Working offline

Limbo stores trip content it has already loaded on your phone so a connection loss does not turn the itinerary into an empty trip. Opening cached trips, making offline changes, and downloading encrypted travel packs are free for everyone. Download packs while connected before relying on them offline.

Offline access does not require a paid subscription or a recent subscription verification.

Upcoming trips are prepared for offline use from Home. For a past trip, open it online before you rely on it offline so Limbo can cache its plan content. If that content has not been loaded on this device, the trip shows Not available offline instead of a misleading empty itinerary.

If your open trip is available offline, losing or regaining a connection keeps its current panel open. You can carry on where you were; offline-access and trip permissions still apply.

Offline mode doesn't change permissions: every crew member keeps the same view or edit access they have online. Limbo keeps cached data and queued changes safely stored until they can sync.

Plan edits are checked against your current trip permissions when they sync. If an organizer removes your edit access while you are offline, your saved edit will not change the shared plan. It stays under 1 change needs attention. Retrying does not bypass that restriction; if the organizer restores edit access, Retry all can send the saved change.

Download an offline travel pack

In a browser, available trip packs appear side by side when there is room, and stack on narrower windows. Each trip keeps its own download, refresh, and status controls.

Offline travel packs are free. If the entry is absent, the service is currently unavailable.

To download a pack:

1. 1
   Connect to the internet, tap your Home avatar to open Account, then tap Offline travel packs.
2. 2
   Find a current trip and tap Download. The progress and downloaded size remain visible on its card.
3. 3
   If the connection drops, return later and tap Resume download. Limbo keeps verified progress instead of starting every file again.
4. 4
   Before travelling, tap Refresh to replace the saved trip snapshot and bring its files up to date.
5. 5
   Use Remove when you no longer need the device copy. This removes only the offline pack, not the shared trip or its files.

A ready pack contains the trip details, plans, current Checklist tasks and saved attachments on the trip and its plans. Limbo creates a random device-only encryption key and keeps it in iOS Keychain or Android Keystore. The downloaded data is bound to the signed-in account and Limbo environment, so a routine same-account session refresh or sign-in-token rotation does not make a valid pack unreadable.

Signing out or switching accounts removes the encryption key, authorization record, and downloaded pack files from the device. A pack that is corrupt, belongs to another account or environment, or has been copied back after removal will not open. Limbo asks you to reconnect and download a trusted copy instead of showing unverified content.

Google Maps tiles are never included. A ready pack can provide the itinerary and its downloaded files, but the map background may still be unavailable without a connection.

What works offline

Once the trip is saved on your device, all of this works with no connection at all, and your changes show up on screen instantly:

Before settling up offline, open the trip while connected so its repayment history is saved on this device. If the history is missing, Balances asks you to connect before suggesting repayments.

Mixed-currency balances need exchange rates downloaded while connected. Saved rates work after an offline restart. If a required rate is missing, Expenses shows Rates unavailable and Balances asks you to reconnect before recording a repayment. Individual expenses keep their original currencies.

Each change is saved on your phone and queued. The queue survives closing the app, restarting your phone, and days without signal.

Saved files in the browser

Open Limbo online before relying on it offline so the browser can finish saving the app files. Interrupted app-file downloads are retried automatically. A new version waits until all Limbo tabs are closed before replacing the version you are using. Save your work, close the Limbo tabs, and reopen Limbo to use a ready update; there is no need to clear your browser data.

If your sign-in expires before saved changes can sync, Limbo keeps those changes on the device. Sign in to the same account to recover them. They are not shown or uploaded by another account. Keep your browser's site data until they finish syncing.

The page staying open does not necessarily mean Limbo can connect. The browser checks its connection to Limbo separately. If it cannot reach Limbo, the offline status appears and saved content stays available under the usual offline-access rules. It checks again automatically; you do not need to clear site data or reload to reconnect.

Download a travel pack while connected and wait until it says Ready · 100%. In that same browser, open the trip’s Attachments tab to read saved PDFs and photos without a connection, including after reloading the page. PDFs keep their page controls and download option. Uploading or deleting an attachment still requires internet access.

Keep using the same browser profile: clearing this site’s browser data removes its downloaded files. Refresh the pack before travelling so it includes the latest plans and files.

With verified offline access, Account → Offline travel packs also works after reloading the browser without a connection. You can check each saved pack’s size and last refresh time. Download and Refresh ask you to reconnect while keeping the saved copy intact. If an online access check fails, choose Try again after your connection returns.

Maps while offline

Your saved trips and Plans timeline remain available offline, including the names, times, addresses, and other itinerary details already stored on your phone. Google Maps basemaps are not downloaded for offline use, so a map may show Map unavailable offline until you reconnect. This does not remove or empty the itinerary underneath it.

