Working offline

What keeps working without internet on the desktop and Android tills, what needs a connection, and how syncing works.

Restaurant internet is not always reliable. The desktop and Android tills are built so that a dropped connection does not stop service.

What works without internet

On the desktop app and the Android till you can:

Create orders, add and edit items, and cancel items
Record payments and settle
Change an order's status
Print KOTs and receipts, including to network printers on your local network
Look up recent orders

Everything you do is saved on the device first and queued. When the connection returns, the queue is sent automatically in the same order you did things. You do not need to press anything.

What needs internet

Menu changes, tax settings, discounts and other settings
Refunds
Changing stock by hand
Signing in for the first time on a device

A till that is already signed in stays signed in and keeps working if the network drops. It is only signed out if the server actually rejects it, for example because the device was deactivated.

Order numbers

An order created offline is shown as pending. It receives its real business-wide order number (for example LPC12) when it syncs. The status indicator shows how many changes are waiting.

Several tills at one outlet

When connected, a change at one till reaches the others at that outlet within seconds. If that quick signal is missed, tills still catch up on a regular short cycle. If two tills edit the same order while one is offline, the server's version wins and the till will not overwrite a local edit that is still waiting to be sent.

Stock

Stock is applied as a sequence of changes when an order completes, not as a single overwritten number. Two offline tills can therefore both sell items and the counts reconcile correctly afterwards.

The web till

The browser-based web till is online-only. If your outlet has unreliable internet, use the desktop or Android till as the main till. The web till is well suited to offices, back-of-house screens or backup.

Tips

Sign in once while online on each device before service starts.
Watch the sync indicator at closing and make sure pending changes reach zero.
Keep printers on the local network so printing never depends on the internet.

Read why offline-first matters for the thinking behind this.