Offline use

[sloerch]

Hi,

is it possilble to use the app offline? i want to have several tablets with 3 groups of students, that does not have internet access...

 

thx stefan

 

[+NYPaddleCacher]

On 4/23/2018 at 6:20 AM, sloerch said:

Hi,

is it possilble to use the app offline? i want to have several tablets with 3 groups of students, that does not have internet access...

 

thx stefan

 

Yes.  You can even use it in airplane mode.  You just need to make you have downloaded the cache data to the device while you still have internet access.  If you had a premium membership you could create a list and then save it for offline use.  

[+thebruce0]

And don't log out. It's not 100% offline capable - if you log out, you won't be able to access the content you've downloaded which is associated to that user. You'll need network/signal to log back in securely and access your offline content.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

On 4/25/2018 at 11:34 AM, thebruce0 said:

And don't log out. It's not 100% offline capable - if you log out, you won't be able to access the content you've downloaded which is associated to that user. You'll need network/signal to log back in securely and access your offline content.

I never thought about that but fortunately the app will stay logged unless you explicitly log out.  If I were going to conduct a class like this I'd make sure that I tested offline mode first.  It would be easy to do just by sending a couple of caches to the device, then put it into airplane mode and make sure one can still navigate to the caches.

[+thebruce0]

I've heard from someone that they got logged out (time out? expired token? something) and weren't able to log in again because they'd already gone somewhere with no signal. (I did attempt to find out how/when they were logged out or disconnected but never got a response to that)

The problem is that the app assumes you must be 'logged in' to use it on the phone. A true offline app would already assume the user using the phone is the owner of the data in the app (as most apps do). You could still disconnect if you wanted, but why require a login to use offline data?  At worst, you could ask someone which user's data to access without requiring an online login which is ultimately just to authenticate against the server.  I mean, I can understand highly sensitive data, where the app might encrypt multiple-users' data by the authorized user's login, so the app naturally would require an online verification in order to access any offline data. But this is geocaching... have a default user, or just store multiple users in the app and allow the person to switch at will.

Anyway, fully offline mode: with no online functionality, the API is not relevant, and the login authorization is not relevant. If the API were to be disconnected, then yes you'd need data to re-login and make the connection again, but that of course is assuming you'll be using the API itself which is also online. If not, then there is zero need for a person to login (with online authorization) to an offline app to use offline data while in offline mode...  for that reason, I consider the official app to be pseudo-offline.

Practical example: in Geosphere, the API is connected in settings and used only for API calls. If it gets disconnected (expirey, etc) then you don't even know it's disconnected until you try to use an online API function. If you have the phone in airplane mode, you'll know when map tiles don't load, but that's OS-level. Otherwise, you'd have no idea because the default use for the app is 100% offline. Any online function is clearly indicated as such. Granted it's not fine-tuned to handle multiple users. But if implemented I'd point to the above comment about just switching data source with a user switch.

Anyway. For the official app to be completely offline, it shouldn't require an authenticated login if for whatever reason the "app is logged out". At worst, choose a user profile to act as, and remain fully functional offline.

[+Crow-T-Robot]

On 4/25/2018 at 11:34 AM, thebruce0 said:

And don't log out. It's not 100% offline capable - if you log out, you won't be able to access the content you've downloaded which is associated to that user. You'll need network/signal to log back in securely and access your offline content.

If you do log out, any list you've downloaded for offline use also vanishes. So, once you log back in, you'll have to download them again. 

[+kunarion]

On 4/23/2018 at 7:20 AM, sloerch said:

Is it possilble to use the app offline? i want to have several tablets with 3 groups of students, that does not have internet access...

 

Has the class already found caches? Is everybody signing up on Geocaching.com? Unless this is way beyond a Geocaching introduction, it's unusual to hold a class specifically on the details of using offline mode in the Official App.

If this is more like an intro, you may set out a variety of temporary caches as you like, in the general area of the class, and have a sheet to pass out with info about each cache. Use an App that shows distance and bearing, have the students type coordinates and go. Search for “Free GPS” Apps. And test the tablets outdoors. There are more considerations to using a tablet for navigation, than how The App works offline.

 

Edited April 27, 2018 by kunarion

[+thebruce0]

3 hours ago, Crow-T-Robot said:

If you do log out, any list you've downloaded for offline use also vanishes. So, once you log back in, you'll have to download them again

Well,... that,... *blinks*

[+NYPaddleCacher]

22 hours ago, Crow-T-Robot said:

If you do log out, any list you've downloaded for offline use also vanishes. So, once you log back in, you'll have to download them again. 

That seems like a design flaw to me.  There doesn't seem to be any logical reason to me for the app to remove data on the phone if you've logged off.  I have seen a few mobile apps that will detect if there is an internet connection and switch to "offline" mode, which still allows the app to function with data on the phone.  In cases, where you try to do something in the app which requires online access it will basically queue to request until an internet connection is re-established.  In the case of the GS app, it could detect if there isn't an internet connection before rendering a login form, then switch to "offline" mode and use any data that had been previously download, and display a dialog box which indicates that the feature is not available when offline if something is attempted which requires internet access, and that includes logging in to the app.

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

There doesn't seem to be any logical reason to me for the app to remove data on the phone if you've logged off.

 

I was surprised to learn that it does that.  But it makes sense if one user logs out and another logs in.  Get online, log in, load the offline data for the current user.  And don't log out. No big deal. 

The App doesn't fully function "offline" anyway, as I've detailed many times.

Edited April 28, 2018 by kunarion

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

I have seen a few mobile apps that will detect if there is an internet connection and switch to "offline" mode, which still allows the app to function with data on the phone.  In cases, where you try to do something in the app which requires online access it will basically queue to request until an internet connection is re-established.

 

That's a major issue with Geocaching Apps (with the exception of Apps that only work offline, of course).  They don't understand "slow connection", nor "connection lost", they assume the signal is always active.  One or two of the Apps caches some data as it's accessed, but for the majority of activities, the user is required to keep track of what works and what doesn't, based on signal strength.  I'd love to find an App that goes offline/online gracefully.

 

Edited April 28, 2018 by kunarion

[+thebruce0]

5 hours ago, kunarion said:

That's a major issue with Geocaching Apps (with the exception of Apps that only work offline, of course).  They don't understand "slow connection", nor "connection lost", they assume the signal is always active.

That's still one of the fundamental design principles that's never sat right with me with Cachly - as great an app as it is. It started from an 'online only' mentality and built in its offline use. I still use Geosphere almost exclusively because it was built as an offline-use app, with the API an online features as requests to update the offline data. If you're not online, you don't have to worry because you know exactly what requires an internet connection. YOu don't log in to anything - the phone's user is the default user. As I mentioned above that's not as optimal for multiple users like families and whatnot (who use the same phone), but that was such a rare case that it wasn't a major development point among the user base.

5 hours ago, kunarion said:

I'd love to find an App that goes offline/online gracefully.

Geosphere.  (if you run pre-iOS11, since the developer has not returned to make it 64-bit compatible)