DJI Go 4 app - Beware! DJI Screwed Up Big Time

[Hands0n]

There';s a new DJI Go app in town, been around since December 2016, called DJI Go 4

See here --> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dji.go.v4

I really and truly wish that I had read the user feedback before updating to the new app. There is allegedly no way back!  If you';re still on the DJI Go app I';d suggest you read up first and think long and hard before you do.

So what has been the personal experience? 
1. The app crashes itself.
2. The app crashes the actual Android OS
3. The app requires you to update the firmware on the Phantom 4 - but doesn';t tell you this reliably
4. Mid-flight the app throws up a fresh Register your Phantom page! Have to restart the app if you need the video to fly back with (I was flying within LOS so not an issue)
5. You have to update the Phantom firmware before you can actually re-register with DJI. Otherwise the registration fails with an obscure error message
6. Battery firmware needs to update also - you have to shut down the app, power up the Phantom then start the app and hope it discovers the firmware needs updating
7. Stability only seems to come about after the Phantom and Battery firmwares are updated. I need to validate this as I ran out of daylight on the day!

Here';s what others have had to say on the Google App Store.  Its not pleasant.  And given that this app has been out since December 2012 and was updated as recently as 14th March 2017 I don';t feel much hope of DJI taking this seriously and solving the software issues any time real soon.

Shocking!     Poor show DJI.

Beyond disappointed with this. I fly both a Phantom 3 Advanced and a Mavic Pro from my Nexus 6P and experience serious crashes with this app, some of which also result in my handset completely restarting itself, all whilst I am in mid flight. I have been really patient and sent many emails to DJI with my crash logs, but they have been completely unable to fix it. Great drones; terrible app!

The GUI is nice, but unstable,video freezes on both android and ios. I suggest not upgrading if your aircraft is stable under djigo. Once you upgrade your screwed no turning back as the support tools will not allow down grading. No option to add legacy firmware to the tool. Customer support ,online, email and phone are not capable of resolving issues so start banging head against the wall. They have bungled this release and you risk bricking the drone.

The app crashed within 5 minutes of my first flight. The 2 next flights it crashed as well within the same time frame. Running on a Samsung Galaxy S7 Active.

The app constantly crashes at startup and during flight. Also there';s no streaming on Android. After a week of using this app I noticed that you must force close it or it will destroy your battery life. Gave it an extra Star for bringing Google Maps back, Here maps are useless for me.

[apollo7]

Thats a poor show, have you contacted DJI regarding this, there must be a way to roll bacl, even if its done at DJI

[hoverfly]

Had a look at the app ,  it contains adverts ,w.t.f.  do i want to look at adverts for when flying  a quad. Yet another data mine...
This looks  like the fault that the GO app for Android had a while back,  I was using a Levono tablet that was listed as working with the app but it constantly lost video and  kept crashing. I went to Ipad mini ( ) to solve the problem, thankfully Mr Visa didn';t  complain too much, although after coughing up for the Phantom it was a bit of a blow. Dji never realy acknowledged  the problem.

[apollo7]

I use a Lenovo 8" on my P3 with DJI GO app and never a problem, all fine and good

[hoverfly]

I use a Lenovo 8" on my P3 with DJI GO app and never a problem, all fine and good

That was what I was using.  Dji fixed the problem a couple of months after I bought the IPad.
Such if life,  

[Hands0n]

I use a Lenovo 8" on my P3 with DJI GO app and never a problem, all fine and good

The P3 and "below" are not impacted, they continue to be supported by DJI Go.  But Phantom 4, Mavic and others are now dropped from DJI Go and you have to load up DJI Go 4.  And thats when the troubles start.

Some social media responses I received rather unhelpfully stated that individual had no issues using iOS devices. Whoopy doo. Thats great.  Useless to anyone who has no access to such a device.  Plus a two minute look at Apple App Store feedback on DJI Go 4 reveals that similar problems exist for iOS users.

My Sit Rep:
Fortunately I do have access to iOS devices, an iPad Air and an iPhone 6 Plus.   Interestingly, the new DJI Go 4 app works flawlessly on both.  Video is smooth and uninterrupted.

