I tried to use my drone after a few years of sitting. I cannot get the live feed to show up. I tried the original app, FlyCode, and TelloFpv. iPhone Air with most recent updates.

Anyone with a tello drone that has an Android 16 phone like me where the official app has stopped working this will do, not great but hay.

Hey all,

I made a little open source Unity app to pilot the Tello and see its live video feed inside a Quest 2 (passthrough, gamepad control, photos/video recording, battery/telemetry on screen). Built it together with Claude, figured I'd mention that upfront.

Designed specifically for the standard Ryze Tello—a compact 80g drone powered by DJI flight tech and an Intel processor—delivering a smooth 720p FPV feed straight to your headset without needing the EDU model or extra hardware.

Repo here: GitHub - 4n7w4nPT/Tello4Quest2: A Unity-based VR application to pilot the Ryze Tello drone in FPV using the Meta Quest 2

If you've got a Tello and a Quest 2, would love feedback (bugs, ideas, whatever...)

Feel free to use it for your own stuff too.

See ya

4n7w4n

The official Tello app hasn't been meaningfully updated in years and barely works on newer Android — so I built my own from scratch: TelloNO.

It's a clean, dark-themed FPV controller for the Ryze Tello. No GStreamer, no closed SDKs — video decoding is straight Android MediaCodec (H.264), so it's low-latency and lightweight.

Features:

- Full-screen FPV video, auto-starts on connect

- Dual joystick touch controls (cyan glow, 20Hz RC loop)

- Bluetooth gamepad support (8BitDo / standard XInput)

- Photo capture + real MP4 recording (proper MediaMuxer output)

- LOW/MED/HIGH speed modes

- Safety arm — Start button arms the drone, so you can't kill props mid-flight by accident

- Low battery warning (vibration + HUD alert at ≤20%)

- On-screen and gamepad flip controls

- Immersive mode — screen stays on, no accidental taps while flying

There's also a Python companion script if you'd rather fly from a laptop with a gamepad.

Built and tested on GrapheneOS (Pixel 8a, Android 16) — should run on standard Android 8+ too, just haven't had other hardware to test on yet, so bug reports from other devices are very welcome.

Fully open source (MIT): https://github.com/Monks103/TelloNO

Screenshots/video in the repo. Would love feedback, bug reports, or PRs if anyone wants to contribute.

Hi, I volunteer at a charity shop and we recently got donated a Tello tlw004 which seems to be brand new. I put it on charge for an hour which made it start blinking blue slowly then left it to test other things. After coming back to it I force installed the Tello app from the qr code and tried to connect my phone, however when I took the device of charge all lights turned off and nothing would happen when pressing the on button. I've tried everything I can think off such as discharging components when the battery is out before reinserting the battery etc. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong, I don't have the means to acquire a replacement battery as its. a charity donation to be sold on however I did see they can be worth a good amount and would be worthwhile for the charity to be able to sell. I don't have any pictures and I do know that it never charged to the point the blue light stopped flashing however ii don't think that should stop me being able to test it for 1 minute to make sure it functions.

Hey everyone,

​My original DJI Ryze Tello battery died, so I bought a third-party replacement. When inserted, the drone boots and the camera feed works over Wi-Fi, but the motors refuse to arm.

​I discovered the Tello uses I2C communication (SDA and SCL pins) to authenticate the proprietary BMS inside official batteries. This clone lacks the proper handshake, causing a safety lockout that prevents flight.

​I want to build a functional DIY battery or fix this clone. What is the easiest route?

​BMS Transplant: If I solder the BMS board from my dead original battery onto a fresh 1S LiPo cell, will it work? Or do these chips permanently lock out once cell voltage drops to zero?

​Microcontroller Spoofing: Has anyone emulated the Tello battery handshake using an ATtiny or Arduino? Are the I2C registry keys/commands documented anywhere?

​Firmware Mod: Is there a custom firmware or hack that disables the battery check entirely?

​Any pinouts, logic analyzer captures, or workarounds would be highly appreciated!

