How to get auto tracking on the DJI RS 3 Mini (no phone, no RavenEye)

Does the RS 3 Mini have ActiveTrack?

The honest answer is: it depends what you mean by tracking, and you should check DJI's own pages for your firmware. What we can say from those pages:

As we understand DJI's pages, ActiveTrack on DJI's larger gimbals is done by something that can see. That something is either the RavenEye image transmitter, which takes the camera's HDMI and runs the tracking, or a phone mounted on the rig.
DJI's support pages list the RS 3 Mini as not supported by RavenEye. If that changes we'll update this page, but at the time of writing that is what DJI says.
DJI's app can track with a phone on some setups. But then the phone's camera does the seeing, not your real camera: the tracking sees a wide phone-lens view from wherever the phone is clamped, not the framing your mirrorless body is producing.

So as far as we can tell from DJI's own pages, nothing DJI sells lets the RS 3 Mini track from the picture your actual camera shoots. That is the gap this guide is about.

Where DJI's options stop

Three routes we know of exist for getting a DJI RS gimbal to move on its own, and as far as we can tell none of them fit the Mini well:

A phone on the rig. Adds weight to a gimbal chosen for being light, and tracks what the phone sees. If the phone's view and your camera's framing drift apart, the stream shows the drift.
RavenEye. The right idea, since as we understand it it uses the real camera's HDMI, but per DJI's support pages it does not support the RS 3 Mini.
DJI's official developer protocol. As we read DJI's documentation, it targets the gimbal's accessory port, and the RS 3 Mini does not have that port. Even on the gimbals that do, you would need a hardware bridge in the port and your own tracking software on the other end of it.

What GimbalPilot does instead

GimbalPilot is auto-tracking PTZ with your own camera. It treats the camera, the gimbal and a laptop as one system, and it uses only links that already exist:

Your real camera's picture. The camera's HDMI goes into a capture stick (an Elgato Cam Link 4K is verified; any UVC capture device should do), and GimbalPilot reads that feed in the browser. What the tracker sees is exactly what your stream sees.
On-device AI. A pose model (YOLOv8-pose) finds the person in every frame. It runs on your own graphics card through WebGPU, with a WebAssembly fallback on the CPU when the browser has no GPU it can use. Nothing is uploaded; video never leaves the tab.
Bluetooth straight from the computer. The gimbal already speaks Bluetooth LE to DJI's phone app. GimbalPilot speaks that same link from the computer's own Bluetooth radio. As far as we know it is the first software that can, and it is the reason there is no phone on the rig, no RavenEye and no dongle. The details are in the companion guide, Your PC can talk to a DJI RS gimbal directly.

It runs in Chrome or Edge at gimbalpilot.com/webapp. There is nothing to install. Native Windows and macOS apps existed in the earlier beta and are coming back soon in compiled form; until then the web app is the way to run it.

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Setup, step by step

Ten minutes the first time; two minutes every time after that.

Gather the hardware. Your camera on the RS 3 Mini, balanced. An HDMI cable from the camera to a capture stick, and the stick into a laptop or desktop that has Bluetooth. A Sony camera with Bluetooth remote support (the ZV-E10 II is verified) or a Blackmagic Pocket 4K/6K (from Blackmagic's documented protocol, not yet verified on hardware) is optional and adds automatic zoom; an Xbox or PlayStation controller is optional and adds manual override.
Close the DJI Ronin app everywhere. In our experience the gimbal accepts one Bluetooth connection at a time, and a Ronin app in the background on any phone or tablet still holds it. Force-quit it, don't just switch away.
Open Chrome or Edge and go to gimbalpilot.com/webapp. Log in with your gimbalpilot.com account; if you don't have one, create it at gimbalpilot.com/account and start the free trial there first. Safari and Firefox lack Web Bluetooth and will tell you so.
Connection tab: pick your video. Choose the capture stick from the video source list. Your camera's picture appears in the monitor. If it is black, another app (OBS, Zoom, Teams) is probably holding the capture device; close it and pick the source again.
Connection tab: connect the gimbal. Power on the RS 3 Mini, click Connect gimbal, and pick it in the browser's Bluetooth chooser. In our experience the gimbal advertises in bursts, so leave the chooser open; it can take up to a minute to show up. If it never does, power-cycle the gimbal and try again.
Optional: link the camera for zoom. The Camera link card in the same tab pairs a Sony body (verified: ZV-E10 II) or a Blackmagic Pocket 4K/6K (from Blackmagic's documented protocol, not yet verified on hardware) over Bluetooth LE; a power-zoom lens is needed. Skip this with any other camera; tracking still works, and zoom stays manual on the gimbal's own path.
Click the person. In the Simple tab, leave the target preset on Person (there are also Ball, Dog/Cat, Horse, Bird, Car/Truck and Boat), then click your subject in the monitor once. A lock-on box appears and the gimbal starts following. Three sliders, an aim point and a target type are all the Simple tab asks of you; the Advanced tab opens the regulator, auto-zoom and auto-tune when you want them.
Take over whenever you like. Touch a stick on the game controller and you are flying the camera; let go and tracking resumes 0.4 seconds later. No controller? Drag the on-screen joystick in the corner of the monitor. With a camera linked for zoom, the zoom rocker on the monitor and the controller's triggers give you manual zoom.

