monks103/tellono

TelloNO is an Android app for controlling a Ryze Tello drone while watching a live video feed from its camera. The Ryze Tello is a small, affordable drone that communicates over Wi-Fi, and TelloNO provides an alternative to the official app with a dark, minimal interface designed to stay out of the way of the video feed. The app handles both control and video. For video, it uses a built-in Android component called MediaCodec to decode the drone's H.264 video stream with low latency, without relying on additional libraries. Controls appear as two on-screen joysticks with a cyan glow, or you can connect a Bluetooth gamepad such as an 8BitDo controller or any standard Xbox-style pad. A speed mode selector lets you choose how responsive the joystick inputs are. Safety is factored into the design. You must tap a Start button to arm the drone before it can take off, so accidental screen taps cannot trigger an unintended launch or mid-flight stop. The battery level is monitored, and at 20 percent or below the app vibrates the phone and shows an alert on screen. Recording is built in. Photos save to the standard gallery folder on the device. Video records to a proper MP4 file using Android's MediaMuxer, which means the file opens in any standard video player. Flip maneuvers in four directions are available from on-screen buttons or mapped to gamepad buttons. The app was built and tested on a Pixel 8a running GrapheneOS and Android 16, with a minimum Android version of API 26. Building it requires Android SDK 34 and Java 17 or newer, a single Gradle command produces a debug APK. A Python companion script is included for users who want to fly from a laptop with a gamepad connected.