Our native mobile apps are built from the ground up to support offline workflows, ensuring your field team can capture data uninterrupted—even in environments with zero network connectivity.

Unlike standard web forms, our apps download and store encrypted data directly on the user’s device, automatically synchronizing with the cloud once a connection is established.

This architecture makes our app an excellent fit for Wi-Fi-only devices. Workers can download their tasks at the office, head out into the field to complete their work, and return to the office to sync their day’s submissions over the office Wi-Fi network.

Fun Fact: Our very first customer was a disaster management company. We built our platform specifically to withstand the aftermath of hurricanes and floods, so reliable offline functionality is baked into our core architecture.

How Features Behave Offline

When your device loses internet connectivity, the app automatically switches to offline mode. Here is how different features handle the lack of a network:

Form Submissions

• How it works: Any form entries or data captured while offline are securely queued on the local device.
• Synchronization: The app runs regular background checks for a connection. As soon as a working internet connection is detected, your queued submissions are automatically uploaded to our cloud servers.

System Data Sources

• How it works: System data sources sync to the device automatically during the initial login and during subsequent connection periods.
• Offline Access: You retain full access to the data from the last successful sync. This data is stored locally and remains fully functional across all screens.

Connected Data Sources (3rd-Party Integrations)

• How it works: These are data sources linked to external systems (e.g., Google Sheets, MySQL, SQL Server, or a REST API). Our cloud servers poll these external endpoints at regular intervals (e.g., every 15 minutes).
• Offline Access: The app accesses the data saved during the last cloud-to-device sync.
• Note on Delays: Because this relies on a two-step sync schedule (External System > Our Cloud > Your Device), there may be a slight delay in data freshness compared to standard system data sources.

When an Internet Connection is Required

While the app handles the majority of field tasks offline (including collecting data, accessing documents, and progressing tasks), there are a few critical exceptions that require an active connection:

• First-Time Login: Internet access is required the very first time a user logs in to the app (or after a fresh installation). The app must authenticate credentials and download all assigned screens and data sources before it can function offline. Subsequent daily logins work completely offline.
• Map Fields and Displays: We do not currently support offline mapping. Maps require a live connection to stream image tiles. If a user is offline, any map field will display a blank grey area. (Offline map support is planned for a future release).
• Real-Time Data Lookups: If your form relies on live, rapidly changing data, it cannot be cached. You will need an active connection if your app uses:
  • In-app REST fields for live external lookups.
  • Data sources configured to run using Platform Replicate (formerly Hosted GET).