Offline: what syncs and when
What drivers can do with no signal, what dispatchers see during an offline stretch, and when a quiet route is (and isn't) worth worrying about.
Delivery routes run through basements, parking garages, rural dead zones, and elevators. The Routerra Teams driver app is built for that — it's offline-first, so losing signal never stops the work.
What a driver can do offline
Everything that matters for running the route:
- The route itself — stops, addresses, order, and expected arrival times are already on the phone.
- Marking stops — Delivered, or skipped with a reason, works with no connection.
- Notes and proof of delivery — photos, files, and notes are saved locally the moment you add them.
An offline banner appears when the phone is disconnected. It's informational — "You're offline. Some features are unavailable.", or, once you've marked stops while disconnected, "You're offline. N change(s) will sync when you're back online." — not a stop sign. Keep driving.
When and how it syncs
The instant signal returns, everything the driver captured while offline syncs automatically — statuses, notes, and photos, in the order they happened, with their real timestamps. A photo taken in a garage at 10:03 arrives stamped 10:03 once the driver resurfaces. Nothing needs re-doing, and there's no "sync now" button to remember.
What the dispatcher sees
On the office side, an offline stretch looks like quiet — the driver's updates pause, then arrive in a batch when they reconnect. So on the dashboard (Follow delivery progress live):
- A gap in updates during a known dead zone is normal, not a stall.
- When the driver reconnects, several stops may flip to Delivered / failed at once — that's the batch catching up.
When to worry (and when not to)
- Don't worry: short silences, known dead zones, a batch of updates arriving together after a gap.
- Do check in: a long idle flag on the dashboard, or no updates at all from a driver who should clearly be back online by now (see A driver doesn't see their route if the app itself looks empty).
What's next
- Get started with the driver app — the driver's full first day
- Follow delivery progress live — reading the dashboard during offline stretches