I did notice when flicking through the configuration that the app, on iOS, has a setting to enable Hardware Acceleration.  I didn';t see that on the Android version. So perhaps thats the issue, that Android devices are being overwhelmed at not implementing Hardware Acceleration of the video encoding!

And apparently, from the iOS version feedback, correct functioning is not assured even on iOS (unless the users have been unwittingly turning off the HW Acceleration).

[Paul01]

I';ve been having similar issues with the Mavic and the DJI Go 4 app, using a HTC M8. The issue I get is the usual restarting of the app, but I have also started losing video feed since the last update.

Still need to do more testing, but it looks like turning off caching of the video feed reduces the issue with android devices, I have also reduce the video feed to 10mhz and 720p.

I';ll play around a little more before I confirm that that fixes the issues with the app for me.

[Hands0n]

I am of the opinion that DJI Go 4 exhausts the resources of Android, pretty much regardless of which device you are using.  Crashes of the OS are extremely serious and mean that some low-level Android functions are being called, and abused! 

I performed a test flight with my iOS device (iPad Air, 2016 model) and DJI Go 4 performed flawlessly on that device.  A repeat test using my Android (Nexus 9 tablet) saw the same behaviours as before.  And yes, I have tried Uninstalling and Installing to clear all settings and cache. 

It looks like, at least for now, I will have to use my iPad.   

[DarkButterfly]

I am of the opinion that DJI Go 4 exhausts the resources of Android, pretty much regardless of which device you are using.  Crashes of the OS are extremely serious and mean that some low-level Android functions are being called, and abused! 

I performed a test flight with my iOS device (iPad Air, 2016 model) and DJI Go 4 performed flawlessly on that device.  A repeat test using my Android (Nexus 9 tablet) saw the same behaviours as before.  And yes, I have tried Uninstalling and Installing to clear all settings and cache. 

It looks like, at least for now, I will have to use my iPad.   

I';m running the DJI GO 4 app on my Galaxy S6 edge, so far no issues with crashing or anything, connects straight up and I';m flying, the bird is a Mavic Pro.

[Hands0n]

I';m running the DJI GO 4 app on my Galaxy S6 edge, so far no issues with crashing or anything, connects straight up and I';m flying, the bird is a Mavic Pro.

Have you changed up from the Phantom 3 Pro you had?  Congrats. 

I';ve subsequently read that some Android devices work okay with DJI Go 4.   DJI have published a Compatibility list - see attachment in this posting.   However, I can tell you that it most certainly does not operate at all well on the Google Nexus 9 which is on that list.   Your mileage may vary ...

[attachimg=1]

[DarkButterfly]

Have you changed up from the Phantom 3 Pro you had?  Congrats. 

I';ve subsequently read that some Android devices work okay with DJI Go 4.   DJI have published a Compatibility list - see attachment in this posting.   However, I can tell you that it most certainly does not operate at all well on the Google Nexus 9 which is on that list.   Your mileage may vary ...

[attachimg=1]

I still have my phantom, but the Mavic is awesome mostly because it folds up and goes in my camera bag easily

The app works okay on the Galaxy S6 Edge, haven';t noticed any quirks as yet.

[Hands0n]

I';m well jealous     The Mavic came out not too long after I bought my P4.  I think that I';d have spent out on the Mavic had it been available.  But I really cannot justify spending out on one now.  That said, I';m delighted with the P4 in every way really.  Not sure I';d justify the Mavic';s portability, unlike a few I know who are true "warriors" who take theirs everywhere they go.

The app works okay on the Galaxy S6 Edge, haven';t noticed any quirks as yet.

Often incompatibilities of claimed compatible devices are caused by third party apps installed into the device.  In the interests of science I stripped my Nexus 9 of all non-stock apps.  But that made no difference at all to DJI Go 4 crashing the app and the Android OS randomly.   

That said, there can be hardware differences to the same device by country or region. These differences can account for incompatibilities.  Samsung do this - with their latest S8 they use Qualcom Snapdragon 835 "in select markets including US"  yet their own Exynos 8895  SoC in the rest of the world.  The reason seems to be that Samsung will rely on Qualcomm for CDMA coverage in countries like the USA.