Modern drones like DJI, Parrot drones need to connect to a phone or tablet device via Wifi to fly the drone safely and experience more features. Usually, it’s essential to connect to a phone tablet pc to fly the drone. Because connecting the phone to the drone would give you all the information you have to pay attention to. Like low battery notifications, calibration issues, no fly zones etc.
Sometimes, when some pilots are unable to connect the drone to their phone, they won’t be able to take off the drone. So as usual I went through many forums, articles and videos to find why drone won’t connect to wifi and how to fix. Then I wrote this article for pilots who also face drone won’t connect to phone issue.
Why drone won’t connect to wifi
Usually, drone won’t connect to wifi because of wifi glitches, mobile application issues and firmware issues. Also if you have paired the drone to another device recently, it also would cause this issue.
Reason 1: Outdated firmware and firmware glitches.
As always, when talking about drone issues, outdated firmware and firmware glitches are the most common reason for the issue. Because updating firmware is essential to stay updated with the current system and fix bugs that older firmware had. So If you haven’t updated the firmware yet, update them to the latest version. If you already have updated firmware, reinstall or revert the firmware cause it might have glitches.
Reason 2: Drone is paired with multiple devices.
In these situations usually, the wifi connection won’t be visible to the device.
Why is the drone wifi not showing up?
If you have paired the drone with multiple devices recently and ended the connection with glitches you might end with half closed connection. So the drone might still remember the device so the drone wifi won’t be shown to other devices.
Read the complete article about Why Drone Wifi Not Showing Up and How to Fix it.
How to fix if the drone wifi not showing up.
If your drone wifi isn’t showing, you can fix the issue by resetting the drone. If you have a DJI drone, hold down the power button for 9 seconds until you hear three beeps. The WIFI should then reset, then the drone’s two front lights will turn green. Now try to reconnect with your phone again.
Reason 3: Wifi glitches.
In most cases the wifi glitches in your smart device and not in the drone. Having wifi connection issues and unsuitable wifi settings in the phone or tablet PC device also can cause the drone not connecting to the phone. Let’s see how to fix it.
Check Connection Settings
The First thing is to check the phone WiFi settings. Check whether airplane mode is off and whether the wifi can detect devices. Also check the drone Wifi settings of your drone.
Reset drone wifi settings and connect again.
Resetting drone wifi settings would help you to fix the wifi glitch with connection. You can find the process to reset from the user manual and internet. If you have a DJI drone, you can reset the drone wifi settings by holding down the power button for 9 seconds until you hear three beeps. Then try reconnecting the wifi connection using the default password.
Forget the wifi network and reconnect.
Go to your wifi settings and devices in your phone. Then find the drone and forget the connection. Then try reconnecting to the drone.
Reason 4: Airplane mode is on.
Go to WiFi settings on your phone or tablet PC and check whether airplane mode is on your device. When the airplane is on, it just disables the WiFi and therefore you may be unable to connect to the internet. If the airplane is off and the connection is perfectly alright and still you are not able to connect the drone to WiFi, you can follow other options.
Reason 5: Outdated Application or application glitches.
If you are using an older version of the app on your phone it might not respond to the connection. So check whether a new version is available and install it. Also if you already have a new version uninstall the app and try reinstalling the app. When you are installing the app, always download it from the manufacturer’s website.
Reason 6: Low Battery level on phone or drone.
When having low battery level on your drone, phone or both cause lack of support for wireless connections. So that’s why most mobile devices are unable to turn on wireless networks when they have low battery level. So charge the drone and phone to sufficient battery level and try again.
How to connect a drone to Wifi properly.
- Turn on your drone.
- Turn on Wifi on your phone or tablet.
- Go to Wifi settings and keep looking for the drone.
- Once you find the drone tap on it. If any information is required, check sideways of your drone there would be all the data you need to enter.
- Then press connect.
Common proven tips to fix drone won’t connect to wifi.
Although there are many reasons that can cause this issue, most of them are related to the phone application and wifi settings. So I can suggest some fixes to solve the issue.
- Uninstall and install the drone’s app on your phone. Be sure to give permission it requires.
- Try connecting with another device cause your current device might have poor Wifi connection. Something like an Ipad. Ipad might pick up higher-end WIFI frequencies compared to your mobile phone.
- Forget the drone wifi settings and try connecting again.
- Reset Wifi settings of your drone and connect the phone again.
DJI Mavic Pro/ DJI Mavic Mini/ DJI Spark/ DJI Phantom won’t connect to phone.
DJI drones usually face this issue. If you have updated firmware and applications and still your drone’s wifi settings won’t appear, try resetting the drone Wifi settings. You can find how to reset the wifi settings by opening the DJI Go app and visiting “Need Help” and tapping “reset aircraft wifi settings.”Anyway, I would let you know how to reset it below.
How to reset DJI Wifi Settings.
- First, press and hold the power button for 9 seconds until you hear a beep three times. Then the drone will start its resetting process.
- Once your drone starts flashing green, that means that the drone’s Wifi setting has properly reset.
- Then go to the Wifi settings of your phone and keep looking for the drone. Once it appeared, connect to the drone by giving the required information.
Parrot Anafi won’t connect to phone.
Parrot also suggested resetting the wifi settings of parrot Anafi to fix the issue.
How to reset Parrot Anafi Wifi settings.
- Turn on the Parrot Anafi.
- Then push and hold the power button until all the red lights are on by turning on one after another.
- The Wifi settings will then reboot.
- Then go to the wifi settings of your phone and keep looking for the drone.
- Once the drone pops up in the list, connect the drone by entering the password which was created and stored in the micro SD card while rebooting.
Ryze Tello won’t connect to phone.
In the DJI Forums, they advise you to reset the drone wifi settings and update the firmware in order to fix the issue. Read more about Tello won’t connect to wifi.
How to reset Ryze Tello Wifi settings.
- Power on the Ryze Tello and hold the power button for 5 seconds until the LED goes off.
- The drone would reboot automatically and flash yellow light constantly.
- Try reconnecting Tello’s Wifi with another mobile device.
If it’s not helping, the next step is to try entering the loader mode and re-updating the firmware.
- Turn off the drone and hold the power button until the green LED goes off to enter loader mode
- LEDs will flash red once it enters the loader mode successfully.
- Then update the tello’s firmware.
- Try reconnecting Tello’s Wifi with another mobile device.
Summary.
Drone won’t connect to phone wifi because of software issues and wifi connection issues. Outdated firmware, application issues are the examples for software issues. You can solve those issues by updating firmware and reinstalling the application with the required permissions. If you have done those things then try resetting the drones wifi settings. That’s a huge effective step. By doing that it will forget all the half closed connections which causes the issue.Then open the wifi settings and connect to the drone. I hope this article helped you to solve the issue, catch you guys on thedronestop.
