Using Trade2Base Offline on Mobile
Engineers often work in places with poor or no mobile signal — loft spaces, underground plant rooms, rural properties. The Trade2Base mobile app is designed to keep working in those situations. This guide explains exactly what works offline, what doesn't, and how your data gets back to the office when signal returns.
The Offline Indicator
When your device loses connectivity, a banner appears at the top of the Trade2Base app showing “Offline — working from cache”. This lets you know you're in offline mode and that any changes you make will be saved locally until sync resumes.
The indicator changes to “Syncing…” when signal returns and your data is uploading, then disappears once sync is complete. If the sync fails for any reason, the banner turns amber and shows “Sync error — tap to retry”.
What Works Offline
The following features are fully available without a signal:
- Today's scheduled jobs — your full job list for the current day is cached automatically when you open the app in the morning while connected. All job details, customer addresses, and notes are available.
- Completing a job — mark a job In Progress and then Completed. The completion is stored locally and synced when signal returns.
- Job photos — take and attach photos to a job. Photos are saved to the device and uploaded to Trade2Base as soon as connectivity is restored.
- Job checklists — complete any checklist items attached to a job. Tick states are stored locally.
- Customer signature — capture a customer's sign-off on the job using the signature pad. The signature image is cached and uploaded when connected.
- Job notes — add internal notes or engineer comments to a job record.
What Does NOT Work Offline
Some features require a live connection and will not be available without signal:
- Loading new jobs — jobs added to your schedule after the morning cache refresh won't appear until connectivity is restored.
- Sending invoices — invoice generation requires a server-side PDF render. You can complete the job offline and the invoice will be sent automatically once synced.
- Payment links — Stripe payment links require a live connection to generate. These cannot be created or sent offline.
- WhatsApp and SMS messages — outbound messages queue locally but are not sent until connectivity returns.
- Customer history not in cache — past jobs, invoices, and notes for customers not included in today's schedule are not cached and cannot be accessed offline.
How Data Syncs When Connectivity Returns
Sync is automatic. As soon as the app detects a network connection (Wi-Fi or mobile data), it begins uploading cached changes in the background. You can keep using the app while this happens.
Sync order is:
- Job status changes (completions, in-progress updates)
- Job notes and checklist responses
- Customer signatures
- Photos (largest uploads, last)
Conflict resolution: if the same job was updated both in the app (offline) and in the web dashboard (by the office) while you were offline, Trade2Base merges the changes where possible. Status changes from the app take precedence over the web if the job was actually completed on site. For note conflicts, both versions are retained with timestamps so nothing is lost.
Manually Refreshing the Cache Before a Poor-Signal Site
If you know you're heading somewhere with poor signal — a remote property, a building with thick walls, or an underground plant room — refresh your cache before you leave a connected area.
In the app, tap Settings → Sync → Refresh Cache Now. This forces a full download of:
- All jobs scheduled for today and tomorrow
- Customer details and notes for those jobs
- Job checklists and template attachments
The refresh takes 10–30 seconds on a good connection. A green tick and timestamp confirm the cache is up to date.
Troubleshooting Sync Failures
If the amber “Sync error” banner appears after connectivity returns, try these steps in order:
- Tap “Tap to retry” on the sync error banner. Most transient network errors resolve immediately on a second attempt.
- Force sync manually — go to Settings → Sync → Force Sync. This re-queues all pending uploads and retries.
- Check your connection — open a browser on the device and confirm you can load a webpage. If not, the issue is with the network rather than Trade2Base.
- Restart the app — close Trade2Base fully and reopen it. The sync process restarts automatically on launch.
- Contact support — if sync continues to fail after a restart, tap Settings → Sync → Export Sync Log and send the log file to support@trade2base.com. Your locally cached data is safe and will not be lost while the issue is investigated.
Unsent photos are stored separately and are not lost if the app is restarted. They will upload the next time sync succeeds.
Still need help?
Contact our UK support team via live chat or email support@trade2base.com.