DJI app for all DJI drones. Certain drones are compatible with the DJI RC (Remote Controller), which includes not only the actual controls but a built-in screen as well.
You don’t even need a smartphone. The drone controller connects automatically with your drone, directly, upon powering it up.
The RC comes with a full high definition screen. It is lightweight, weighing just 390 grams, so it won’t add any significant amount of weight on top of your drone during transport.
It also offers excellent battery life and can last up to four hours on a single charge. You can easily charge it via USB-C.
With DJI O3+ video transmission technology, you can view your live feeds from your drones from up to 15 kilometers (around 9.3 miles) away, without lagging!
The live feed will show up in 1080p quality and at 60 fps. You can see everything in real time.
And, with dual-spring control sticks, controlling your drones will be a breeze.
The RC is compatible with select DJI Air, Mavic, and Mini drones. If you own a compatible drone, you don’t need the DJI Fly app at all.
Conclusion
The DJI Fly app is a very capable app, but it’s been booted from the Google Play Store.
Whether you don’t want to download the app because you’re worried about privacy concerns, or you simply don’t want the hassle of messing around with your settings, there are a few alternatives.
Litchi, DroneDeploy, and Dronelink are the best alternatives, but make sure to verify compatibility with your model.
Another alternative is simply upgrading to a DJI drone that can work with the DJI RC controller. This controller has a built-in screen, allowing you to avoid the need for an app altogether.
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