Will Litchi work with either the Mavic 3 or the Mini 3 Pro?

General Discussion
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The question is often asked when Litchi will support either the Mavic 3 or the Mini 3 Pro. As a result, I have created this “Guide” to explain why, at present, it is unlikely for Litchi to be able to support these drones.

For companies such as Litchi to support a drone, the drone manufacturer (DJI) must first provide a library of functions to allow the drone to be controlled by software. This library of functions is called the “SDK” (Software Development Kit).

Around the time these two drones were released, DJI announced that from this point forward, in their latest SDK v5, DJI will prioritize support of “Enterprise” drones such as the Mavic 3 Enterprise. DJI has not stated why their prioritization strategy has changed. While it is possible that at some point in the future, they will support consumer drones in the new SDK v5, they currently have no plans to do so.

So, unfortunately, with the information available today, no one (including Litchi) will be able to make their software work with these new drones.

To see what drones are supported by the latest SDK, please see DJI’s release notes for their latest SDK:

https://developer.dji.com/doc/mobile-sdk-tutorial/en/

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Do you have a beta that works with the Mavic 3 Enterprise yet? Or am I stuck with your “competitor”?

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Regarding the Mavic 3 enterprise series, it requires a brand new app and we are working on it but there is no beta at this time. We will announce when it becomes available

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Well I am certainly glad I didn’t upgrade to the Mini 3. I love my Mini 2, and Litchi is the ONLY fly-app that runs on my new (cheap) Android 10 tablet. It won’t even install the DJI Fly app. I’ve owned and used Litchi for years, since the release of the original Mavic Pro. It’s still king of the hill, in my opinion.

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How hard is it for DJI to release an SDK? Is this just DJI trying to kill Litchi?

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This is par for the course, and nothing that wasn’t expected

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In December, DJI released a new version (v1.9) of the Fly app and new Mavic 3 firmware. These new versions support onboard waypoints on the Mavic 3 (non-Enterprise models).

This was unexpected but great news. However, I would consider any DJI implementation of waypoints in their flying software as a “proof of concept” only. Yes, it works, but it is cumbersome to plan missions on your flying device.

Now, all we need is for DJI to release a waypoint-supported version of their SDK (as explained in my first post). As far as I know, DJI is still not prioritizing this but one can hope someday that might change.

Here is a thread on the Mavic Pilots forum where the new Mavic 3 waypoint feature is described:

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Since the new waypoints feature is now supporting the option to continue the waypoint mission on signal loss, am I correct in assuming the Mavic 3 is no longer using virtual stick commands?

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I think you are correct that waypoints on the Mavic 3 does not use sticks to fly. I flew a couple of short missions and prior to starting I noticed the mission upload to the drone. Im curious to see if the elevation settings at each waypoint are above the chosen waypoint or from the start. So if you climb up the side of a mountain and keep all AGL the same, will it be looking for AGL from waypoint #1 or the AGL above the waypoint it its approaching?
I dont like the interface though as it doesn’t allow for curve size, etc and you cant program from your PC.

Opportunity here for Litchi?

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So - Mini 3 has been released recently. I assume the SDK status is still the same? Won’t be supported any time soon? I guess I am sticking with the mini 2 then, because litchi is pretty critical to my plan to create a fun house build timelapse (requiring the drone to fly exactly the same path multiple times)

Oh well, mini 3 certainly is an improvement over 2, but not a whole new revolution or something.

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Well, that puts the Mavic 3 back on my radar. I agree, being able to create a waypoint mission from the PC, through Litchi, is a must for me. Trying to create a precise waypiont mission through the DJI Fly app is just going to be problematic.

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Crear una misión con Dji Fly 1.9 sin pc es un engorro. Muy poco práctico. Esperemos que saquen una versión para crear vuelos en Pc.

Ahora con esta nueva SDK que admite waypoints, a LITCHI ya por fin podremos usarla en el mavic 3?? Se sabe algo si ya están trabajando en esto?, yo lo veo ya como una muy buena noticia que esperemos nos acerque muy pronto a Litchi for mavic 3…

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There is currently no SDK for the MAVIC 3 and it isn’t prioritized. However, now that we know the MAVIC 3 supports on-board waypoints, one can only hope that DJI will eventually get around to the SDK. If they did, i might even consider getting one.

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Muchas gracias por tu respuesta. La esperanza es lo último que se pierde… :+1:

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Moreover since the Mavic 3 is driven through DJI Fly, one can expect that other drones under Fly will beneficy of this improvement. It is now evident that Fly is not a limitation for a such add-on.

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This was updated literally yesterday. Perhaps this changes things for Litchi and the Mini 3 (Pro), at least on Android

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This is indeed good news. Especially this part:

We will support Mini 3 Pro and Mini 3 on earily Q2, 2023 in MSDK v5.3.0.

However, this is unfortunate:

There is no plan to support Mavic 3, Mavic 3 Cine and Mavic 3 Classic currently.

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Thank you for this update!

Does this mean that the DJI RC that is packaged with the Mini 3 Pro will be capable of an installation of Litchi?

If so, how long after the DJI release would that likely happen?

I love my Litchi/Mini combination but would like to upgrade to the proven Litchi/Mini 2 combo or the potentially better Mini 3.

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There is currently no way to install external software onto the DJI RC. It is unknown if that will change in the future.

Because the SDK being released is version 5 which is not compatible with the current SDK (version 4), Litchi is forced to write a totally new app. Therefore, this will take longer than simply adding support for a new drone to the current app. How long? I don’t know.

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