FreeFlight 6 and iPad Shortcomings....not optimised?

[Dronographer]

I purchased one of the cheap Anafi tablet mounts, which seems decent enough for the price. Downloaded FF6 to the iPad Pro but when linked, the Skycontroller 3 has GPS in red, the Anafi GPS is fine. I thought maybe the tablet was blocking the satellites however I have the two external whip antennas which stand well away from the iPad, maybe the controller GPS does not use the antennas? Also the camera mode will not show the options for manual exposure or the still photo modes, wide, panorama, global etc. The movie functions seem to be there.

Mounted my iPhone and no problems. But I would like a bigger screen. I will reload FF6 on the iPad but....Has anyone else had issues using FF6 and iPad?

 

[Jagerbomb52]

There is no GPS in the controller. The GPS is from a phone or tablet. I am guessing your tablet has no GPS or it is turned off.

 

[Dronographer]

iPadPro does have GPS, which was on and enabled for the FF6 app.

I am almost more concerned about the lack of still photo options.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

FF6 app is not optimized for iOS tablets. This is why you have a hard time seeing options

 

[Dronographer]

That is what I was afraid of.

Any issues if I get a cheap Android tablet used? What version OS at a minimum? RAM, chipset?

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I have a Lenovo tablet 7 inch that they actually do not make anymore which I would consider the bottom of the line and it does everything pretty well. It does have problems on speed during winter months but most phones and tablets do, even some shut down but this one never has. The screen is not very bright but you should expect that on cheap tablets. I use a sun hood for mine and have no problem seeing the screen on sunny days. Its nothing special and I do not load it up with Apps I do not need so it work well for my needs.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I actually use this tablet on my Anafi and on my Autel UAVs. Works great for both.

 

[Dronographer]

Great, I will run the specs and see what is out there . 7” would be fine...

Thanks !

 

[Vegasrobbi]

Mini 4 works great with FF6, especially if in smart modes, Android sucks. I'm a Android guy but I only use iOS with Anafi.

Is your iPad equipped with GPS and a barometer?

 

[Efliernz]

I love the iPad Mini 4 (LTE with GPS) - great screen brightness and appears to be reliable.

 

[Dronographer]

yes iPad Pro 10.5” has barometer, GPS and Glonass.

interesting that the ipad mini 4 seems to work? identically to iphone?

 

[FranoKaaf]

yes iPad Pro 10.5” has barometer, GPS and Glonass.

interesting that the ipad mini 4 seems to work? identically to iphone?

Yes, UI is the same as iPhone or Android tablet. And it works well generally speaking, espacially the [Wi-Fi + LTE] version.

 

[Krusty Geeza]

I have the two external whip antennas which stand well away from the iPad, maybe the controller GPS does not use the antennas?

Could I see a picture of these please? Are they for the iPad or the Skycontroller? Is your iPad wifi only or wifi & cellular? If it's wifi only & you are using an external GPS system that could possibly be the issue here.

If you shared screenshots with us it would greatly help the situation here to be diagnosed easily.

I use the FF6 app on my iPad Air 2 with no issues at all, but it is wifi & cellular. You have pushed the diagonal arrow down on the bottom right to enlarge the app to fullscreen, so there's nothing hidden from view?

 

[Dronographer]

photo of the antennas on the skycontroller 3

and screen shots. by playing around I CAN access the options for still photos and video, the arrow was pointing left not down and was in a different location on the imaging controls.

however I stillcannot get GPS in the green for the Skycontroller icon, is still in the red. my iPadPro 10.5” is wifi only. I have privacy>location sharing>this device. also tried with >iphone nearby. odd thing is that when I turn off wifi on the ipadpro I get the message “wifi must be on for location sharing” under the privacy>share location settings? but even with wifi on (which would add interference to the skycontroller) I cannot bet the red controller GPS to go green. I deleted FF6, rebooted and downloaded a fresh install of FF6 but no change.

my fear is that Anafi will not be able to RTH when signal is lost.
with the tablet connevted to the controller by cable I do not think that wifi should need to be on to use the GPS, I always have wifi off and Airplane Mode on when using the iphone.

Thank you for offering assistance.

 

[Dronographer]

OK I was looking into the Privacy mode and it says Share Location usues Bluetooth and crowd sharing wifi. Should not need that for FF6.

Further searches contradict my first search and indicate my wifi only ipadpro does NOT have gps!

So, what are the ramifications of the Anafi having GPS in the green with multiple satellites showing, but GPS in the red on the Skycontroller icon?

Will Anafi RTH Ok? What are the downsides of no Skycontroller GPS
connection?

Thanks...this tablet is quite usable other than the GPS issue.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

The Wifi-only iPads have no built-in GPS, so the GPS symbol of the controller always stays red.

 

[Landbo]

Will Anafi RTH Ok? What are the downsides of no Skycontroller GPS
connection?

Don't worry about your iPad not having GPS built-in for security under RTH. Anafi stores the GPS coordinates from where it takeoff and can therefore find its home again under RTH.

The missing GPS in your iPad vill only affects the Follow Me feature, which doesn't work as well as it could.

Regards, Leif.

 

[Dronographer]

Yup, I figured that out. BUT, what are the ramifications of not uaving GPS at the controller? I read that Anafi uses it’s own GOS for RTH which is my main concern.

So what are the downsides of no GPS to the controller, other than Follow Me shooting?

 

[Landbo]

Yup, I figured that out. BUT, what are the ramifications of not uaving GPS at the controller? I read that Anafi uses it’s own GOS for RTH which is my main concern.

So what are the downsides of no GPS to the controller, other than Follow Me shooting?

There is no other consequence of missing the GPS in the iPad. Instead of worrying about indifference, I thought you should go out and fly some trips and by your own eyes see that I speak the true !!!

Regards, Leif.

 

[Krusty Geeza]

@Dronographer, I didn't know the RTH could function without GPS on the controlling device! You learn something new every day. I'll try this out in a second, but I trust Leif, he knows his stuff!