Nothing is more frustrating than getting to a flight location and not being able to fly because your DJI fly app won’t open. Having a DJI fly app that won’t open can happen after an android update or can be caused by relatively simple things that you can solve there and then.
If your DJI fly app doesn’t open on your android device, you can try to roll back the firmware (if it has recently updated), sideloading the latest app, or try the simple stuff such as restarting your phone, cleaning up your cash, and force stopping the app.
There is no doubt that the interplay between your remote control, smart device, and fly app is the weakest link when you are about to fly your drone. An incompatibility between software and operating system is frustrating but can be very easy to solve if you go through the steps in this article.
Here’s everything you need to do if your DJI fly app won’t open on your android device.
Check the settings and permissions
It is possible that a recent android update has messed up the permissions for the DJI fly app.
Go through to settings and navigate to the DJI fly app.
Check its allowed permissions.
It should have at least files and media, and location permission allowed. While you’re there you can also clean up the cache – that will talk about below.
Roll back updated firmware
Whenever there is an android firmware update, the forums light up with issues.
Pilots flood to various online platforms to try to resolve their issues.
However, the easiest thing to do is to roll back the updated firmware for your android device.
Over-the-air updates can sometimes break software or change your phone in unexpected ways.
There is a great article over at androidcentral.com that will help you roll back your firmware to get your DJI fly app working again.
Unfortunately, not all smart devices will be able to be downgraded it all depends on the company that manufactured your phone.
The simple stuff
when we are panicking about our DJI fly app not opening in android we can quite often forget the simple things that will fix the issue.
There is a reason why the stereotypical IT response is “have you turned on and off again”. Before you launch into more complicated solutions to the DJI fly app not opening, here are the very simple things you can do in the field before cancelling your flight.
Restart your phone
The first thing you should do to fix any Android-related issue is to restart your phone.
These are the steps that you can take to restart your android device:
- Press and hold the power button for your device for approximately 3 seconds.
- Tap on restart or reboot from the options that appear on your screen
Alternatively, if you do not see a restart option you will have two turn your device on and off again. Once your android device system loads again, you can now try to launch the DJI fly app to see if it is working or not.
Force stop the app
maybe the DJI fly app has crashed and needs to be forced to stop.
Force stopping an app on an android device can help fix a handful of issues. Here’s how you can force stop the app:
- Navigate to the settings of your device and click on apps and notifications.
- And click on force stop to kill the current instance of the app.
- Go back to the app and try running again.
If this does not fix your issue continue with the other simple options below.
Clean up cache
If none of the above simple checks work for you, you should consider clearing the apps cache and data.
Clearing the DJI fly apps cash and data is a temporary solution that may help you get into the air immediately. Once the data reserve is full, you may need to repeat the same process to fix the issue.
Here is how you do it:
- navigate to the settings setting
- click on apps and notifications
- click on all apps
- find the DJI fly app and go to storage
- click on clear cache
Ensure you have enough memory on your phone
our phones are used for so many different things that they can quickly fill up with lots of data from other applications.
It can be very easy to get close to your phone’s data storage capacity which can affect the way that the drone app loads.
Double-check the memory on your phone to ensure that you have enough memory to run the app.
Look for beta versions of the app on forums
In rare cases when DJI notices a huge issue, they release a beta version of the drone Fly app.
Whenever I encounter an issue, I head to the DJI forum and look for other pilots with the same issue.
DJI often sends out a beta version of their drone fly app to patch any issue.
There was an issue recently where an android security update stopped the drone from working – the DJI team sent out a beta version of the app to users and helped solve many of the issues.
That special Fly App update v1.6.12 did the trick. The app now starts perfectly, and I can connect and fly my Mini 2 again. Thank You!
– Forum User
Beta releases are quick fixes, but they work until DJI can release a version of the app that is fully tested.
Use beta versions with caution and make sure that it is one that DJI has officially released.
Sideload the latest app
Because the DJI fly app is not on the android play store, you need to download the file directly from DJI and install it manually.
You can install it using these steps:
- Open the File Manager on your mobile device… > Downloads. Click on the APK file. Follow the prompts and directions for the DJI APK to install.
- Please enable the permission of “Install unknown apps” – “Allow from this source” on mobile device settings.
- Please download a file manager app (if you don’t have one on your device) to install the .apk file on the file manager.
Make sure you install the APK file directly from DJI; otherwise, it could be malware or other malicious software that you do not want running on your phone.
Notes: Firefox browser worked for me. Chrome did not
The first download did not work; I had to delete and re-download, then it worked.
Buy an officially supported smartphone
The smart device ecosystem is massive.
Unfortunately, not all devices can be fully compatible with the official DJI fly app.
If you have an old, lesser-known, jailbroken or rooted device, you may find that the DJI fly app will not work as smoothly as on other devices. Therefore, you should consider purchasing a device that will be specifically used to fly your drone.
What phones are compatible with DJI Fly?
Here is the official list of all Apple and Android devices that DJI officially recommends.
| iOS (Requires iOS 11.0 or above) | Android (Requires Android 6.0 or above) |
| Compatible with iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 8 For older versions: Click to download | Compatible with Samsung Galaxy S21, Samsung Galaxy S20, Samsung Galaxy S10+, Samsung Galaxy S10, Samsung Galaxy Note20, Samsung Galaxy Note10+, Samsung Galaxy Note9, HUAWEI Mate40 Pro, HUAWEI Mate30 Pro, HUAWEI P40 Pro, HUAWEI P30 Pro, HUAWEI P30, Honor 50 Pro, Mi 11, Mi 10, Mi MIX 4, Redmi Note 10, OPPO Find X3, OPPO Reno 4, vivo NEX 3, OnePlus 9 Pro, OnePlus 9, Pixel 6, Pixel 4, Pixel 3 XL |
Making sure you have an official smartphone will ensure that it works well when plugged into the remote control and will run the software flawlessly.
Wrapping up
This article has covered everything you need to know about fixes for a DJI fly app that won’t open on an android device.
Remember to check the basics. Start with restarting your phone and clearing the cache.
After that, you can progress to the more complicated solutions of rolling back your android update and sideloading the latest app for your model of drone.
