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 new offline changes, and downloading separate encrypted travel packs are Limbo Pro capabilities. Server-controlled availability determines whether each tool is visible for the build and account; a disabled tool is hidden.

Cached offline access is a gate over Limbo's existing cache and sync queue. When that specific server switch is off, Limbo does not impose the Pro gate and the ordinary cached-trip behavior remains in place. When the switch is on, the recently verified Pro rules below apply. Offline travel packs remain a separate capability with their own switch.

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.

Offline mode doesn't change permissions: every crew member keeps the same view or edit access they have online. Once the Pro offline-access gate is enabled, reconnect if Pro is inactive or needs verification. Limbo keeps existing cached data and already queued work safely stored; it does not silently discard a pending change because access expires.

Download an offline travel pack

Offline travel packs are a Pro tool. When its capability is enabled for your build and account, a free account sees a grey locked Offline travel packs entry; tap it to review Pro. If the entry is absent, the server-controlled capability is disabled.

With active Pro:

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, linked guides, 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 secure 72-hour authorization record 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 or authorization record 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.

When a pack includes linked creator guides, Travel guides remains discoverable from Home while offline. You can browse the saved guide list and read each guide's itinerary. Actions that need the network—including Use this guide, booking links, reporting, and blocking—are hidden until you reconnect, as are sponsored cards.

What works offline

When Pro offline access is enabled and recently verified, all of this works with no connection at all, and your changes show up on screen instantly:

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

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.

When edits collide

If you and a crew member both edit the same thing while one of you is offline, Limbo normally reconciles the latest server state automatically. If your choice is needed, the floating control changes to 1 conflict needs review instead of saying everything is synced. 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 reloads the server version.
• 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 Pro 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 and the 72-hour Pro verification is still valid. 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: Pro 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.