Snap's selfie drone flopped in months — then its battery got recalled

Snap launched the Pixy flying camera in April 2022, a small selfie drone meant to follow users and film short clips for Snapchat. It sold online at Pixy.com and Amazon for $185 to $250, but Snap discontinued sales just months later, in late 2022, as a broader advertising slump forced the company to cut costs.

On February 1, 2024, Snap and the CPSC recalled the roughly 71,000 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries sold with Pixy drones, after four reports of batteries overheating and bulging — one resulting in a minor fire and a minor injury. Owners were told to stop using and stop charging the batteries immediately.

Snap offered refunds of $185 to $250 for the flight-pack bundle, $40 to $50 for charger-and-battery combos, and $16 to $20 for spare batteries — a recall on a product that had already been off the market for more than a year, closing out the hardware line entirely.