Work offline and keep your changes in sync

Overview#

The field app is built for basements, attics and dead zones. Before you lose signal, it saves your appointments for today and tomorrow, the pricebook, forms and equipment records on the phone. With no signal you keep working: change statuses, take notes and photos, build and sell estimates, record cash and check payments, fill forms and clock in. Each change waits in a queue on the phone and goes to the office, in order, as soon as you have signal. A slim line at the bottom of the screen always tells you where things stand.

Before you start#

• Open the app once with signal at the start of the day. That's when it downloads what you need. It also refreshes when you reconnect, return to the app, or pull down to refresh.

• Stay signed in. Signing out with changes still waiting deletes them from the phone (the app asks you first).

• No special permission is needed. What you can do offline is the same as what your role can do online.

Steps#

Know what's saved on the phone#

1. Today's and tomorrow's appointments, with every detail.

2. The full pricebook, member prices and item images.

3. Forms and checklists for those appointments, and the equipment at those addresses.

4. Your On hold list, your truck, your timesheet week and your last My pay.

5. Pre-job briefs and past job assistant answers. Other views, like Upcoming or Previous, show "No saved schedule for this view on this phone. It downloads the next time you have signal." until you've opened them online.

Work with no signal#

These save on the phone and sync later:

• Status changes (En route, Working, Done), holds and resumes.

• Notes, photos and data-plate scans.

• New estimates, edits to options, and approvals signed by the customer.

• Starting an invoice and recording Cash or check payments.

• Forms (drafts and submissions), equipment, findings and refrigerant entries.

• Clock in, clock out and activity switches.

• Restock requests, truck counts and Used from your truck.

• Calculator results saved to the job.

These need signal and say so on screen:

• Card payments, Tap to Pay and Send link for the invoice.

• Adding items to an invoice that was started offline (until it syncs).

• Selling a membership.

• The job assistant, AI troubleshooting and equipment info.

• Submitting your week, sending a pay question, and sending feedback.

Read the sync line#

The line at the bottom of the screen shows one of these:

1. Offline · 3 changes waiting: you have no signal and three changes are saved on the phone.

2. Offline · showing what was saved at 7:42 AM: no signal, nothing waiting. You're looking at the last download.

3. Syncing… 2 changes left: signal is back and changes are going out.

4. All changes saved: shown for a moment when everything has reached the office.

5. 1 change couldn't sync · Review (red): something needs your attention. When you're online with nothing waiting, the line disappears.

Open the Sync sheet#

1. Tap the sync line. The Sync sheet opens.

2. The top says Connected. or "No connection. Everything below is saved on this phone and goes out when you're back online."

3. Each change shows what it is (Status → Working, Photo, Cash payment $250.00, Clock in: Shop), the job or Time clock / My truck, the time, and a badge: Waiting for signal, Syncing or Not saved.

4. Tap Sync now (or Try to connect now when offline) to push waiting changes right away.

Fix a change that didn't go through#

1. In the Sync sheet, find the card with the red Not saved badge.

2. Read the message:

   • "The office's system turned this down:" means the server refused it, for example because the office canceled the appointment or the option was already dismissed. It won't retry on its own.

   • "This didn't go through:" means a temporary problem after a few tries.

3. Tap Retry to send the same change again. It's safe: each change carries its own id, so it can't be saved twice.

4. Or tap Discard, then Tap again to discard. Discarding removes the change from the phone and it won't reach the office. Discarding an estimate also removes any approval signed for it.

Settings that change this#

• Account › Photo upload quality on the phone: Standard uploads faster on weak signal; High keeps more detail.

• Nothing in the office turns offline mode on or off. It's always on.

Tips#

• Changes for jobs go out one at a time in the order you made them (create the estimate, then sell it, then take payment). Photos upload on their own track so a slow upload doesn't hold up a status change.

• Clock taps keep the time you tapped, not the time they synced.

• Before switching to the practice company or signing out, let the sync line reach All changes saved.

Troubleshooting#

• The sync line stays on "Offline" with good signal → open the Sync sheet and tap Try to connect now.

• "Your session expired. Sign out and back in to send the changes waiting on this phone" → your sign-in timed out with changes waiting → sign out (you'll be asked before anything is deleted), sign back in, and let them sync.

• "Changes not synced" when signing out → choose Stay signed in and let the changes sync. Sign out and delete loses them.

• "This photo is no longer on the phone. Discard it and take it again." → the photo file was cleared from storage → discard and retake.

• Tax shows "Added when this syncs" → the invoice was started offline → the tax fills in when it syncs.

FAQ#

What if two people change the same job? Your changes replay in order when you reconnect. If the office already changed something that makes yours invalid (for example, canceled the appointment), the change shows Not saved with the office's reason so you can decide.

Will a payment be recorded twice if I retry? No. Every queued change has an id, and the server saves it once.

How far ahead is saved? Today and tomorrow. Open other days with signal to save them.

Coming from ServiceTitan#

• Like ServiceTitan's mobile offline mode, you can keep working through statuses, notes, photos, estimates and payments with no signal.

• Different: a visible queue shows every waiting change, with Retry and Discard, so nothing is silently dropped.

• There is no separate offline setting in TradesWork; it's always on.