Place and destination search also needs a connection because suggestions and place details come from Google Places. You can still type the text fields that Limbo makes available offline and save the trip or plan to your device.

If a destination or queued destination change was saved by an older Limbo version, the 2.4.01 upgrade may replace that destination with No destination instead of replaying an outdated place match. Reconnect and select the destination again before retrying the change; the rest of the trip and its itinerary stay available.

The banner

A compact cloud near the bottom of the screen tells you where things stand. On Home it sits immediately beside Add trip; inside a trip it moves into the corner that Add trip leaves free. Tap it once to expand the status. Tap it again to sync or open the review panel.

• Airplane mode. You're offline. Below it, Limbo says Saved safely on this device, or shows a count like 3 changes saved · Tap again for details.
• Syncing 3 changes… You're back online and Limbo is sending your queued changes.
• 3 changes ready. Tap again to sync. You're online with changes still queued.
• 1 conflict needs review. Tap again to choose a version. Limbo needs you to choose between your saved edit and the server version.
• 1 change needs attention. Tap again to review or retry. A queued change could not sync and remains available for recovery.
• ✓ All synced. Everything went through. This flashes briefly, then slides away.

When there's nothing to report, there's no banner.

Tap the expanded control again whenever it shows saved, failed, or conflicting work. The Offline sync panel lists a safe summary of what's waiting, like "Update plan" or "Create trip", plus counts for pending, failed, and conflicts. If you're online and changes are waiting, tap Sync now to push them immediately.

Scroll inside the panel to review the full list, including longer backlogs. Every failed change and unresolved conflict stays reachable; you do not need to clear earlier entries to reach later ones.

Failed changes also include guidance before you retry. If an offline task claim is rejected, another person may have claimed it first, or your access may have changed. Review the current Checklist before choosing Retry all. The failed change remains saved on this device; retry it once the task is available and your access allows it.

When edits collide

If a plan changed online while you were editing it offline, Limbo asks which version to keep before sending your saved edit. The floating control changes to 1 conflict needs review instead of saying everything is synced. You can close and reopen Limbo without losing that unresolved choice. Open the Offline sync panel to see Review item conflict or Review plan conflict with two explicit actions:

• Use server discards that queued local edit and uses the online version found when Limbo checked for changes. It does not send your edit.
• Keep mine keeps the local edit, moves the same queued change back to pending, and retries it through the normal sync path.

The decision is saved before the conflict disappears, so closing and reopening Limbo cannot leave a hidden conflict behind. If saving the choice fails, the conflict stays visible rather than pretending it was resolved.

If a queued vote can't be accepted by the server, say the ballot resolved while you were offline, your vote is rolled back on your device rather than silently miscounted, and the failed change appears in the panel until the queue settles.

What needs a connection

A few things are online-only by nature:

• Joining a trip: invite codes are checked live, so the join screen shows a "needs a connection" state while you're offline. Creating or revoking an invite link (trip owner only) also needs a connection. See Join a trip.
• Accepting an invite or removing a saved crew member: Limbo checks every trip linked to that person before changing the relationship, so reconnect first. Other crew details can still be edited offline.
• Ballot overrides: organizer Decide now and Reopen voting act on the whole crew's ballot in real time, so they require a connection. Casting your own vote still works offline.
• Chat: messages, polls, and reactions are realtime-only. You can't send while offline; the conversation catches up when you reconnect. See Trip chat basics.
• Plans parsed from email: forwarded-email parsing happens on Limbo's servers, so reconnect to review new Incoming Plans. The Automatic Gmail booking inbox is online-only for the same reason: connecting a Google account, Scan now, and Disconnect all need a connection, and offline the card says Limbo couldn't load Gmail scanning.
• Attachments not in a ready pack: uploading and deleting always need a connection. A saved attachment can open offline only if it finished downloading into that trip's ready offline travel pack. See Attach tickets and documents.
• Copying or moving plans between trips: both trips must update together, so these bulk actions ask you to reconnect. Selecting and deleting plans still works offline.
• Reactivating an archived trip: restoring a trip and all its plans for the crew needs a connection. Archiving and permanent deletion still work offline.
• An uncached past trip: connect and open it once to load its plan content, or download it while it remains in the current-trip list. A past trip already cached on this device remains available offline while access is authorized.
• An archived or role-restricted trip: Free access does not override trip status or crew permissions. Changes wait until an organizer reactivates the trip or your role allows the action.

The first Preflight load for a trip also needs a connection. Once its score and tasks have been cached on the device, you can update them offline.

Discover places needs an internet connection to generate suggestions and save swipe choices. If the connection drops, the current card stays available to retry. Saved choices return when you reconnect and reopen the deck. Plans already added through suggestions follow the usual offline trip access rules.