Betaflight tutorial step by step

Before you start

This tutorial takes you from a freshly built drone to a drone ready for its first flight. We’ll follow the order an experienced pilot would use, and at the end of each step you’ll find a quick check: if it passes, you can carry on with confidence.

Allow an hour, and take it easy. If something doesn’t work, don’t skip it: almost every drone that won’t fly on day one has one of these steps half done.

1. Install and connect
2. Make a backup
3. Update the firmware
4. Setup and alignment
5. Ports
6. Configuration and battery
7. Receiver
8. Modes
9. Motors
10. Failsafe
11. OSD and video
12. PID and rates
13. Save everything
14. First flight
15. If something goes wrong

1. Install and connect

Betaflight has two parts: the firmware, which lives inside the flight controller, and the app, which you use to configure it from your computer. The official app is Betaflight App: it runs straight in the browser (Chrome or Edge) or can be installed.

1. Open Betaflight App

   Go to app.betaflight.com in Chrome or Edge. Firefox and Safari can’t access the USB port.

2. Connect the drone over USB

   No battery and no props. The board is powered through the cable and you can already configure almost everything.

3. Pick the port and press “Connect”

   The flight controller’s port appears at the top right. If nothing shows up, try another cable: it’s the number one cause.

4. On Windows, drivers

   If the cable is fine and the computer doesn’t see the board, you need to install the board’s USB drivers (VCP). The Betaflight website explains how.

Check it
You’re connected if you can see the 3D model of the drone on the Setup tab and, when you move the drone by hand, the model moves.

2. Make a backup

Before changing anything, save how the board came from the factory. If something doesn’t work later, you can compare or go back.

1. Open the CLI tab

   It’s Betaflight’s command line: a window where you type text instructions.

2. Type diff all and press Enter

   It shows only what differs from the defaults. It’s short and easy to read.

3. Save the result

   With the “Save to file” button, save it with a name that says what it is, for example dron5-fabrica-2026-10.txt.

Check it
Open the file: it should start with the Betaflight version and the board name (# version and board_name).

3. Update the firmware

Many boards ship with an old version. Installing the latest stable release (“flashing”) gives you the improvements and makes this tutorial match what you see. You do it on the Firmware Flasher tab, which only appears when you are not connected.

1. Disconnect and open the Firmware Flasher

   Press “Disconnect” and, on the left, choose Firmware Flasher.

2. Pick the board

   Press “Auto-detect” with the board connected. If it doesn’t find it, look it up in the list by the exact name shown in board_name in the backup from step 2.

3. Pick the version

   The latest stable release, never a “release candidate” (RC) for a first build.

4. Pick the options

   Betaflight is built to order. Tick what your drone has: radio protocol CRSF for ExpressLRS, CRSF telemetry, OSD (HD if it’s digital), and GPS or LED if you have them.

5. Tick “Full chip erase”

   It wipes the old configuration and avoids mixing parameters from one version with another.

6. Load and flash

   Press “Load Firmware [Online]”, wait for it to build and then “Flash Firmware”. Don’t unplug the cable until the bar says it’s finished.

Check it
Reconnect. On the Setup tab, at the bottom, the new version should appear. If it asks whether you want to apply the board’s “custom defaults”, say yes: they’re the manufacturer’s settings that make everything work.

4. Setup: calibration and alignment

On the Setup tab you check that the flight controller “knows” how it’s mounted inside the drone. It’s the quickest step and one of the most important: if the board thinks it’s facing another way, the drone will flip over on take-off.

1. Move the drone by hand

   Tilt it forwards: the 3D model should also tilt forwards. Do the same to the sides and by turning it on the spot.

2. If it moves the wrong way, fix the alignment

   This happens when the board is mounted rotated (for example, with the USB facing a side). In Configuration, under Board and Sensor Alignment, enter the rotation in degrees (usually 90, 180 or 270 on the yaw axis).

3. Calibrate the accelerometer

   Put the drone on a really flat surface and press “Calibrate Accelerometer”. Don’t touch it for a few seconds.

Check it
With the drone level, the roll and pitch angles shown in Setup should be close to 0°, and the 3D model should move exactly like the real drone.

5. Ports: what’s connected where

The flight controller has several serial ports, called UARTs (UART1, UART2…). On the Ports tab you tell it what is soldered to each one. You’ll find each UART’s number on your board’s wiring diagram: check which pads (TX2/RX2, for example) you soldered each wire to.

Press “Save and Reboot”. The flight controller restarts and the app reconnects on its own.

Check it
Each UART should have only one function enabled. If the receiver is soldered to UART2 and you enable Serial RX on UART1, you won’t receive anything (you’ll see it in step 7).

6. Configuration and battery

Configuration tab

Power & Battery tab

1. Voltage and current sources

   Voltage meter and Current meter set to Onboard ADC (or as the manufacturer says).

2. Cell limits

   Minimum 3.3 V, warning at 3.5 V and maximum 4.3 V (4.35 V if the batteries are HV).

3. Calibrate the voltage

   Plug in a battery, measure it with a multimeter and enter the real value with the “Calibrate” button. That way the OSD won’t lie to you.

