DJI Pilot App Keeps Crashing

[williamjamesfpv]

I really hope someone can please help me with this. I have flown my P3A many times times and on all of my flights the DJI Pilot App has crashed. I get the following message: "Unfortunately, the process com.google.process.gapps has stopped". My device is the Samsung Galaxy S5, and this is actually a recommended device by DJI. Initially I thought it was my phone, maybe not enough space or something on my phone. So I took my phone to the Samsung store and the Samsung representative said "no way is space an issue" after seeing that I had hardly used any of the available memory on my phone. I have tried the following things with absolutely zero luck: Wi-Fi off, Airplane mode on, mobile data off, background apps closed, download manager process stopped/disabled temporarily, power cycling the phone, turning the pilot app on/off, upgrading firmware, and uninstalling/reinstalling the DJI Pilot App. None of this has worked, and I have read on many forums that this is an ongoing issue.

With that said, I am no considering buying an iPad to resolve the issue. If there is no known fix for the aforementioned problem, will the iPad mini 2 with Wi-Fi and no celluar suffice?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

William James

 

[Yves]

I would strongly advise you to include cellular. It uses 3G (4G) to relay your video when you are out of Wi-Fi range. I am not advocating any devices in particular because they all have their own idiosyncrasies but I am using the Ipad Mini and I am very satisfied with the performance. DJI Pilot never crashed on me. We will see how it handles Waypoint once it is released for iOS.

 

[williamjamesfpv]

I would strongly advise you to include cellular. It uses 3G (4G) to relay your video when you are out of Wi-Fi range. I am not advocating any devices in particular because they all have their own idiosyncrasies but I am using the Ipad Mini and I am very satisfied with the performance. DJI Pilot never crashed on me. We will see how it handles Waypoint once it is released for iOS.

Hi Yves - Thank you for your reply. I'm a little confused... you mentioned that the iPad uses 3G or 4G cellular network to relay video? When I use my Phantom 3 Advanced using my Android, I turn off Wi-Fi and have the device on airplane mode and I still get a live video feed. I think I've misunderstood what you're suggesting maybe?

 

[Yves]

Hi William, I was only half right and I am glad you decided to ask more on it. I read so many things in the last 2 weeks but this is one piece of info that stuck with me for some reason and thankfully I had put it in my reading list. Here is the excerpt:

This feed is where the fun starts. With your phone's data connection sat there, DJI decided it'd be a waste not to use it -- so (bandwidth provided) you can live stream from the Phantom 3 directly to YouTube (no need to jeopardize an iPhone running Periscope). When shooting something particularly cool, you can also mark the moment as a highlight, and when you're done, the app automatically edits a director's cut for you to share or enjoy later.

So now you can make a better decision about your iPad with or without cellular support. It seems that on page 49 of the manual DJI advocates the use of cellular but now we know it is not absolutely necessary.

 

[williamjamesfpv]

Hi William, I was only half right and I am glad you decided to ask more on it. I read so many things in the last 2 weeks but this is one piece of info that stuck with me for some reason and thankfully I had put it in my reading list. Here is the excerpt:

This feed is where the fun starts. With your phone's data connection sat there, DJI decided it'd be a waste not to use it -- so (bandwidth provided) you can live stream from the Phantom 3 directly to YouTube (no need to jeopardize an iPhone running Periscope). When shooting something particularly cool, you can also mark the moment as a highlight, and when you're done, the app automatically edits a director's cut for you to share or enjoy later.

So now you can make a better decision about your iPad with or without cellular support. It seems that on page 49 of the manual DJI advocates the use of cellular but now we know it is not absolutely necessary.

Thank you so much Yves! I really appreciate you sharing that quote as it is much more clear now.

 

[ScottyT]

Have you tried downgrading 'google play services' as a workaround? This will fix your issue.

1. 'Play Store' app > Settings > Auto-update apps > "Do not..." to turn off automatic updating

2. 'Settings' app> Security > Device Administrators" and uncheck/deactivate "Android Device Manager" as a device administrator

3. 'Settings' app> Applications > Application Manager > ALL (scroll right if needed to see this option) > Google Play Services > Disable (or Uninstall)... then choose to uninstall any updates from the stock version when prompted.