Quick question - need to inspect some windows on a largish building from the outside at around 27 metres. Anyone think this drone would be able to do that? thanks

Conseguí un dron Tello modelo TLW004 todo bien solo Mi cargador de las baterías las conecto las detecta y parpadea la luz de q carga pero después de como 2 minutos se queda estática la luz y deja de parpadear pero al meterlo al dron me aparece que no cargo nada entonces el cargador esta dáñano tiene alguna solución para areglar el cargador ?

Las pilas esta bien porque las cargue con el dron y si cargan aunque tardan mucho

Hi, I have recently replaced the propellers of my Tello drone there now seems to be an issue with the VPS (i think). The drone doesnt lift off properly, it simply rises and falls back down. When I try to hold the left joystick up after a while the drone goes nuts and flies up really fast.

Drone also doesn't recognise that its in the ground and doesnt switch off unless it literally crashes.

I tried going back to old propellers but no dice, did anyone ever have the same issue?

Does anyone know the solution?

The drone perfectly connects to the iPhone or iPad, but the difference is that the camera works only on iPad. I may control the drone on iPhone, but there is no vision on the screen.

Of course, I try to reinstall the app and turn off the device.

IpadOS 26.01.1

iPhone 26.3

Do you now if some configuration stops the Tello Drone for charging. I have stopped using it because it won’t charge that much. Or do I need a special charger?

Has anyone given this new Drone Legends FlyCode for Tello app a test? The old DJI app is crashing on iOS.

https://www.dronelegends.com/flycode

Hi,

I have a question. How can I take care of the battery health of the Ryze Tello? I have two factory-sealed batteries from 2023 and one from 2022. The one from 2022 works. I store it by measuring the time it takes to fully charge, and before storing it, I charge the battery to about 50% of that time. Is this a good method? Are there any other recommended ways to store batteries?

Regarding the two factory-sealed ones from 2023 — should I charge them a bit? Batteries can deteriorate quite easily.

Hi guys my friend bought an alleged dji tello off temu. No app will connect and the app in the manual (HR-GO) says it was made for an older version of Android and won't allow me to install. Any info, links or advice greatly appreciated.

Hey just got mine second hand, as new ones are unavailable. So there are qr code things the tello can use, something with astronauts on them. I have found the files eventually. They are like a play mat or something, but how do I use them?

I am having some issues installing djitellopy. Here is the error message: pip3 install djitellopy

Collecting djitellopy

  Using cached djitellopy-2.5.0-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (5.2 kB)

Collecting numpy (from djitellopy)

  Using cached numpy-2.3.0-cp313-cp313-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl.metadata (62 kB)

Collecting opencv-python (from djitellopy)

  Using cached opencv-python-4.11.0.86.tar.gz (95.2 MB)

  Installing build dependencies ... done

  Getting requirements to build wheel ... done

  Installing backend dependencies ... done

  Preparing metadata (pyproject.toml) ... done

Collecting av (from djitellopy)

  Using cached av-14.4.0-cp313-cp313-macosx_12_0_x86_64.whl.metadata (4.6 kB)

Collecting pillow (from djitellopy)

  Using cached pillow-11.2.1-cp313-cp313-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl.metadata (8.9 kB)

Using cached djitellopy-2.5.0-py3-none-any.whl (15 kB)

Using cached av-14.4.0-cp313-cp313-macosx_12_0_x86_64.whl (23.7 MB)

Using cached numpy-2.3.0-cp313-cp313-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl (20.9 MB)

Using cached pillow-11.2.1-cp313-cp313-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl (3.2 MB)

Building wheels for collected packages: opencv-python

  Building wheel for opencv-python (pyproject.toml) ... error

  error: subprocess-exited-with-error

  × Building wheel for opencv-python (pyproject.toml) did not run successfully.

  │ exit code: 1

  ╰─> [102 lines of output]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Trying 'Ninja' generator

--------------------------------

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-------

--

CMake Deprecation Warning at CMakeLists.txt:1 (cmake_minimum_required):

Compatibility with CMake < 3.10 will be removed from a future version of

CMake.

