Offline Mode for Pest Control Field Work
Bug HQ's field app keeps working when cell signal drops. Inspections, photos, signatures, and completions queue locally on the device and sync automatically when connectivity returns — no action required.
Why offline matters in pest control
Pest control work happens in the places cell networks don't reach. Subterranean termite inspections run through crawl spaces under old foundations — three feet of concrete and soil between the tech and any signal. WDO inspectors work attics in rural hillside homes where the nearest tower is miles away. Branch 2 routes cover agricultural properties, canyon neighborhoods, and dead-zone streets that carriers have never prioritized.
Software that drops your work when signal drops is not field software — it's office software that someone carried outside. Bug HQ is built to work in the field as it actually exists: intermittent, unpredictable, and frequently offline. Every workflow that matters to a technician mid-job keeps running without a connection. Data queues on the device and syncs the moment you drive back into range.
How offline mode works
Bug HQ is a Progressive Web App backed by a Serwist service worker. Field app pages load through a network-first strategy with a 3-second timeout — if the network doesn't respond, the service worker serves the cached page. Static assets load from cache-first storage, so the app shell is always available after first visit.
When you open an inspection or pest job while online, Bug HQ saves the full job record to the device. The WDO findings library caches separately on first use. Both are available without a network request on the next open.
Every write — findings, chemical records, signatures, photos, completions — goes into a local queue when offline. The queue holds five mutation types covering both WDO and pest job workflows, plus photo blobs. Nothing is lost if the app closes before sync.
Bug HQ listens for the browser's online event. When connectivity returns, the sync engine drains the queue automatically — uploading photos to storage, writing findings and completions to the database. A sync indicator shows status and pending count in real time.
The write queue holds five mutation types for inspection and pest job data: structured findings, WDO findings, chemical records, WDO inspection completions, and pest job completions — plus individual photo blobs queued per capture. Findings use a deduplication key so repeated offline saves on the same inspection don't create duplicate records; only the latest state syncs.
What works offline — what needs a connection
Works fully offline
Needs a connection
Installing the field app
Bug HQ is a Progressive Web App — there is no App Store or Play Store download. The app installs directly from the browser and lands on the home screen like any native app. Updates ship automatically without any action from the technician.
- 1.Open the Bug HQ field app in Safari
- 2.Tap the Share button (box with arrow)
- 3.Tap "Add to Home Screen"
- 4.Tap "Add" in the top-right corner
- 1.Open the Bug HQ field app in Chrome
- 2.Accept the "Install" banner when it appears
- 3.Or tap the three-dot menu → "Add to Home screen"
- 4.Tap "Install" in the prompt
The app shows an in-app install prompt automatically on first visit to the field area. Techs can also dismiss it and install manually via the steps above.
Frequently asked questions
There is no expiration on queued inspection data — findings, signatures, photos, and completions stored on the device persist indefinitely until sync. The one constraint is the service worker's field-page cache, which has a 24-hour expiry for navigation requests. If you launch the app cold (from the home screen, with no prior navigation) after 24 hours offline, the page shell may not load. Jobs opened during that offline window from a live navigation are not affected.
Offline data is stored in IndexedDB using the browser's default storage mechanisms. Bug HQ does not add an additional application-level encryption layer on top of IndexedDB. The data is protected by the device's operating system and browser sandbox — the same protection that applies to any web application's local storage. If your operation requires device-level encryption, enable full-disk encryption at the OS level (available on both iOS and Android).
The last device to sync wins. Bug HQ uses a "latest state overwrites" approach — when the same inspection record is updated by two devices offline, whichever device syncs second will overwrite the first. There is no merge or conflict detection. To avoid data loss on shared jobs, coordinate before both techs go offline on the same inspection, or ensure only one tech has edit access to a given job in the field.
Bug HQ uses the browser's IndexedDB storage which is granted multi-gigabyte quotas on modern phones — typically several GB even on entry-level Android devices. Each queued finding, photo, signature, and completion takes only a few KB to a few hundred KB. Storage is rarely a constraint in real-world field use. If a device does approach its quota, the browser surfaces a warning before any data is lost.
Yes. WDO inspections (Branch 3) and pest inspections (Branch 2) both have full offline support: job records cache on open, findings queue when offline, photos queue for upload, signatures queue, and completions queue. New customer records created in the field also save offline and sync automatically. The WDO findings reference library caches separately so all standard finding types are selectable without a network request.
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