Turn on Work offline on purpose, start an inspection without a connection, save photos for offline and mark them up, and sign out safely when something hasn't synced yet.

Before you start

Install the mobile app and sign in at least once while you have a connection — signing in itself needs one.
Before you head somewhere without signal, open each Order and template you'll need so a copy downloads to your phone while you're still connected. See How Offline Sync Works for what gets saved just by opening something.

Toggle Work offline. Turning it on stops all syncing and uploads on purpose — handy for saving your data plan, or for getting a flaky connection out of the way instead of letting it drag on. Your work still saves to your phone the whole time; it just won't try to send anything until you turn the switch back off.

While it's on, a strip under the switch reads "Nothing is syncing. Turn this off to upload your work." If anything is already waiting to go up, a Review link appears next to that strip — tap it to open Pending Sync and see what.

The switch stays on until you turn it off

Work offline doesn't turn itself off — not when you reconnect to Wi-Fi or cellular, and not when you restart the app. If the banner at the top of the screen says "Working offline" but you clearly have signal, this switch is almost always why. See The banner says Working offline but I have signal.

Start an Inspection Without a Connection

Open the Order and tap Start Inspection.

Pick a template. Start from Scratch always works offline. A template under My Templates works offline once you've opened it at least once while connected — until then it's greyed out with "Connect once to make this template available offline." Group Templates and Marketplace templates always need a connection, online or off.

Tap the button in the top-right corner. Offline, it reads Start Offline instead of Create — everything else about setting it up is the same.

The new Inspection saves to your phone right away and syncs to the server the next time you're connected — there's nothing extra to do to finish that part.

Editing Orders Offline

Most changes to an Order — notes, schedule, contact details — save offline like anything else. Services and pricing are the exception: changing them needs a connection, because the dashboard has to work out whether the change affects billing. If your edit includes a services change while you're offline, the app blocks the whole save and tells you to reconnect — including any notes, schedule, or contact changes you made in the same edit. Remove the services change, or reconnect, to save the rest. An edit that doesn't touch services saves offline as usual. See Edit services from the mobile app.

Open and Mark Up Photos Offline

A photo that's still waiting to upload — tap it in the item's photo row to open it full size. You can pinch to zoom, and the label at the top shows whether it's Waiting, Uploading, or in Needs attention. See Opening a Photo That Is Still Waiting to Upload.
Mark-up on a photo you took on this phone — tap Annotate any time, even before the photo has uploaded. Your mark-up is saved on your phone with the photo and uploads together with it when you're back online.
Photos from another device, the web, or the old app — the app saves these on your phone so they open and can be marked up offline too. See Save an Inspection's Photos for Offline below. Until a photo has been saved you'll see "Photo isn't on this device"; leave the screen open and the photo loads on its own when the connection returns.

Save an Inspection's Photos for Offline

The app saves an Inspection's photos on your phone in three ways:

Automatically on Wi-Fi. Open the Inspection while you're on Wi-Fi and its photos are saved in the background. You don't see a banner or hear a buzz. The app never does this on cellular data, and it stops if you lose the connection. It picks up again the next time you open the Inspection on Wi-Fi.
As you look at them. When you look at an item's photos on Wi-Fi, those photos are saved one by one — even if the automatic setting below is off.
On purpose. Open the Inspection, tap the ⋯ menu, and choose Save photos for offline. A strip shows how far along it is, with a Stop button. When it's done, the menu says "Photos available offline". If some photos couldn't be saved, the strip says how many, with a Retry button. You can also save, stop, or retry from the Inspection settings (also in the ⋯ menu), under Offline photos. On cellular data, or for a very large save (over 300 MB), the app asks before it starts.

To turn the automatic part on or off, go to MoreApp Settings and use Auto-download photos on Wi-Fi under Offline photos. It's on by default. Turn it off if you'd rather save photos only when you choose Save photos for offline.

The same card shows how much space saved photos use. Tap Clear to free it. Your photos stay in your Inspections and download again when needed. Saved photos are also removed on their own about 30 days after you last open the Inspection, and the app won't start saving if your phone has less than about 400 MB free.

Check What's Waiting to Sync

When there's a banner at the top of the screen, tap it to open Pending Sync. The banner shows on the app's main screens, not on sheets or full-screen forms like a new order. It shows the photos and video still waiting to upload, a section of its own for any Inspections created offline, and a Document Changes card if other changes haven't reached the server yet.

No banner means you're online and no photos or video are waiting — other changes sync quietly in the background without one. You can also open Pending Sync from the Review link under the Work offline switch while it's on, or from View Pending Items in any sign-out alert.

Tap a photo or video that's waiting or uploading to open where it was added — the item, the comment, or, for a cover photo, the Inspection's Settings.

For the full breakdown of what each banner word means and how the photo queue works, see Working with Photos.

Sign Out Safely

If you try to sign out while something hasn't synced, the app stops you and explains why instead of letting the work disappear silently:

What's happening	What you'll see	What to do
Online, something's still syncing	Unsynced changes	Tap Sync Now, or View Pending Items to see what's waiting
Uploads are paused	Uploads are paused	Tap Resume and Sync
Uploads are held for Wi-Fi	Uploads are waiting for Wi-Fi	Tap Allow Cellular and Sync
Work offline is on, but you have signal	You're working offline	Tap Go Online and Sync
Offline, and only photos are waiting	Photos haven't uploaded	Reconnect to sync them, or discard them and sign out anyway
Offline, and an Inspection change hasn't synced	Can't sign out while offline	Reconnect first — this one has no safe way to discard from your phone

Discarding only ever throws away photos and video still waiting in the upload queue — never a change to an Inspection. That means discarding doesn't protect an Inspection change that hasn't synced yet:

Online (the first three alerts above): Discard and Sign Out is always offered. It clears the photo queue and signs you out right away — it doesn't wait for other changes to finish syncing, so they may not save. Use the first button instead unless you're sure you don't need what's waiting.
Work offline is on: the button reads Discard Photos and Sign Out, and it only appears when photos are the only thing waiting.
Offline: Discard and Sign Out only appears in Photos haven't uploaded. If an Inspection change hasn't synced, there's no discard option at all — reconnect first.

What You Should See

Once everything has synced, the banner at the top of the screen disappears on its own — there's no separate "all done" message. Open Pending Sync any time to double-check; it shows "All synced" when nothing is left waiting.

If Something Goes Wrong

The banner stays on "Pending" or "Syncing" for a long time — the app keeps retrying on its own in the background; check your connection, or see When a Mobile Upload Needs Attention if a photo shows a red flag.
You can't publish a report — publishing always needs a connection. Reconnect and try again.
The banner says "Working offline" but you have signal — the Work offline switch is on; see The banner says Working offline but I have signal.

Work Offline in the Mobile App