4. Calibrate the current (after flying)

   Fly a full battery down to about 3.5 V per cell, note the mAh on the OSD and recharge it. New scale = current scale × OSD mAh ÷ charger mAh. Repeat two or three times.

Check it
With a battery plugged in, the voltage on the tab should match the multimeter to within 0.1 V.

7. Receiver: get the drone listening

Now let’s get the radio and the drone talking. With ExpressLRS, on the Receiver tab choose Receiver mode: Serial and Serial receiver provider: CRSF. Leave the channel map at AETR1234, which is what radios running EdgeTX use.

1. Bind the receiver

   With a binding phrase: the same phrase on the radio and the receiver, and they bind by themselves. Without a phrase: put the receiver in bind mode (plug and unplug the battery three times in a row) and run “Bind” in the radio’s ExpressLRS script.

2. Check the versions match

   The radio and the receiver must be on the same major version of ExpressLRS. If not, they won’t bind.

3. Move the sticks

   Each stick should move its own bar, in the right direction, from 1000 to 2000.

If a bar moves the wrong way, reverse that channel on the radio, not in Betaflight. If the values don’t reach 1000 or 2000, or the centre isn’t 1500, adjust the channel limits on the radio.

Check it
All four bars move with their stick, in the direction shown in the table, and at rest they read 1500, 1500, 1500 and 1000.

8. Modes: the switches

On the Modes tab you assign functions to the switches on your radio. Each mode turns on when the AUX channel is inside a range, which you’ll see as a band. The yellow dot shows the switch’s current position: flick it and you’ll see it move.

Check it
When you flick each switch, its mode’s band lights up. With the arm switch down, ARM must be off.

9. Motors: order and spin direction

This is the only step that needs a battery. Take the props off, plug in the battery (with a smoke stopper if it’s the first time) and go to the Motors tab. Turn on the switch that says you understand the risks and spin each motor one at a time, with the slider just above minimum.

1. Check the order

   Motor 1 is rear right, 2 is front right, 3 is rear left and 4 is front left. If you spin one and a different one moves, use the reorder motors button: it will ask you which one is spinning.

2. Check the direction

   Touch the motor bell with a strip of paper or watch which way it turns. If any spins the wrong way, change it with the motor direction wizard on the same tab (works with BLHeli_32, AM32 and Bluejay ESCs). No need to re-solder.

3. Tell Betaflight if they’re props out

   If you mount the props out, as in our build, enable Motor direction is reversed (in Configuration or Motors, depending on the version). If they’re props in, leave it off and the directions are the opposite of the drawing.

Check it
Each motor spins when you move its slider, in the position and direction shown in the drawing, with a smooth sound and no crackling. Set the sliders back to zero and turn off the safety switch.

10. Failsafe: what it does if it loses signal

Failsafe is what the drone does if it stops receiving the radio. A badly configured failsafe is the most common cause of lost drones and flyaways.

Check it (no props!)
With a battery in, arm the drone with the switch and raise the throttle a little: the motors spin. Now turn off the radio. Within a second, the motors should stop and the OSD should show FAILSAFE. If they keep spinning, don’t fly: check the receiver.

11. OSD and video

The OSD (on-screen display) is the information you see overlaid in your goggles. On the OSD tab choose the video format (HD for digital systems) and drag the elements wherever you want. Less is more: only what you’ll actually look at while flying.

With analogue video, also set up the Video Transmitter tab: the VTX table (band, channel and power). Use a legal power level: in Spain, 25 mW at 5.8 GHz. With digital video, power and channel are chosen in the goggles.

Check it
Turn on the goggles and the drone: you should see the image and the OSD elements in place, with the correct voltage.

12. PID and rates: leave them as they are

On the PID Tuning tab there are two different things:

On the Presets tab you’ll find community configurations (for example, a base tune for a 5" freestyle quad). They’re useful, but apply only a few and read what they change.

13. Save everything

Your drone is configured. Now make the backup that really matters:

# On the CLI tab
diff all

# Save it with “Save to file”, for example:
# dron5-llest-per-volar-2026-10.txt

Good habit: make a fresh diff all every time the drone is set up the way you like it. If one day you have to reflash it or you swap the flight controller, getting your configuration back is just a matter of pasting the text into the CLI and typing save.

14. The first flight

Go through the pre-flight checklist and, now at last, put the props on at the field, with your spotter next to you.

1. Props the right way round

   Each prop must match its motor’s spin direction. Tighten the nuts properly.

2. Arm on the ground and do a short hover

   Climb gently to one or two metres and hold it for about 30 seconds. Listen: the sound should be clean, with no oscillations.

3. Land and touch the motors

   They should be warm. If one is much hotter than the others or they’re burning hot, don’t fly again until you know why.

4. Build up slowly

   Short flights, a little more each time. See Learning to fly.

15. If something goes wrong

To understand each tab and the CLI commands better, see the reference chapter Betaflight: tabs, arming and CLI.

Stuck? The FPV Assistant tells you why the drone won’t arm, helps if your computer doesn’t see the flight controller, reviews your diff all and prepares a starting configuration for your type of drone. It’s always at hand with the “Assistant” button at the bottom right.