DJI Says Update Your Spark Firmware, Or Else

DJI’s digital interface with it’s customers is a wealth of information.  So deep is the well that we’re confident the company can mine lots and lots of data to get insights into what, where, when and how DJI products are being used.

While sales figures are not available to the public, the latest consumer product to roll off the DJI showroom, the Spark mini-drone, has no doubt been a very popular drone.

And because the Spark is aimed at a “less tech-saavy” slice of consumers might explain why DJI just vented a little frustration this week with it’s latest Firmware update.  (More on that here)

It seems that a significant number of Spark owners are ignoring DJI’s software updates and carrying with their day.  Unfortunately for DJI this impairs feature upgrades, security, and compliance with geo-fences and more.

The reasons for not upgrading vary from user to user, with some holding off because they perceive upgrades to be “buggy”. Others prefer to fly under more relaxed software limits than those that routine tighten with each successive upgrade.

Well, either way, DJI is on to you.

In the latest release DJI informed Spark owners that they have until September 1st to update to the latest firmware.  If you don’t comply with DJI’s deadline, you risk having your Spark turned into a brick.

We’ve had no issues at all with the firmware updates to date.  In fact, the most recent one finally liberated us from the dreaded Dronie failure club, so we’re pretty happy with that.

And other than some settings being reset to default after an update, we’re happy to look for new and improved features or processing in the updates to improve our flights.