The details below come from the DJI Mini 4 Pro user manual (2024) and the DJI Air 3S manual (2025). DJI also lists Waypoint Flight for the Mini 5 Pro, Air 3, Mavic 3 series and Mavic 4 Pro. Menus differ a little between models and app versions, so check the manual for yours.
Route settings: decide what happens at the end and on signal loss
Turn the mode on with the waypoint icon on the left of the camera view. Before you pin a single point, open the route parameters on the operation panel. These apply to the whole route:
- Global Speed - the default speed for every leg.
- End of Flight - what the drone does after the last waypoint: Hover, RTH, Land or Back to Start.
- On Signal Lost - what it does if the remote controller link drops: RTH, Hover, Land or Continue. In the EU you cannot pick Continue, so the drone will not finish the route on its own without a link.
- Start Point - the waypoint the route starts from. The route only runs forward, so starting from a later point skips the earlier ones.
Pick End of Flight with the location in mind. Hover is the calmest choice when you plan to fly the next shot by hand. RTH follows the return settings in the safety menu, including RTH altitude, so check them if trees or buildings stand between the end of the route and the home point. Land at the last waypoint only makes sense if that spot is a place you can reach and the ground is clear.
Pinning waypoints: fly there or tap the map
Before takeoff you can only add waypoints on the map. After takeoff, with GNSS available, you have three ways:
- press the Fn button on the RC-N2 or C1 on the DJI RC 2,
- tap the pin button on the operation panel,
- tap the map.
DJI recommends flying to each spot and pinning it there. A waypoint pinned in flight with the controller or the panel records the horizontal GNSS position, altitude above the takeoff point, heading, gimbal tilt and zoom. You frame the shot once and the drone remembers it.
A waypoint pinned on the map records only the horizontal position. Its altitude defaults to 50 m above the takeoff point, and you need an internet connection on the controller and a downloaded map to use this method at all. Fine for a rough layout, but every point then needs its altitude, heading and tilt set by hand.
Press and hold a waypoint to drag it on the map.
The manual also warns that the route curves between waypoints, so the drone can fly lower between two points than at either of them. If you set two waypoints at 20 m on either side of a tree line, check the clearance in the middle, not only at the points.
Per-waypoint settings
Tap a waypoint number to open its settings:
- Camera Action - None, Take Photo, or Start or Stop Recording. With None the drone only flies the path and you control the camera yourself. For a video route, start recording at the first point and stop it at the last.
- Altitude - measured from the takeoff point. To repeat a route accurately, take off from the same place you used when you recorded it. Take off a few metres higher or lower and the whole route shifts by the same amount.
- Speed - Global, or Custom. With Custom the drone accelerates or slows smoothly along the leg to reach the new speed, which gives you a speed ramp without touching the sticks.
- Heading - Follow Course (nose along the path), POI, Manual (you turn the drone between this waypoint and the previous one) or Custom (a set angle you can preview on the map).
- Gimbal Tilt - POI, Manual or Custom.
- Zoom - digital zoom 1-4x, Manual or Auto. The usable range depends on the shooting mode: on the Mini 4 Pro it is 1-2x for 12 MP photos, 1-3x for 4K and 1-4x for FHD. Auto changes zoom smoothly between points, but cannot be used on the first or last waypoint.
- Hovering Time - how long the drone waits at the point.
Apply to All copies the selected setting to every waypoint, except camera action. Handy when you want one speed or one tilt for the whole route.
Points of interest: keep the subject in frame
A point of interest (POI) is pinned the same way as a waypoint. Give it the real altitude of the subject, for example the height of a roof or a tower top, and the gimbal will pitch so the camera points at it. You can link several waypoints to one POI. Linking resets that waypoint's heading and gimbal tilt to face the POI.
This is the simplest way to get an orbit-like reveal around a building on a route you can repeat: three or four waypoints around the subject, all linked to one POI at the right height, and Custom speed so the drone does not jerk at each point.
Flying the route
Check obstacle avoidance before you press GO. In Settings > Safety, with the action set to Bypass or Brake, the drone brakes and hovers when it detects an obstacle during a waypoint flight. With obstacle avoidance off, it senses nothing and will hit whatever stands on the route. Sensors also have blind spots and minimum detection sizes, so walk the route in your head: thin branches, wires and glass are still your job.
Then:
- Tap Next to see the route parameters again. You can still change the start point here.
- Tap GO. DJI Fly uploads the task and the drone starts. The screen shows flight time, number of waypoints and distance.
- The pitch stick speeds the drone up or slows it down along the route.
- Use the on-screen buttons to pause, continue or stop. Stop returns you to the route settings.
Keep the drone in sight and keep a thumb near the flight pause button on the controller. Waypoint Flight does not remove your responsibility for the flight.
Saving and repeating routes
While you plan, DJI Fly saves the task automatically every minute. In the library you can also save manually, rename a route, delete it by sliding left, and sort routes by date or by distance from the controller. Sorting by distance helps when you have routes at several locations. Leave planning with Save and Exit or you may end up with an older autosave.
To repeat a route well, change as little as possible: same takeoff spot, same camera settings, similar time of day if the light matters. GNSS position has some error, so two runs will not match to the centimetre, but they come close enough for a time-lapse of a building site or a season comparison.
What Waypoint Flight is not
On the Mini 4 Pro there is also a Waypoints option inside Hyperlapse. That one shoots a time-lapse along the points and can run them in forward or reverse order. It is a separate mode with its own rules.
DJI Fly also does not import routes from KML files, according to DJI's help center. Routes are planned in the app.
The legal side in the EU
EASA's FAQ separates automatic from autonomous operations. Flying a pre-programmed route counts as automatic and is allowed in every category, as long as you can step in at any time. Autonomous flight, where the pilot cannot intervene, is not allowed in the open category. The guidance to UAS.OPEN.060 says the same: the remote pilot must be able to take control at any time, except when the link is lost. So in the open category you still need visual line of sight, your hands on the controller and a plan for the moment you take over. Distance and altitude limits for your class and subcategory apply as usual.