During the free trial, tracking runs in 5-minute sessions: a countdown shows in the top strip, tracking stops, and reloading the page starts a new session. That is plenty to judge whether it works with your rig, which is the point of the trial.

The honest limitations

It is a public beta on an unofficial protocol. GimbalPilot uses the Bluetooth protocol DJI's own app uses, reverse-engineered. DJI has not blessed it and could change it. We say this on the pricing page, in the FAQ and in the refund policy because it is the single biggest thing to know before you buy.
Firmware updates are the risk. A DJI firmware update could change the protocol and break the app, possibly permanently, since as far as we know DJI firmware usually can't be rolled back. If your setup works, hold off on gimbal firmware updates until we've confirmed the new version. If an update does permanently break the app, cancel and the current billing period is refunded. That is the deal, and it is in the refund policy.
Chrome or Edge only. The web app needs Web Bluetooth. Safari and Firefox don't implement it.
The verified list is narrow, on purpose. Verified means we run it: DJI RS 3 Mini, Sony ZV-E10 II for zoom, Elgato Cam Link 4K, Chrome or Edge on Windows 11 and Apple Silicon macOS. Other RS-family gimbals are discovered by the app but unverified. Other Sony bodies with Bluetooth remote support are unverified. Blackmagic Pocket 4K/6K is supported from Blackmagic's documented protocol and not yet verified on hardware. Canon, Nikon and Fujifilm zoom is not supported; tracking still works with them.
Background tabs are fine, sleep is not. The gimbal is fed a steady stream of small commands from the page, so GimbalPilot keeps its timing in a background worker that browsers do not throttle: switching tabs or minimizing the window does not stop tracking. The computer going to sleep does, so keep it awake.
The desktop apps are on pause. The earlier Windows and macOS beta builds are not downloadable while compiled versions are prepared. They are coming back soon; the web app has every feature they had.

Where it came from

GimbalPilot was built for a church livestream in Sweden, where a volunteer team wanted the camera to follow the pastor without someone on a joystick all service. It has run that stream every Sunday since, on an RS 3 Mini, which is why the Mini is the one gimbal we call verified. It is made by the people behind Tolka Live (Briljans, Falun, Sweden). If you run a church, lecture hall or event stream and gimbal AI tracking sounds like the missing piece, that is the setting it was designed in.

Common questions

Does the DJI RS 3 Mini have ActiveTrack?

Not in the way most people asking mean, as far as we can tell. As we understand DJI's pages, ActiveTrack on DJI's larger gimbals is done by something that can see: the RavenEye image transmitter or a phone. DJI's support pages list the RS 3 Mini as not supported by RavenEye, and DJI's app can track with a phone on some setups, but then the phone's camera does the seeing, not your real camera. Check DJI's own pages for your firmware. What we can say is that GimbalPilot tracks the RS 3 Mini from your camera's actual HDMI picture, with no phone on the rig.

Can I get auto tracking on the RS 3 Mini without a phone or RavenEye?

Yes. GimbalPilot takes your camera's HDMI output through a capture stick, finds the person with AI running in your browser, and steers the RS 3 Mini over your computer's own Bluetooth, the same link DJI's phone app uses. No phone on the rig, no RavenEye, no dongle in the accessory port. It is verified on the RS 3 Mini and runs at gimbalpilot.com/webapp in Chrome or Edge.

What hardware do I need for RS 3 Mini auto tracking?

A DJI RS 3 Mini, a camera with HDMI out, a capture stick to get that HDMI into your computer (the Elgato Cam Link 4K is verified; most UVC capture devices work), and a laptop or desktop with Bluetooth running Chrome or Edge on Windows or macOS. Optional: a Sony camera with Bluetooth remote support for automatic zoom (the ZV-E10 II is verified) or a Blackmagic Pocket 4K/6K (from Blackmagic's documented protocol, not yet verified on hardware), and an Xbox or PlayStation controller for manual override.

Does it work on Windows and Mac?

Yes. Chrome or Edge on Windows 11 and on Apple Silicon macOS are verified; Linux should behave the same but is unverified. Safari and Firefox do not implement Web Bluetooth, so they cannot talk to the gimbal. The Windows and macOS desktop apps are coming back soon; until then the browser is the way to run GimbalPilot.

What happens if a DJI firmware update breaks it?

GimbalPilot is a public beta built on DJI's unofficial Bluetooth protocol, and a firmware update could change that protocol. If an update permanently breaks the app, cancel and the current billing period is refunded; that is written into the refund policy. Our advice: if your setup works, hold off on gimbal firmware updates until we have confirmed the new version is fine.

Does it work with the RS 3, RS 3 Pro or RS 4 too?

Unverified. The web app discovers other RS-family gimbals (RS 2, RS 3, RS 3 Pro and the RS 4 family expose the same service on the Bluetooth link), so you can pick yours from the browser's picker and try it during the free trial. We have only verified the RS 3 Mini. If you own another RS, send a test report to hello@gimbalpilot.com; if it turns out incompatible after you subscribe, cancel and the current period is refunded.

Related: Your PC can talk to a DJI RS gimbal directly. Here is how GimbalPilot does it. More answers in the FAQ, or email hello@gimbalpilot.com — a human answers.

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