Using 1pm when internet drops
1pm run of show will still display when your internet connection is disrupted or disconnected, providing it has been opened at least once before on the same device (so the ROS is cached).
This article walks through what works offline on your crew link, what doesn't, and how to prepare so you're not caught out.
The short version
Open the link once on solid Wi-Fi before the day. After that, the run sheet keeps working at the venue even if the network drops. Anything you tap (Start, Done, Mark finished, Undo) is queued locally and sent when the connection returns.
There's no "offline mode" toggle and no manual sync button. It just works.
Preparing before the event
The one thing that breaks offline support is never having loaded the link online before. The cache fills up on the first visit. If there's no first visit, there's nothing cached.
A few specifics:
Open the link from the email or message the planner sent, on the same phone you'll have at the venue.
Use normal browsing mode, not private or incognito. Private mode blocks the offline cache from installing.
Do this at least a day before the event, on Wi-Fi or strong mobile data.
Once you've loaded the page once, you're set. The cache survives a phone restart, a tab close, a browser reopen, a flight, all of it.
What works without a connection
After at least one online visit:
The run sheet itself loads from the cache. Times, titles, locations, the lot.
The briefing, notes, and files list are all still readable.
You can tap Start, Mark finished, Done, or Undo on any of your items. The action queues locally and the UI updates immediately, so the page feels exactly as responsive as when online.
You can switch between All and Mine views.
You can switch tabs, lock your phone, come back later, and the page is still there.
What doesn't work without a connection
Some things need a network round-trip, so they pause until the connection returns:
Live updates from the planner. If the planner changes an item on the timeline while you're offline, you won't see the change until your phone reconnects. The cached version is the last one your device synced.
File downloads. Attachments and uploaded files need to fetch from the server. If you tap a file link while offline, the browser will fail to reach it.
External links. Any attachment that points to Google Drive, Dropbox, or a vendor portal needs that other site's network, which is beyond 1pm's control.
Uploading a file. If a request is waiting for you to send a document, you'll need a working connection to upload.
A fresh link. If you lose your link and need a new one, you'll need the planner to send it, which obviously needs a network.
The connection pill
A small pill at the top of the page tells you whether you're connected:
Online. Connected. Everything is live.
Offline. Not connected. The page still works but you're looking at the cached version, and any taps are queued.
Syncing. Briefly visible when the connection comes back and the queue is being sent.
You don't have to react to the pill. It's there so you can tell whether the run sheet you're looking at is up to date with the planner.
The action queue
Every tap you make while offline goes into a queue on your device. When you reconnect, the queue replays automatically. You'll see a brief snackbar at the bottom of the screen saying "Syncing your taps" and then it clears.
A few specifics worth knowing:
The queue is in the order you tapped. If you tapped Start, then Undo, then Start again, all three are replayed in that order. The end state matches what would have happened online.
The queue is per-browser. If you tap in Safari and then switch to Chrome before reconnecting, the queue stays in Safari. Either browser can finish your actions, but only the browser that did the tapping has the queue.
The queue survives a tab close, a browser close, and a phone restart. Local storage persists across all of those.
The queue does not survive clearing browser data. If you clear cache or site data on the same browser, the queue goes too. Don't do this if you have unsynced taps.
When things look weird
A few situations that have surprised crew before:
"My phone shows Offline but the venue says they have Wi-Fi." Connecting to a Wi-Fi network and actually reaching the internet are two different things. Many venues have a captive portal that requires you to accept terms or enter a code through your device's browser before traffic actually flows. Until you do that, the phone is "connected" to the Wi-Fi but offline as far as 1pm is concerned. Open any other website first to dismiss the portal, then come back to your link.
"The run sheet looks out of date." If the pill says Offline and the planner has made recent changes, you're looking at the last cached version. The page will refresh on its own once you're back online. If the pill says Online and the page still looks old, pull down to refresh on a phone (or hit the browser refresh on a laptop).
"My tap didn't do anything." If the pill says Offline, the tap is in the queue and will replay when you're back online. If the pill says Online, refresh the page. Usually the action did go through and you're just looking at a stale UI.
When offline doesn't work at all
The edge case is "first visit at the venue with no signal". If you've never loaded the link before and the venue Wi-Fi is already gone, there's nothing on your device to load from cache. The fix is to load it once before you leave home, or somewhere with proper signal on the way in.
If you've forgotten to do this and you're now standing at the venue with no service, your options are:
Try mobile data if the venue Wi-Fi is what's failing. Sometimes one works when the other doesn't.
Find any spot with signal (sometimes one corner of a venue has it), load the link once, and then go back to work.
Ask the planner if they have a printed or alternative copy of the run sheet.
Once the link's loaded once on the day, it's cached for the rest of the day.
Private browsing and old browsers
Two things that block offline support:
Private or incognito browsing. Safari and Firefox specifically refuse to install service workers in private mode, which means the offline cache never sets up. Stick to normal browsing.
Very old Android browsers (Android 4.x or earlier). The offline mechanism requires service workers, which weren't available in those versions. Almost no one is running them, but if you're on a very old device, the page will still work online but won't cache for offline.
For everything else, offline at the venue should be a quiet feature that just works.
