When the internet drops
Read this before it happens. Losing the internet in the middle of a Saturday service is not the moment to learn how the POS behaves.
The short version
Keep taking orders. Stay on the POS screen. Don't navigate away.
Restodesk saves orders on the device when it can't reach the server, and sends them automatically once the connection returns.
How you'll know
A badge appears at the top of the POS:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Offline | No connection. Orders are being saved on this device. |
| Syncing | Connection is back. Queued orders are being sent. |
| Nothing | Normal. |
Tap the badge to see what's waiting — "3 order(s) waiting to sync when you are back online" — with each order's customer, table, items and total.
What still works
- Building orders. Add items, choose sizes and modifiers, apply discounts.
- Saving orders. They queue on the device with the message: "You are offline. This order is saved on this device and will be sent when you are back online."
- Recording payment. Cash payments can be taken and attached to the queued order. It syncs with the order.
- Printing. KOT and bill printing still work — the kitchen keeps cooking.
- The menu. You'll see the copy saved on the device, with a notice: "Showing the menu saved on this device. Reconnect to refresh items and prices."
What doesn't
- Split payments. "This order uses split payment. Complete payment while online." Take it as a single payment, or wait.
- Online payment methods. Anything that has to reach a payment provider.
- Anything outside the POS. Reports, settings, the orders list — those need the server.
- Order numbers. Queued orders show their KOT number as Pending until they sync.
Cash tendered must still cover the amount due — offline doesn't relax that check.
The one rule: don't leave the POS
If you try to navigate away while offline, Restodesk stops you:
You are offline on POS. You cannot leave this page while offline. Going to another page (including the dashboard) or using the browser back button can discard unsaved POS data on this device. Stay on POS until you are back online.
Choose Stay on POS. Leave anyway is there for emergencies and can lose queued orders.
The same applies to reloading the page, and to closing the tab. The queue lives in this browser, on this device. Nothing else knows about it yet.
When the connection returns
Syncing starts on its own. The badge changes to Syncing, orders send one by one, and you get:
Queued orders were sent successfully.
Then check:
- Every table you served while offline has an order.
- Payments recorded offline are attached.
- Order numbers have been assigned.
Do this before the shift ends, not the next morning.
If something goes wrong
"Session expired. Refresh the page, then open POS again to sync queued orders." Your login timed out while offline. Refresh, sign back in, reopen the POS — the queue is still there and syncs then.
Orders still queued after the connection is back. The badge tells you how many. Leave the POS open; syncing retries. If it persists, sign out and back in on the same browser — the queue survives.
"Could not reach the server." The order was saved locally. Same as offline; keep going.
Pop-ups blocked when printing a KOT. Allow pop-ups for the site in your browser. Worth doing on every till before you need it.
Preparing for it
Five minutes now, on a quiet afternoon:
- Test it. Turn off Wi-Fi on one till, take a full order, turn it back on, watch it sync.
- Allow pop-ups on every device that prints.
- Tell your staff the rule. Stay on the POS. That single sentence is most of what they need.
- Know your kitchen's fallback. Printers on the same local network usually keep working. Printers that route through the internet won't — find out which you have before you need to.
- Keep a pad. For a long outage, paper still works, and reconciling ten handwritten tickets afterwards beats losing them.
Good to know
- The queue is per device and per browser. Orders queued on the bar till don't appear on the waiter's tablet. Don't go looking for them there.
- Clear cache on the POS wipes local storage on that browser — including queued orders. It asks first. Don't use it while anything is waiting to sync.
- Offline mode is about your internet connection, not about offline payment methods, which are a separate feature for bank transfers and cash-on-account.
- Printers on your local network are unaffected by an internet outage. Only cloud printing is.