I was very excited to get this camera to have an all-in-one solution. This camera should be able to record video without ever being connected to the internet or needing some kind of account. However, you cannot even use this device unless you download an app, create an account, and link the camera. The app isn't available in the Google Play Store, and you instead have to download it separately. When you click to get the app, you browser will alert you that this type of file could harm your phone. DJI is circumventing the Google Play Store, likely because the app wouldn't meet Google's standards.
When you install this app, you have no idea what sort of data it is taking from your device. You don't know what DJI is doing with your personal data. You spent $500 on a camera, and now DJI needs to track you and everything you do with it? Why does DJI need to know where I am, what I'm recording, and when I'm recording it? It's not their business; it's mine. I should be able to buy the camera and use it without them collecting my personal data from it. And who does that data go to? Who are they selling or providing it to? And for what purpose?
When I called DJI to see if there was a way to use the camera that I purchased without downloading their shady app and providing all my personal information to them, they told me that was the only way to use the camera that I paid for. If you pay $500 for a camera, shouldn't it just work? Shouldn't an app be completely optional? The reason I was given was "if someone steals your camera, we can track it down for you." This indicates that they have constant access to the camera's location. Why does DJI need to know my location? And why do they feel the need to "protect" me in this way? Why would they care?
I am horribly disappointed, and I thought this was for sure going to be the camera for me. However, it was advertised nowhere on the packaging or the product page that an app is 100% required in order to use this camera. Nowhere is it stated that DJI will be tracking your location constantly.
Stop giving companies your personal data and stop accepting these anti-consumer practices. Enough is enough. I am returning this camera and I will never buy a DJI product ever again.