Out-yards often sit in "lie-fi": the phone shows a bar or two of signal, but requests stall for minutes. Instead of spinning forever, the mobile apps watch how requests actually behave. When they start timing out on a live connection, the app flips to the data saved on your phone and shows an amber banner: "Poor connection - using data saved on this phone. Changes sync automatically."
My Hives
Poor connection – using data saved on this phone. Changes sync automatically.
Hive #7
Varroa high - from on-phone copy
Hive #12
Queen Watch Q24 - from on-phone copy
Tap the banner for options · re-tests the signal automatically
- Everything you log while degraded is saved locally and uploads on its own when the signal returns - the same queue used for full offline.
- The app quietly re-tests the connection on a backoff schedule, when you reopen the app, and the moment the sync channel reconnects. When the server answers again you briefly see "Back online - syncing your changes."
- Requests also get sensible time limits, so a dead spot fails fast instead of hanging a screen.
Take control manually
Tap the banner (or open Settings -> Advanced -> Connection & sync):
- 1
Work offline
Forces reads from the on-device copy even with a good connection - useful when you know the day will be all dead zones. Background sync keeps running.
Poor connection
Your device reports a connection, but the server isn’t responding (weak signal). The app is using data saved on this phone so you can keep working.
3 inspection photo(s)
Will upload when online
Work offline
Use data saved on this phone even with a connection.
Auto-detect poor connection
Switch to on-phone data when the signal is too weak.
Test connection - 2
Auto-detect poor connection
On by default. Turn it off and only a true no-signal state switches the app to local data.
- 3
Test connection
Fires an immediate check against the server and reports whether it answered.
Why do I see "Poor connection - can't reach the server. Retrying automatically." instead?
You are signed in as staff working on the owner's operation. Staff devices do not keep a local copy of the owner's records, so the app keeps retrying live reads rather than showing an empty offline view.
Does this apply to the web app?
No. The web app has no on-device copy, so poor-connection mode is a feature of the iOS and Android apps (all three: HiveMasterPro, Field Tech, and Fleet).
Do AI features work while degraded?
Cloud features (AI analysis, voice assistant speech) are skipped or fail fast while the connection is weak, instead of hanging. They come back automatically when the connection recovers.
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