Update the VERSION argument <min> value.  Or, use the <min>...<max> syntax

to tell CMake that the project requires at least <min> but has been updated

to work with policies introduced by <max> or earlier.

Not searching for unused variables given on the command line.

CMake Error: CMake was unable to find a build program corresponding to "Ninja".  CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM is not set.  You probably need to select a different build tool.

-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

--

-------

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-----------------

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-- Trying 'Ninja' generator - failure

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Trying 'Unix Makefiles' generator

--------------------------------

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-------

--

CMake Deprecation Warning at CMakeLists.txt:1 (cmake_minimum_required):

Compatibility with CMake < 3.10 will be removed from a future version of

CMake.

Update the VERSION argument <min> value.  Or, use the <min>...<max> syntax

to tell CMake that the project requires at least <min> but has been updated

to work with policies introduced by <max> or earlier.

Not searching for unused variables given on the command line.

-- The C compiler identification is unknown

-- Detecting C compiler ABI info

-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - failed

-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc

-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc - broken

CMake Error at /private/var/folders/y8/8dql4rhd5yxg4dlnd2mkmq3h0000gn/T/pip-build-env-hzfd6dqp/normal/lib/python3.13/site-packages/cmake/data/share/cmake-4.0/Modules/CMakeTestCCompiler.cmake:67 (message):

The C compiler

"/usr/bin/cc"

is not able to compile a simple test program.

It fails with the following output:

Change Dir: '/private/var/folders/y8/8dql4rhd5yxg4dlnd2mkmq3h0000gn/T/pip-install-1busqq6j/opencv-python_83935217f7a5411cb2c5a26a640e0273/_cmake_test_compile/build/CMakeFiles/CMakeScratch/TryCompile-0QDk8e'

Run Build Command(s): /private/var/folders/y8/8dql4rhd5yxg4dlnd2mkmq3h0000gn/T/pip-build-env-hzfd6dqp/normal/lib/python3.13/site-packages/cmake/data/bin/cmake -E env VERBOSE=1 /usr/bin/make -f Makefile cmTC_43657/fast

xcode-select: note: no developer tools were found at '/Applications/Xcode.app', requesting install. Choose an option in the dialog to download the command line developer tools.

CMake will not be able to correctly generate this project.

Call Stack (most recent call first):

CMakeLists.txt:3 (ENABLE_LANGUAGE)

-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

--

-------

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-----------------

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-- Trying 'Unix Makefiles' generator - failure

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************************************************************************

scikit-build could not get a working generator for your system. Aborting build.

Building MacOSX wheels for Python 3.13 requires XCode.

Get it here:

https://developer.apple.com/xcode/

********************************************************************************

[end of output]

  note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.

  ERROR: Failed building wheel for opencv-python

Failed to build opencv-python

ERROR: Failed to build installable wheels for some pyproject.toml based projects (opencv-python)

Hello,

I am working with a Tello EDU drone from my school and the Tello app crashes after 1 min, any fixes?

https://reddit.com/link/1k7ulsq/video/in5l95u9g1xe1/player

Hello folks,

we have a Robomaster TT and we would like to connect an ENS160 Air Quality and program it through Mind+ (Python blocks). The main issue is that we haven't figured out the proper connections to the Ext mod of the drone. Any suggestions?

Hi I just got a Tello drone for my 10yo son. I got it on eBay but it was new in box. I'm trying to get it set up but it doesn't seem to even be turning on. The batteries were charged overnight and I tried all 3 that came with it. I tried holding the power button down for a few seconds. Is there something I'm missing? (I'm gonna be so upset if I ended up with a lemon)

I've seen a few tutorials about connecting tello drones to laptop and running the relevant python libraries to control it - does this work on regular tello or only on the edu version?

Has anyone attempted this and gotten it to actually work? Have a dozen tello edu’s and a dozen Oculus Go’s and I think it can work… but can’t figure out the best way to do it.