Your team doesn’t always work where phone signals are strong. Basements, warehouses, farms, and rural construction job sites can drop a phone’s connection without warning, and until now, that meant punches could get missed.

That’s why we launched offline mode for the Buddy Punch mobile apps on October 6, 2026. With offline mode turned on, employees can keep tracking their time even when their phones lose signals or internet connections. Their activity is saved on the device and then syncs to Buddy Punch automatically once they’re back online.

Here’s what you need to know about how it works, what it covers, and how to turn it on.

How offline mode works

When an employee loses connection, they can keep using the Buddy Punch mobile app to:

• Punch in and out
• Punch in or out with a specific time entered
• Start and end a break
• Switch shifts

Say an employee signs in to the mobile app before heading to a remote job site with no service. They can keep tracking their time all day. The app stores that activity on their device and uploads it once the device reconnects.

After it syncs, every stored punch appears on the employee’s time card, along with the locations, departments, and positions they selected. And if you’ve assigned geofencing, it’s still enforced for offline punches, so your location rules stay in place even without a connection.

Which punch methods offline mode covers

Offline mode applies only to the Buddy Punch mobile app. These punch methods still need an active internet connection:

• PIN punches on a kiosk
• QR code punches on a kiosk
• Punches submitted through Buddy Punch’s web app

Signing in and out while offline

Employees need to sign in to the mobile app while they still have a connection. Signing in has to reach Buddy Punch to verify their credentials, so it can’t happen offline.

Once they’re signed in, they need to stay signed in for their offline time to be kept. They can close the app, and the app will hold on to their session after the connection drops.

One important note: signing out while offline clears any punches that haven’t synced yet. The app warns employees before this happens, but it’s worth reminding your team to stay signed in until they’re back online.

Other things to know

Offline mode is an account-wide setting. It applies to every employee who uses the mobile app. If you need to stop a specific employee from punching on mobile altogether, use the per-employee mobile punching setting.

Route data appears after syncing. You won’t see an employee’s route data until their device reconnects and the data syncs.

Overlapping punches are flagged for review. If synced data shows an employee punching in while they’re already punched in, Buddy Punch closes the synced punch and flags it for your approval. You can review it on their time card before it counts toward their hours.

How to turn on offline mode

Offline mode is available on the Pro and Advanced plans. To turn it on:

1. Sign in to Buddy Punch as an Administrator.
2. Go to “Settings” → “Account Settings.”
3. In the “Employee time entry: section, turn on “Allow Employees to use the Mobile App offline.”

Employees will be able to punch offline from the mobile app the next time they sign in.

For step-by-step instructions, see how to enable offline mode. You can also share how to punch in and out offline with your employees so they know what to expect.