How to Change the Signal Lost Action on the DJI Neo 2
Peter Leslie
21 May 2026
If your DJI Neo 2 dropped controller signal mid-flight and did something you did not expect — climbed to RTH altitude when you wanted it to hold, or sat there hovering when you wanted it to come home — the setting you are looking for is Signal Lost Action inside DJI Fly.
The selector lives at the bottom of the Safety menu, behind one extra tap into Advanced Safety, and it has three choices: Return to Home, Descend, or Hover. Most drone pilots leave it on Return to Home and forget it exists — until the day they fly somewhere where Return to Home is the wrong answer, and the drone has already made the decision for them.
Quick guide
To change the Signal Lost Action on the DJI Neo 2, go to DJI Fly → Settings → Safety → Advanced Safety → Signal Lost Action. Pick Return to Home for open flying, Descend for a forced landing where you sit, or Hover to hold the position until you walk closer and recover signal.
Step-by-step: How to Change the Signal Lost Action on the DJI Neo 2
Follow these top to bottom the first time, and you will know the path off by heart the second time.
Open the DJI Fly Settings menu from the camera view
With the DJI Neo 2 powered on and the remote controller connected, tap the Settings icon in the top right of the camera view. The settings panel slides in from the right with the category tabs down the left.
Tap the Safety category in the Settings panel
Safety is the second tab down the left of the settings panel, below Control. Tap it and the right-hand pane updates to show every safety-related option for the DJI Neo 2 — altitude limits, distance limits, RTH, compass, IMU, and the Advanced Safety entry further down.
Scroll all the way to the bottom of the Safety page
Scroll past Max Altitude, Max Distance, RTH Settings, the Compass row, and the IMU row. The Advanced Safety entry sits at the very bottom of the Safety page — you have to scroll the whole way down for it.
Tap the Advanced Safety row to open the sub-page
Tap Advanced Safety and DJI Fly drops you onto a dedicated page with the failsafe options. The first row at the top is Signal Lost Action — that is the one you are after.
Choose Return to Home, Descend, or Hover under Signal Lost Action
Three options sit in a row. Return to Home flies the drone back to the recorded Home Point at the Auto RTH Altitude. Descend drops it straight down from wherever it sits. Hover holds the position until the battery runs low. Tap the one that suits the flight.
Close the Settings panel to confirm the new failsafe
The selection saves the moment you tap it — no separate confirm button. Close the Settings panel to return to the camera view, and the DJI Neo 2 will use the new behaviour the next time controller signal drops for more than six seconds.
Peter's tip
I leave the DJI Neo 2 on Return to Home for every outdoor flight where there is sky above the drone and a clean line back to the launch point. The one place I always change it to Hover is when I am flying close to a barn or under a tree canopy — a straight-line climb in that environment is how you snap a propeller off the side of something.
| Action | When it works | Where it bites |
|---|---|---|
| Return to Home | Open outdoor flying with sky above the drone and a clean line back to the launch point. The default for most flights. | Close-quarters flying near trees, masts, or buildings — the sudden climb to RTH altitude can clip anything above the drone before it reaches the safe height. |
| Descend | A known open field where the patch directly beneath the drone is clear. Forces a controlled landing on the spot rather than a flight back. | Anything you cannot see beneath the drone — water, traffic, crops, livestock, a fence line. The drone does not pick a clearer spot; it just goes straight down. |
| Hover | Indoor flying, FPV in trees, or any environment where holding the position lets you walk closer and recover signal manually. | Long signal outages — the drone holds until the battery gets low, then falls back to a low-battery descent wherever it happens to be sat. |
Frequently asked questions
What is the default Signal Lost Action on the DJI Neo 2?
Return to Home. Out of the box the DJI Neo 2 will fly back to the recorded Home Point after the remote controller signal has been lost for more than six seconds, climbing to the Auto RTH Altitude first. You only need to change the selector if Return to Home does not suit the way you fly — close-quarters FPV in trees, indoor practice, or any flight where a straight-line return path would be dangerous.
How long does the DJI Neo 2 wait before the Signal Lost Action triggers?
Six seconds. If the remote controller signal stays lost for longer than that, the failsafe you have chosen kicks in automatically. A brief drop-out that recovers inside the six-second window does not trigger anything — the drone keeps doing whatever it was doing when the signal went.
When should I switch the Signal Lost Action off Return to Home?
Whenever a straight-line climb to RTH altitude would be more dangerous than holding position. Flying indoors, threading through trees in FPV, filming inside a barn, or flying close to a structure where a sudden climb would clip something. In those scenarios Hover is the sane choice — the drone holds where it is, and you walk closer to recover the signal.
What does Descend actually do on the DJI Neo 2?
It lands the drone where it currently sits, straight down. The drone does not try to navigate back to the Home Point and does not pick a clearer spot beneath it — it just descends until it touches something. Useful over a known open field, dangerous over water, traffic, crops, or anywhere you cannot see beneath the drone.
Is Hover safe to use as the Signal Lost Action on the DJI Neo 2?
Only for as long as the battery lasts. Hover holds the position in place but the drone is still drawing power, so once the battery gets low the DJI Neo 2 falls back to a low-battery procedure and will descend on its own. Treat Hover as a stalling tactic that gives you time to walk closer and reconnect, not as a long-term solution.
Does the Signal Lost Action override an active Return to Home on the DJI Neo 2?
No. Once the drone is already in RTH and the signal is lost during the return, the procedure continues regardless of the selector. The Signal Lost Action only decides what happens when signal drops during normal flight, not what happens once Return to Home is already in motion.
Can I change the Signal Lost Action mid-flight on the DJI Neo 2?
Yes, as long as the remote controller is still talking to the drone. Open Settings, tap Safety, scroll to Advanced Safety, and change the selector — the new value saves the moment you tap it and applies to the next signal-loss event. Just do not try to change it in the middle of a tight FPV line; pause first, hover, then dive into the menu.
What happens if I have no GNSS signal and the DJI Neo 2 loses controller signal?
Return to Home is not possible without GNSS, so the drone falls back to a landing or hover behaviour depending on the conditions. If you are flying without GNSS — indoors, in heavy tree cover, under a bridge — set the Signal Lost Action to Hover deliberately. Picking Return to Home in that environment is asking for an unguided descent.
The Signal Lost Action is one of those settings most DJI Neo 2 owners only think about once — and usually after a flight where the default behaviour cost them something. Set it deliberately for the environment you are flying in, not once and forgotten.
If you have had a signal-loss event and you want a second opinion on which failsafe to set going forward, drop the details to peter@hiredronepilot.uk and I will come back to you directly. The video version of this walkthrough is on YouTube and the comments are open.
References
Primary source material for this article is the official DJI Neo 2 documentation and DJI Fly. External links open in a new tab.
- DJI Neo 2 — Downloads (User Manual, Quick Start Guide, firmware notes) · Failsafe behaviour after six seconds of lost controller signal, the three available Signal Lost Action options, and the interaction between Failsafe RTH and the Advanced Safety selector.
- DJI Neo 2 — Product page (UK) · Drone hardware overview and the OcuSync link that the Signal Lost Action is designed to backstop.
- DJI Fly — App download and release notes · The app where the Advanced Safety sub-page and the Signal Lost Action selector live. Release notes record any menu reshuffles between versions.
Peter Leslie
Founder & GVC Drone Pilot
Peter is the founder of HireDronePilot. With thousands of logged commercial flight hours, he writes about drone technology, commercial surveying tactics, and UK aviation compliance.
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