Equivalent of Tower on IOS

Brendon Baddiley · May 14, 2016

I am wondering is there an equivalent to the tower app on an iOS divice? If so where do I get it from?

LAK-USA · May 14, 2016

Hey Brendon,

Yea, I think we all would like tower for our iOS devices. I use it (sort of) on a cheap android tablet I got from Verizon. I plan the missions/surveys on tower, then upload the missions to my Solo. Finally I launch Solo (manually with the controller) then use tower to activate 'Auto'nomous flight & watch Solo fly it's mission, return & I land it manually and collect the data/footage.

It works, but it's not ideal. Using two tablets (Android & my iPad Air2 mounted on the controller) is not really conducive to my best practices while flying.

franknitty69 · May 14, 2016

MAV Pilot supports mavlink devices including Solo. i've never tried it though. It's $12.99 in the app store.

DroneKit is missing ios support and there isn't any indication of when it will be added. until that happens you won't see any tower like apps for ios.

LAK-USA · May 14, 2016

franknitty69 said:
MAV Pilot supports mavlink devices including Solo. i've never tried it though. It's $12.99 in the app store.

DroneKit is missing ios support and there isn't any indication of when it will be added. until that happens you won't see any tower like apps for ios.

Interesting! MAV Pilot appears only availible for iphones, not tablets but is worth looking into. I've been searching for flight apps since I got my Solo, THANKS for the info!

(iOS Support)
Yea your probably right, but where there's a will (or a significant profit margin) we tend to find a way... I wonder what an APP costs to develop these days?

Ed Beck · May 14, 2016

LAK-USA said:
Hey Brendon,
It works, but it's not ideal. Using two tablets (Android & my iPad Air2 mounted on the controller) is not really conducive to my best practices while flying.

Load the 3DR App for Android and use it instead of your iPad.

Also, you don't have to launch Solo and then activate the mission. When you load the mission to Solo Tower will give you the option of creating a take off and landing point. I say yes, then I use Tower to activate (start) Solo, then select the autonomous mission on Tower. Solo takes off and flies the mission all by itself, then comes back and lands.

Not fun if that's what you're after, as for me Solo is just a platform to get a camera into a location I otherwise could not......

Brendon Baddiley · May 15, 2016

franknitty69 said:
MAV Pilot supports mavlink devices including Solo. i've never tried it though. It's $12.99 in the app store.

DroneKit is missing ios support and there isn't any indication of when it will be added. until that happens you won't see any tower like apps for ios.

It would be nice if they made it available on iOS devices. Let's hope that comes soon. Until then maybe MAV Pilot is the best option

Ed Beck · May 15, 2016

Brendon Baddiley said:
It would be nice if they made it available on iOS devices. Let's hope that comes soon. Until then maybe MAV Pilot is the best option

No one should hold their breath waiting for Tower on iOS. Tower is open source and Apple will never, ever allow open source onto an iOS device.

LAK-USA · May 15, 2016

Ed Beck said:
Load the 3DR App for Android and use it instead of your iPad.

Also, you don't have to launch Solo and then activate the mission. When you load the mission to Solo Tower will give you the option of creating a take off and landing point. I say yes, then I use Tower to activate (start) Solo, then select the autonomous mission on Tower. Solo takes off and flies the mission all by itself, then comes back and lands.

Not fun if that's what you're after, as for me Solo is just a platform to get a camera into a location I otherwise could not......

Yea, just using an android tablet would solve my stated issues. Unfortunately the android tablet I'm using will not receive video from Solo (everything else in tower works), nor will it run the Solo app or the simulator. I haven't done the due diligence to pick another android tablet yet, any suggestions?

I prefer to take-off and land manually but the ability to send Solo on a completely autonomous mission is pretty cool!

I would really love to put my Nikon (over the strident objections from my fiancé) on Solo but better sense and physics dictates otherwise. Oh well...maybe Solo 2?

Brendon Baddiley · May 15, 2016

Ed Beck said:
No one should hold their breath waiting for Tower on iOS. Tower is open source and Apple will never, ever allow open source onto an iOS device.

That explains why Tower is not on iOS

Eric Sheehan · May 15, 2016

Mav Pilot does run on ipad. Change the App Store settings to "iPhone only", then download/install Mav Pilot.

It works great for running an autonomous flight, but it is not a wholesale alternative to Tower.

Rusty Jones · May 15, 2016

Ed Beck said:
No one should hold their breath waiting for Tower on iOS. Tower is open source and Apple will never, ever allow open source onto an iOS device.

If that is really true, and i don't doubt you, it is a shame that apple is so closed minded (pun intended)

Solo Keith · May 16, 2016

LAK-USA said:
Yea, just using an android tablet would solve my stated issues. Unfortunately the android tablet I'm using will not receive video from Solo (everything else in tower works), nor will it run the Solo app or the simulator. I haven't done the due diligence to pick another android tablet yet, any suggestions?

I prefer to take-off and land manually but the ability to send Solo on a completely autonomous mission is pretty cool!

I would really love to put my Nikon (over the strident objections from my fiancé) on Solo but better sense and physics dictates otherwise. Oh well...maybe Solo 2?

Check out the Nvidia Shield tablet. There's a few members here that have the Shield. It's perfect for Solo

LAK-USA · May 17, 2016

Solo Keith said:
Check out the Nvidia Shield tablet. There's a few members here that have the Shield. It's perfect for Solo

Thanks, I will!

redriderroy · May 21, 2016

LAK-USA said:
Thanks, I will!

I use the Nexus 7 2013 version no longer made but available on Amazon for about $150. Works great for tower and Solo app and has a very bright screen. It has GPS as well. I also use it with telemetry radios with my other 3DR birds. I do not have service on it and if not using Tower I use my iPhone.

LAK-USA · May 21, 2016

redriderroy said:
I use the Nexus 7 2013 version no longer made but available on Amazon for about $150. Works great for tower and Solo app and has a very bright screen. It has GPS as well. I also use it with telemetry radios with my other 3DR birds. I do not have service on it and if not using Tower I use my iPhone.

Thanks Roy! I've added it to the list.

Brendon Baddiley · May 21, 2016

I was hoping not to have to upgrade my android tablet as it is too old to run the 3DR app but it will run the Tower app.. I normally use my iphone anyway.

ciekawy · Apr 9, 2017

Ed Beck said:
No one should hold their breath waiting for Tower on iOS. Tower is open source and Apple will never, ever allow open source onto an iOS device.

This is not true, there is huge amount of open source based iOS apps in the AppStore. First coming into my mind is VLC. The only thing is you need pay for Apple Developer Certificate yet this is not a big deal. There are also hybrid solutions (Cordova, Ionic, NativeScript, React Native) and I'd imagine this as a right direction for having single universal ground control App.

as I'm new to the topic - what about QGroundControl?