Using Run Game offline: logging without signal
Yes, you can log an approach in Run Game with no signal. Pressing Save keeps the log on your phone first, then uploads it when a connection is available, so a basement bar or a subway tunnel doesn't lose it. The time on the log is the moment you tapped Success or Rejected, not the moment it uploaded.
What happens when you log offline
Logging in Run Game always starts the same way. You tap Success or Rejected, a sheet opens, and nothing is logged until you press Save. After Save, the log is written to storage on your phone before anything goes to the network. The upload happens behind it.
With signal, that upload finishes in a moment and you never see it. Without signal, the log stays on the phone in a waiting list. Two things tell you it's there:
- On the Improve tab, a small line above Success and Rejected reads "1 log to upload" (or "3 logs to upload").
- On the session screen, a line reads "1 log waiting for signal".
Your count for the day includes waiting logs, so the number on screen goes up right away.
Each log carries its own time and its own ID. That matters for two reasons. The time is the tap, so a log you save ten minutes later, after filling in the sheet, still lands at the right moment. And if an upload gets sent twice, for instance from two open tabs, the server saves it once.
When it uploads
You don't have to press anything. Run Game tries again when:
- your connection comes back,
- you return to the app from another app or the lock screen, and
- once every minute while it's open.
Logs upload in the order you made them. If one fails for a reason worth retrying, such as no signal or a server hiccup, the rest wait and it tries again later.
If your phone shares its location, Run Game attaches it to the log. The upload waits up to 15 seconds for it and then goes without.
What works offline and what doesn't
| Works with no signal | Needs signal |
|---|---|
| Opening the installed app | Reading the Forum, Scroll, Friends and Map |
| Logging Success or Rejected with ratings, name and notes | Starting or ending a session |
| Seeing your waiting logs counted | Anything that loads from the server, such as photos and feeds |
The reason is how the app is built. It saves its own files when you first visit, so it can open and log with no connection, and it falls back to that saved copy when a page doesn't load within about four seconds. Anything that comes from the server, such as the API, photos, feed media and venue data, is never saved for offline use.
Starting and ending a session both talk to the server. If you're heading somewhere with no signal, start the session before you go in. Approaches you log inside it are grouped by time, and the session screen counts logs still waiting on your phone alongside the uploaded ones.
Installing Run Game on your Home Screen makes this smoother. The install guide has the steps, and it's the same install that notifications on iPhone need.
When this helps
- Basement bars and clubs where signal is weak.
- Subway rides and trains.
- Festivals and crowded venues where the network is overloaded.
- Travel without data.
One tip on timing: log right after the conversation ends. The tap time is saved either way, but a fresh memory is what makes ratings and notes accurate.
What to check afterward
- Open Improve with signal. The "logs to upload" line should disappear. If it doesn't, leave the app open for a minute or return to it.
- Open Stats, then Recent logs. Each upload appears there with its outcome, ratings and notes.
- Reconnect within 7 days. The server only accepts logs from the last 7 days, so a log that sat on your phone longer than that is refused and isn't retried. If a refusal happens right when you press Save, Run Game shows a message starting "Not saved". A log refused later, while it waits, is set aside without a message and doesn't appear in Recent logs.
- Stay signed in to the same account. Waiting logs belong to the person who made them and upload when that account is signed in.
- Delete a log you saved by mistake. Stats has a Delete button next to each recent log, and it asks you to confirm because it can't be undone.
What to do next
- Install Run Game to your Home Screen before your next night out.
- Start your session with signal, then log as usual.
- Don't clear site data or sign out while the "logs to upload" line is showing. That avoids any chance of losing them.
- Open Improve once you have signal and wait for the line to clear.
- Check Recent logs in Stats the next morning.
For what to log and how to read the numbers, see how to track your progress in Run Game, and for why it's worth doing, why tracking your approaches makes you better at them.