How To Parrot Sky Controller Firmware Update (Step-By-Step)

The parrot sky controller is the coolest drone remote controller I have ever seen. Also, the parrot sky controller runs an android operating system so performance is impressive. Parrot releases updated firmware for sky controller often to fix some bugs and to offer the latest features to users. So the Sky controller firmware update helps you to avoid issues with the sky controller and experience new features same time.

So if you don’t update the parrot sky controller, it might cause you to face different issues with the sky controller. Also if you have issues with the parrot sky controller, updating its firmware would be an effective action to fix the issue. So in this article, we would cover how to update sky controller firmware step by step.

How to update Parrot Sky controller 1 firmware.

Before updating parrot sky controller 1 firmware.

  • Charge the sky controller battery fully or to a sufficient level (above 50%). Because you have to keep the sky controller awake while updating its firmware in order to update drone firmware successfully. Having a low battery charge would cause firmware updating failures and glitches.
  • Ready a USB flash drive to store the update file. Have a formatted USB flash drive in “FAT32” to download the update file and connect to the controller.

If you have charged the Sky controller fully or to a sufficient level (above 50%) and ready a USB Flash drive, let’s look at how to update the sky controller firmware step by step.

  • Step 1: Go to the Parrot Bebop Drone’s Support page and scroll down and find the Sky controller firmware download sections. Then hit the download button and wait until the “nap_update_4.plf” file is downloaded.
  • Step 2: Connect the formatted USB flash drive to your PC and move the fully downloaded “nap_update.plf” file to the root directory of the USB drive. Don’t rename or modify the downloaded update file. Because the sky controller is only looking for the “nap_update.plf” file to update the firmware.
  • Step 3: If you have an HDMI cable, turn off the Sky controller and connect the Sky controller to a TV or monitor. It would give you real-time updating process status. This isn’t necessary although it helps to know what’s going on in updating process.
  • Step 4: Unplug the USB flash drive from the PC and insert it into the sky controller’s USB port and turn on the Sky controller.
  • Step 5: Once you have done that the sky controller would recognize the update file and start to update the firmware automatically. So you don’t need to click any button or do anything. If you have connected the sky controller to the TV or monitor you would see the real-time status.
  • Step 6: Wait until the firmware update process is done. Once the updating process is done, the sky controller would reboot by itself.
  • Step 7: Once it rebooted successfully, the Sky controller firmware update process is done and you are ready to go.

In case you need a demonstration of how to update parrot Sky controller firmware, check out the above video which demonstrates each and every steps we talked about.

How to update parrot Sky controller 2/3 firmware.

Not like the Sky controller 1 firmware updating process, the Sky controller 2 and 3 firmware updating process is so easy and quick to do, thanks to the Freeflight app. let’s look at how to update the sky controller 2,3 firmware step by step using the Freeflight app.

  • Step 1: Download and install the latest Freeflight app to your mobile device from Appstore or Playstore. If you have already installed the Freeflight app update it to the latest. Because updating Sky controller’s firmware using an older application might cause some issues.
  • Step 2: Connect the Sky controller 2 to the mobile device using a data cable and launch the Freeflight app.
  • Step 3: Once you entered the home screen of the Freeflight app, click on the remote controller icon on the top left side of the screen.
  • Step 4: Then look for the “Update” button with the latest firmware version and click on it. Then press “continue”.
  • Step 5: Then click the “Download” button to download the firmware of the Skycontroller. Wait until the “Firmware download”, “Sending to controller” and “Update and reboot” processes are done and ticked.
  • Step 6: Once the Skycontroller 2,3 is rebooted go back to the Sky controller screen of the Freeflight app and check whether the software version is on the latest version. If it is you have updated the Sky controller firmware successfully. If it’s not try again above steps.

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