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Comment by sagz

4 months 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)

48 comments

sagz

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londons_explore  4 months ago

The 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  4 months ago

    And 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  4 months ago

      Android 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.

      2 replies →

    • dheera  4 months 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.

      1 reply →

secretsatan  4 months ago

They 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.

m-p-3  4 months ago

We 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.

bandergirl  4 months 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.

  • sschueller  4 months ago

    You 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  4 months 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.

dheera  4 months ago

I 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.

Saris  4 months ago

As 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.

malermeister  4 months ago

Here'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.

  • Staple_Diet  4 months ago

    That's not a theory as much as it is an acknowledged fact, and why DJI are banned from many 5-Eyes facilities.

  • L_226  4 months ago

    no even that - DJI are potentially collecting thousands if not millions of hours of telemetry about how small drones are used in real-life combat. This is absolutely invaluable to developing countermeasures or optimising their own offensive platforms.

    • tomaskafka  4 months ago

      Also mapping all of the western world, and sending the most detailed 3d maps of western infrastructure to servers of a company that's a part of the chinese military complex.

  • sofixa  4 months ago

    DJI's app wasn't on the Play Store for years before Russia invaded Ukraine, so that's somewhat unlikely.

  • jijijijij  4 months ago

    I very much assume, involved militaries are aware of this possibility and are not blindly trusting Chinese consumer drones right off the shelves, have soldiers in every unit install random sideloaded apps. Lol.

    They likely flash verified firmware and use a verified app version, not the latest one from DJI's website... Maybe they have their own code, by now. Especially with reconnaissance drones. The Ukrainians probably need to do this, not just because of the obvious possibility of a "backdoor", but RF adaptability in the EM warfare situation.

    I would worry more about contractor John Doe bringing a compromised private phone to a government or industrial facility. Not sure a highres video feed from a drone could be easily exfiltrated unnoticed, anyway, since they usually don't come with WWAN hardware built-in. But the phone itself would be able do all sorts of reconnaissance and become an attack vector in a sensitive context. Then again, this is not specific to drone (software), but all untrusted software people install.

dev1ycan  4 months ago

To 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.

WhereIsTheTruth  4 months ago

When you are leader in the market, you want to make sure your competition isn't able to reverse engineer your products, including google