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There's also something fishy about DJI in that their Android app to control their drones is intentionally not listed on the Play Store. I've never seen a manufa
by sagz 3y ago
There's also something fishy about DJI in that their Android app to control their drones is intentionally not listed on the Play Store. I've never seen a manufacturer require side loading.
Anyone know why it's not on the Play Store? (On iOS it is on the App Store, well because there isn't another way till this DMA thing kicks in)
- notso411 3y ago[dead]
- bandergirl 3y ago> Anyone know why it's not on the Play Store? Can’t think of any reason that isn’t sketchy. The article gives a clue already. If the app passes Apple’s review, then it could pass Google’s review.
- rnmmrnm 3y agosee Epic suit i guess.
- sschueller 3y agoYou can side load android, you can't side load Apple (without jailbreak). Having to deal with two review processes instead of just one saves money and headaches. Also since they are dealing with US sanctions they probably had to fill out all kinds of stuff and submit that to Apple which they would also have to do for Google but again, they can just side load instead.
- LoganDark 3y ago> You can side load android, you can't side load Apple (without jailbreak). Did Cydia Impactor stop working or something? Sure you need a developer account, but then you can use the account to sideload any third-party IPA.
- malermeister 3y agoHere's a dark conspiracy theory for ya: Consumer drones (including DJIs) are being used in warfare more and more frequently, including the war in Ukraine. The Chinese government, while not openly supporting Russia, has been repeatedly accused of covertly doing so. Imagine what kind of harm a device used for reconnaissance could do if it secretly works for the other side.
- sofixa 3y agoDJI's app wasn't on the Play Store for years before Russia invaded Ukraine, so that's somewhat unlikely.
- sannee 3y agoIf my Googling is correct, it seems to have been removed around 2020-2021. Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014 though.
- spacebanana7 3y agoI don't have a source to hand, but I've heard their drones were used in Syria for several years before Ukraine
- WhereIsTheTruth 3y agoAre you suggesting we should ban Starlink because it is used in warfare both in Ukraine and in the middle east?
- WhereIsTheTruth 3y agoWhen you are leader in the market, you want to make sure your competition isn't able to reverse engineer your products, including google
- zakki 3y agoYou meant google can't buy DJI product and Android phone to reverse engineer the product?
- squarefoot 3y agoThis, and also they still have the firmware which stays in the drone hardware and very likely is where the most important code is. Cloning the app wouldn't give much advantage to a competitor.
- WhereIsTheTruth 3y agoThat's the point, they are not forced to remove some protections to please google and whoever is running Google https://qz.com/1145669/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-cia-and-nsa-research-grants-for-mass-surveillance https://qz.com/1145669/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-ci... Drone business is important to the military industrial complex This however is akin to malware development, i wouldn't want to install such software
- nulld3v 3y agoGoogle accepts obfuscated apps though (even ones that are heavily obfuscated). I've never heard of anyone getting their app rejected due to obsfucation.
- danpalmer 3y agoWhy would sideloading prevent Google from reverse engineering the product?
- secretsatan 3y agoThey recently dropped support for the iOS SDK and stopped releasing new versions, they've been moving away from iOS in general in favour of using their own controllers. That they don't want to release through the official android app stores for a free app is a bit sus.
- londons_explore 3y agoThe play store is banned in China. So sideloading/alternate app stores are the main way most users install apps there. Their china-based engineers might not even consider it important to support the play store. As a non-US citizen, I frequently see how US based engineering teams just don't understand local markets/customs. This is just being on the other side of that.
- BoiledCabbage 3y agoAnd yet tons of other apps from China seem to make it to the play store. And it's not like DJI isn't aware of how many devices they sell overseas. It's almost as if it were intentional.
- lazide 3y agoAndroid isn’t a huge market segment for high end drones, and when it is, it’s almost always purpose specific/dedicated devices. ‘Juice not worth the squeeze’ and all.
- dheera 3y ago> And yet tons of other apps from China seem to make it to the play store. The Play Store versions of some of those apps are likely not the same as the side-loaded version.
- 3y ago
- m-p-3 3y agoWe clamped down our MDM policies to disallow sideloading on corporate devices, when we asked DJI when they planned to submit their app on the Play Store and they basically told us never, we decided to remove all DJI drones from our fleet.
- neom 3y agoWhat did you replace the DJI drones with?
- ikekkdcjkfke 3y agoBuy cheap dedicated motorolas?
- dheera 3y agoI don't use their app at all, I just use the DJI RC. In any case I wouldn't recommend controlling a drone from a phone running a bunch of background tasks that may pop up notifications and phone calls while you're trying to dodge obstacles.
- dylan604 3y agodo not disturb mode is your friend here, or even airplane mode
- rideontime 3y agoWouldn't airplane mode prevent you from communicating with the drone?
- dylan604 3y agowhy? it just turns off the cell radio. wifi/bluetooth is still enabled, or at least they can be re-enabled if they are turned off.
- rideontime 3y agoDon't people typically fly their drones outdoors?
- dylan604 3y ago[flagged]
- zero_iq 3y agoNo, it doesn't. The phone doesn't need to broadcast anything to control the drone directly. The phone talks to the remote control unit, which is what broadcasts signals to control the drone. You don't need wifi or mobile internet, or even bluetooth to fly a DJI drone (the phone connects by cable to the remote control unit). (Actually, that's not 100% true -- if you're in a locked zone that requires permission to fly (such as near airfields or other protected sites), you will need internet access to start your flight and unlock the zone using your DJI account. Otherwise the drone may refuse to fly into restricted zones.) You don't even need the phone at all -- the remote unit is quite capable of controlling the drone in flight with the phone switched off.
- dev1ycan 3y agoTo submit an app you'd have to give free access to your source code to a potential rival, DJI is a huge brand, it'd be easy for the US government to basically get access to such code and clone it. I'm surprised people really think it's anything other than wanting to protect their IP.
- Saris 3y agoAs I remember their app downloads a binary package after installation from an unknown source, and that's against Google ToS as far as I know.