4. 'Settings' app> Applications > Application Manager > ALL > Google Play Services > Enable ....this will enable the older stock version of google play services

Ignore future upgrade requests for Google Maps etc as that will upgrade Google Play Services also. (until there is a proper fix from DJI)

from:

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=16777&page=17#pid151670

Read through page 16/17/18 of this thread for more background on this possible workaround.

 

[williamjamesfpv]

Have you tried downgrading 'google play services' as a workaround? This will fix your issue.

1. 'Play Store' app > Settings > Auto-update apps > "Do not..." to turn off automatic updating

2. 'Settings' app> Security > Device Administrators" and uncheck/deactivate "Android Device Manager" as a device administrator

3. 'Settings' app> Applications > Application Manager > ALL (scroll right if needed to see this option) > Google Play Services > Disable (or Uninstall)... then choose to uninstall any updates from the stock version when prompted.

4. 'Settings' app> Applications > Application Manager > ALL > Google Play Services > Enable ....this will enable the older stock version of google play services

Ignore future upgrade requests for Google Maps etc as that will upgrade Google Play Services also. (until there is a proper fix from DJI)

from:

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=16777&page=17#pid151670

Read through page 16/17/18 of this thread for more background on this possible workaround.

Thank you so much Scotty. I guess my frustration comes in because the S5 is recommended by DJI, and no where was there a disclaimer that I would have to disable/uninstall/ and/or downgrade. And, now that this is a known issue, they have failed to address it. I do appreciate you helping though. If I may ask, have many individuals reported that the above mentioned method worked for them? If there is a great likelihood that it will fix the issue then I'll gladly follow the steps. My hesitation kicks in because of the fact that I use google play services and maps quite a bit... so downgrading and/or disabling is preferred to be avoided if at all possible.

 

[ScottyT]

Thank you so much Scotty. I guess my frustration comes in because the S5 is recommended by DJI, and no where was there a disclaimer that I would have to disable/uninstall/ and/or downgrade. And, now that this is a known issue, they have failed to address it. I do appreciate you helping though. If I may ask, have many individuals reported that the above mentioned method worked for them? If there is a great likelihood that it will fix the issue then I'll gladly follow the steps. My hesitation kicks in because of the fact that I use google play services and maps quite a bit... so downgrading and/or disabling is preferred to be avoided if at all possible.

Yeah fair enough. It's not ideal on devices where you use a number of the other google apps that rely on a later version. I have done it on my tablet, but not my phone for that reason.
The thing is, it's easy enough to update your google play services again to get it back to the latest version...it's not a one way street. It won't hurt to try.

As far as I'm aware, everyone that has tried it has found it to help.

Hopefully DJI fix it properly in the next release.

 

[williamjamesfpv]

Yeah fair enough. It's not ideal on devices where you use a number of the other google apps that rely on a later version. I have done it on my tablet, but not my phone for that reason.
The thing is, it's easy enough to update your google play services again to get it back to the latest version...it's not a one way street. It won't hurt to try.

As far as I'm aware, everyone that has tried it has found it to help.

Hopefully DJI fix it properly in the next release.

Thank you kindly Scotty. I may just give it a try then

Cheers mate,
WJ

 

[hudiaratama]

Im using Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and it works fine very often

The app rarely crash, if crash I just do the Clear Memory or Closed the DJI Pilot App by holding the Home/Main Button

 

[williamjamesfpv]

Im using Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and it works fine very often

The app rarely crash, if crash I just do the Clear Memory or Closed the DJI Pilot App by holding the Home/Main Button

Thank you for sharing your experience. It's always helpful to know which problems phantom owners encounter, and how they are able to resolve it. It helps all of us to know this so thank you

 

[D4T_PoM]

My Note 4 does the same as your experiencing.

But even strange, when my P3A reaches 35% and the low battery message appears the app freezes and loses connected and says disconnected, however I can still control the P3 just the DJI App greys out and becomes useless.

But 99% of the time when I get the low battery message I bring home the P3 anyways.

Its just frustrating and annoying that it keeps doing this and DJI are not on point at fixing the issue's the consumers are facing.

 

[Nemmo]

My app still crash every flight. There is the note from DJI I've received today.

Hello,
the next version of the app and the next firmware version for the Phantom 3 series will be out soon. (said to be this week).

Maybe that will resolve your problem.

Best Regards,
Technical Support
DJI GmbH