GPS in iPad mini

[brehdanjmahon]

So i just got my phantom 3 pro recently and have been using my iPhone 6 which is all good, but last time i went flying my friends came along and flew with me. They had an iPad mini 3 wifi and it was awesome, i loved the bigger screen and the fact i could still answer some quick texts or take snaps of my drone while flying with my phone so i want to get one. I have been looking around at forums here and everyone is in agreeance that the wifi version doesn't have a GPS chip so that wouldn't work, yet today i went flying with them again and with the iPad mini which only has wifi and i still got the "ready to fly GPS" notification... So i want to know if those people who say you need the cellular version are wrong or not cause i am confused on what to believe here.

 

[Oso]

So i just got my phantom 3 pro recently and have been using my iPhone 6 which is all good, but last time i went flying my friends came along and flew with me. They had an iPad mini 3 wifi and it was awesome, i loved the bigger screen and the fact i could still answer some quick texts or take snaps of my drone while flying with my phone so i want to get one. I have been looking around at forums here and everyone is in agreeance that the wifi version doesn't have a GPS chip so that wouldn't work, yet today i went flying with them again and with the iPad mini which only has wifi and i still got the "ready to fly GPS" notification... So i want to know if those people who say you need the cellular version are wrong or not cause i am confused on what to believe here.

Welcome to the forum.

The Phantom has its own GPS which is the message you are seeing.

Since the Mini 3 does not have its own GPS, you cant do things like Follow Me or changing the home point to your current location. Tethering will give you internet access if you choose to use maps and didn't cache them in advance, but tethering will not give you GPS data.

Click here for more info on what to expect with different iPads / situations plus some info on options such as add on GPS.

If you are interested, click here for several tips that I often share with new P3P/P3A owners.

Cheers!

 

[Meta4]

So i want to know if those people who say you need the cellular version are wrong or not cause i am confused on what to believe here.

Think about it for a minute ... the Phantom needs to know where it is .. not where the controller is.
And it does that by having a very good GPS receiver that is used for all flight functions.
Oso mentioned above the only two ways you can use a GPS unit in the phone/tablet.

 

[Mako79]

If you are stationary when flying then you dont need the flight device to have GPS.

 

[Quest-So]

Personally I don't feel very confortable without having the cell access on my iPad. I've tryed to download the map of the planned flying area before going to the field, but something went wrong, in the field I couldn't access it, so I had to open the cell access and have the map in the normal way.

To me a tablet without a cell access is like something isn't complete and I'm not very happy to open a local wifi hot spot on the phone, that will provide temporary Internet access to the tablet to download the needed map.

So, if the cell data plan has a price that you consider being affordable to you, my advice is buy a tablet with cell access. For instance here in the EU I'm paying monthly 7 € for 8 GB, which is quite ok, I mean I don't have to mess around with unsecured wifi networks a.s.o. Plus, without a cell access I couldn't live stream on youtube (it's not working if the tablet is having Internet access through wifi).

 

[Mr. Salty]

Slightly off topic, but I don't think it's a particularly good idea to be texting while you're piloting a drone at the same time. Stay focused.

 

[DPD]

Personally I don't feel very confortable without having the cell access on my iPad. I've tryed to download the map of the planned flying area before going to the field, but something went wrong, in the field I couldn't access it, so I had to open the cell access and have the map in the normal way.

To me a tablet without a cell access is like something isn't complete and I'm not very happy to open a local wifi hot spot on the phone, that will provide temporary Internet access to the tablet to download the needed map.

So, if the cell data plan has a price that you consider being affordable to you, my advice is buy a tablet with cell access. For instance here in the EU I'm paying monthly 7 € for 8 GB, which is quite ok, I mean I don't have to mess around with unsecured wifi networks a.s.o. Plus, without a cell access I couldn't live stream on youtube (it's not working if the tablet is having Internet access through wifi).

Agreed..

 

[Meta4]

Personally I don't feel very confortable without having the cell access on my iPad. I've tryed to download the map of the planned flying area before going to the field, but something went wrong, in the field I couldn't access it, so I had to open the cell access and have the map in the normal way.

I'm not sure why some fliers want so badly to have the mapping.
I haven't found much use for it and it's easy to cache it if you really need it.
In 3 years of flying, I think I've only used the map on two flights.

 

[tyknows]

GPS in an iPad (i.e. the WiFi + Cellular model of an iPad) would be needed for the Follow Me mode and for updating your Home Point (if you move around). Other than that, on a P3, not much else that makes GPS an imperative feature, IMO. You can cache your maps in advance and if you have the ability, you can tether to your iPhone 6 with your iPad if cellular data is needed at any time.

 

[Paul Schulze]

Just connect to your cellphone using it as a hotspot.

 

[RodPad]

I'm not sure why some fliers want so badly to have the mapping.
I haven't found much use for it and it's easy to cache it if you really need it.
In 3 years of flying, I think I've only used the map on two flights.

Agreed,
I'm still lost even with maps.

@brehdanjmahon
If I'm not flying around my house, I usually don't have cell service.

Rod

 

[Pete Leare]

I use my iPad Mini wifi only with a Garmin Glo which is connected using Bluetooth.. works great for follow me and no data plan to pay for!

 

[Mario_SB]

So i just got my phantom 3 pro recently and have been using my iPhone 6 which is all good, but last time i went flying my friends came along and flew with me. They had an iPad mini 3 wifi and it was awesome, i loved the bigger screen and the fact i could still answer some quick texts or take snaps of my drone while flying with my phone so i want to get one. I have been looking around at forums here and everyone is in agreeance that the wifi version doesn't have a GPS chip so that wouldn't work, yet today i went flying with them again and with the iPad mini which only has wifi and i still got the "ready to fly GPS" notification... So i want to know if those people who say you need the cellular version are wrong or not cause i am confused on what to believe here.

Currently selling my iPad Mini 3 with Cellular which includes a GPS chip. Please let me know if you're interested. Great to use with Phantom 3 Pro. . Apple iPad mini 3 128GB, Wi-Fi + Cellular (AT&T), 7.9in - Space Gray 888462046602 | eBay