Connected but, won't launch

Hello, I am using an ipad to code basic commands on drone blocks and when I click “launch mission” nothing happens. The camera is on, the battery power shows in the app, and if I pick up the drone and move it around, that registers live in the app in real time, I see a blinking green light but, when I launch, the drone doesn’t move. I click abort mission and try again but, to no avail. Any advice?

Okay that’s strange as you have all the signs of a successful launch. Can you connect with the Tello app and make sure you have the latest firmware? One other thing that comes to mind is if the Tello is new you may have to “activate” it. It’s one time deal that happens in the Tello app before you can use DroneBlocks to program it. Let us know what you find out. We’re here to help you get it resolved.

I just experienced a similar issue. I had student groups working with six drones. Only one group was able to get their mission to actually launch. A few groups were not able to get a connection in DroneBlocks, even though the iPad settings showed that the drone was connected. Other groups successfully connected via DroneBlocks but the drone wouldn’t launch. The red “Abort Mission” even showed up, but the drone never spun up.

Drone firmware is up to date. I tested two of the drones with student iPads this morning and had all three of the issues occur depending on the iPad/drone combination. I used my personal iPad and both drones worked fine. I’m considering uninstalling and re-installing DroneBlocks on the student iPads.

I don’t have the latest firmware according to the Tello app and that is what I am concerned about. It will not update the firmware. It starts and then stays at 0%

Hello- how do you ‘activate’ it? I am having the same problem, am not getting a notification to update the firmware, and the drone is new. it connects, and the take off block changes color, but it won’t actually take off or do anything.

Good question, the activation actually happens in the Tello app. We have a video lesson on this somewhere, but I don’t have time to dig it up right now. See if you can go into the Tello app (with your drone connected) and it may prompt you to activate.

So for anyone else that has been struggling with this (connect but won’t launch), here is the explanation. The Tello droneblocks app and the actual Tello app to activate the drone and update the firmware are too different apps. However, the Tello app you need to activate the drone and update the firmware doesn’t show up on a search of the app store- at all. So after contacting support twice, they provided me with the direct link to the app, which is here: Tello App - Download Center - DJI. Once you have the correct app, you can follow the instructions in this video Tello Firmware Update | DroneBlocks Curriculum, which will help you activate the drones and update the firmware. After that you can reconnect to the drone blocks app and the drones will function. This should all honestly be available in the ‘course’ and/or instructional manual as it’s clear many users are struggling with activating their drones because the information on how to do so isn’t readily available.

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Sorry for the hassle and glad you got it figured out. Thanks for sharing the process you went through.