Offline Mode

Construction sites are not offices. Basements have no signal, remote sites have patchy coverage, and even urban projects can have dead zones behind concrete walls. The Pasco Cloud mobile app is designed with this reality in mind — it caches data locally, queues changes when you are offline, and syncs automatically when your connection returns.

How Offline Mode Works

The mobile app takes a practical approach to offline support. Rather than requiring you to plan ahead and download everything, the app caches the data you have already viewed and queues any changes you make while disconnected.

Cached Data

When you use the app while connected, data is cached locally on your device:

• Projects — names, details, team members, and locations
• Organisations — organisation details and your memberships
• Templates — template structures and field definitions for templates you have accessed
• Reports — your draft and submitted reports, including field responses
• Issues — issues you have viewed, including attachments and comments
• Tasks — your tasks and those shared with you

This cache means that if you lose connectivity, you can still browse and review items you have previously opened.

ℹ️ Did you know?

The cache is populated as you use the app — there is no "download for offline" button. The more you use the app while connected, the more data is available when you go offline. This happens naturally as part of your normal workflow.

What Works Offline

Here is a practical breakdown of what you can do at different levels of connectivity:

💡 Tip

The key takeaway: you can capture data on-site regardless of connectivity — text, photos, GPS, signatures all work offline. Syncing that data to the server happens when your connection returns.

Queued Changes

When you make changes while offline or on a poor connection, the app queues them locally:

What Gets Queued

• Report field responses — text, selections, checkboxes, and other field inputs are saved locally
• Photos — captured images are stored on your device and queued for upload
• Draft saves — report drafts are preserved locally
• Issue creation — if you create an issue while offline, it is queued for submission

How the Queue Works

1. You make a change (fill in a field, take a photo, create a task).
2. The app attempts to sync with the server.
3. If the connection is unavailable, the change is saved to the local queue.
4. When connectivity returns, the queue is processed automatically.
5. Changes are synced to the server in the order they were made.

You do not need to manually trigger the sync. The app detects when your connection returns and processes the queue in the background.

⚠️ Watch out!

Report submission requires a confirmed server connection. You can fill in the entire report offline, but the final submit action needs connectivity to ensure the server receives the complete report and triggers any approval workflows. Save your work as a draft and submit when you have a connection.

Practical Tips for Site Work

Before You Head to Site

1. Open the app on Wi-Fi — browse through the projects, templates, and reports you will need today. This loads them into the cache.
2. Start your report early — open the report creation flow and select your template while connected. The template structure loads fully, and you can then fill in fields on-site even with no connection.
3. Check your task list — review your assigned tasks so they are cached for offline reference.

On-Site

4. Fill in fields freely — text input, checkboxes, dropdowns, and other selections all work offline. Enter your observations and measurements as you go.
5. Take photos normally — the camera works entirely on-device. Photos are stored locally and queued for upload when connectivity improves.
6. Capture GPS outside — step outside or to an area with clear sky view for the best GPS accuracy. The coordinates are captured from satellites, not your internet connection.
7. Do not worry about saving — the app auto-saves your draft locally. Your work is not lost if the app closes or your phone runs out of battery.

After Site Work

8. Connect to Wi-Fi — open the app when you are back on a strong connection. Queued changes will sync automatically.
9. Review and submit — check your drafts, review the photos that uploaded, and submit completed reports.
10. Verify sync — check that your issues, tasks, and reports appear correctly on the web app at app.pasco.cloud.

Data Usage and Efficiency

The app is designed to be conservative with mobile data, which matters when you are relying on a weak connection:

• Text operations — creating reports, logging issues, and commenting use negligible data
• Photo uploads — images are compressed to typically 100-500 KB each
• A typical report with 5-10 photos uses roughly 2-5 MB
• Background polling — the mobile app polls for notifications every 5 minutes (compared to 30 seconds on web), reducing background data usage
• A full day of active site use — multiple reports, several issues, and regular notifications — typically uses less than 50 MB of mobile data

ℹ️ Did you know?

Photo compression is automatic and happens before upload. You do not need to manually resize or compress images. The app balances file size with image quality to keep uploads fast while preserving enough detail for construction documentation.

Connection Status

The app provides visual feedback about your connection status:

• Connected — normal operation, all features available
• Weak connection — the app continues to work but uploads and data loading may be slower
• No connection — the app switches to offline mode, using cached data and queuing changes

When connectivity changes, the app adapts automatically. You do not need to toggle any settings.

Limitations

While the offline experience covers most on-site scenarios, there are some things that require a connection:

• First login — you must be connected to authenticate and download your initial data
• Searching for new items — browsing items you have not previously viewed requires loading them from the server
• Submitting reports — the final submission action needs a confirmed connection
• Approval actions — approving or rejecting a report requires connectivity
• Real-time notifications — push notifications are delivered when your device reconnects

These limitations are practical rather than fundamental — they reflect the need for the server to be involved in actions that affect other users (submissions, approvals, notifications).

Offline vs Pasco SiteView Mobile

If you need a fully offline-capable mobile app for site survey work, Pasco SiteView Mobile offers a more advanced offline architecture with a local database, tile caching, and full two-way sync. SiteView Mobile is designed for situations where you may be completely off-grid for extended periods.

Pasco Cloud mobile's offline support is designed for the more common scenario: intermittent connectivity on a construction site where you lose signal in certain areas but can generally sync when you move to a better spot.

What's Next?

• Installation & Setup — getting the app installed and logged in
• Mobile Reports — creating reports on-site with camera and signature capture
• Push Notifications — how notifications work when connectivity varies
• Offline & On-Site Usage — additional tips for on-site work