Hardware
Offline mode
What keeps working on the kiosk and guard devices during network and power cuts, how sync works when the connection returns, and how to prepare for dumsor.
Early access· P5For admins, receptionists and guards
Agoo is in early access. This page describes the feature as it ships to early-access organisations; screens are illustrative.
Network drops and power cuts are a normal part of the working week. The Kiosk app is built for them: it saves everything on the device first and syncs when the connection returns, with the original times intact. Visitors keep checking in and staff keep clocking in, and the screen says calmly that it's offline, so nobody at the desk panics.
Offline mode is part of the Kiosk app and the Workspace app, on iPad, iPhone and Android: clocking in, showing your badge, approvals, the Desk's check-ins and check-outs, and the evacuation list. A kiosk in a computer's browser is different: it works online only and keeps nothing to send later, so where the network drops often, use the app.
What works offline
| Task | Offline | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Walk-in check-in | Yes | The kiosk keeps a copy of your hosts, the teams visitors may choose, forms and visitor types, so it asks "Who are you here to see?" as each visitor type allows. |
| Scanning passes | Yes | Passes are signed with your organisation's key, so the kiosk checks them, their days, hours and gates without the internet. See Signed passes. |
| Today's expected visitors | Yes | As they were at the last sync. |
| Photos and ID scans | Yes | Photos upload later. A Ghana Card's or passport's machine-readable lines are read on the device; no picture of a Ghana Card is kept. |
| Documents to sign | Yes | The kiosk keeps each document's current wording and asks only for what the visit still needs. |
| Vehicles in and out (guard mode) | Yes | The gate device reads plates itself and keeps known and barred vehicles for its site. See Vehicles at the gate. |
| Check-out | Yes | |
| Staff clock-in (badge, PIN, NFC card) | Yes | The kiosk checks badges (printed or on a phone), cards and PINs itself and records the punch at the time it happened. Selfies and notice answers wait on the device too. Face clock-in is planned. |
| Showing your badge (Workspace app) | Yes | The phone makes each 30-second code itself, so it works with no data. |
| Feedback at the kiosk | Yes | After check-out and at the feedback stand. Answers are sent when the kiosk reconnects. |
| Clock-in on a phone (Workspace app) | Yes | The app saves the punch with the time it was made and shows it as Sending until it reaches Agoo. Agoo checks it again when it arrives. |
| Approving or declining a visit (Workspace app) | Yes | The host's answer is kept on the phone and sent when it reconnects. If someone answered first, the app says so. Inviting, answering bookings and answering Will you see them? for a visitor you're asked about need a connection. |
| Checking visitors in and out (Workspace app's Desk) | Yes | Kept on the phone with the time it happened and sent when it reconnects. Registering a walk-in, scanning a pass and deciding a hold need a connection. |
| Needs someone (Workspace app's Desk) | Yes | The list of visitors waiting for someone is kept on the phone. Asking someone, writing down an answer, taking a visit, handing it over and booking a visitor in for another time need a connection. |
| Logging parcels (Kiosk apps, guard mode, Workspace) | Yes | The device reads the label itself and keeps the people and teams at its site, so couriers, guards and reception log parcels with no network. Photos upload later; the recipient is told once the parcel reaches Agoo. See Deliveries. |
| Collecting a parcel with its code | Yes | The kiosk checks the collection code itself. Reading labels with Agoo AI and Remind now need a connection. |
| Watchlist screening | Yes | Kiosks and guard devices hold only one-way fingerprints, never names or numbers. Agoo screens every offline check-in again, names included, when it syncs. |
| Guest Wi-Fi on the welcome screen | Yes | The Kiosk apps keep the guest Wi-Fi on the device and show it after a check-in. It is recorded with the check-in when the kiosk reconnects. |
| Badge printing | Planned | Badge printing isn't in the apps yet. Once it is, it will print offline if the printer is on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB and still has power. |
| Evacuation list and roll call | Yes | The Workspace app's Desk keeps who's on site at your sites, and a roll call while it runs, with call buttons that work without data. Marshals' marks are sent when it reconnects. Sending an emergency alert needs a connection. |
| Telling the host | Later | Alerts go out as soon as the device reconnects. See the callout below. |
| Host approvals | Later | The host's answer reaches the kiosk when it reconnects. |
| Sending invitations, passes and reminders | Later | Sent by Agoo's servers, which don't depend on your site's connection. |
| AI ID scan (Pro; planned) | No | Needs the internet. Agoo never depends on AI for offline check-in. |
| Pairing a new device | No | Needs a connection once. |
When the kiosk is offline, call the host
A visitor checked in while the kiosk is offline is recorded straight away, but their host isn't told until the kiosk reconnects. Train reception and guards to call or WhatsApp the host from their own phone while the kiosk shows it's offline. If your rules need host approval, reception decides at the desk.
How sync works
- Saved on the device first. Every check-in, check-out, clock-in, feedback answer and delivery is written to the device's own storage the moment it happens, with its time and place.
- Sent in order when the connection returns. The kiosk notices the network is back and sends everything it saved, oldest first, after uploading any photos and documents taken offline. The status at the top of the screen shows Syncing while it does, and the device menu shows how many actions are still waiting.
- Never twice. Each action carries its own unique ID, so if a send is interrupted and retried, Agoo ignores the duplicate.
- Original times kept. A visitor who checked in at 10:43 am appears in the Console at 10:43 am, not when the kiosk reconnected, and is marked as synced late.
- Nothing lost quietly. If Agoo can't accept an action (the visit was cancelled meanwhile, say), it doesn't hold up the rest: they still go through, and the kiosk lists the one it couldn't send in its device menu, under Sync, for reception to record at the desk.
- Updates flow back. Changes made elsewhere while the kiosk was offline (new hosts, cancelled visits and passes, watchlist entries, form and document changes, a new pass key) reach it as soon as it reconnects.
Console → Devices shows each device's connection and when it last synced, so you can spot a kiosk that has been offline for a while. Kiosks and guard devices also report how up to date their screening list is: when a device's list is older than your organisation's limit (24 hours by default), reception sees a quiet "screening list last updated …" notice.
Watchlist screening offline
- What's on the device. Kiosks and guard devices (never staff phones) keep one-way fingerprints of the watchlist entries for their site, in the device's secure storage. No names, phone numbers or ID numbers from the watchlist are on the device. Only plans that include the watchlist get it.
- What's checked. A walk-in's name, phone number and any ID number recorded; an expected visitor's or pass holder's name.
- A match offline is handled like one online: the visitor sees a neutral "Please take a seat. Someone from reception will be with you shortly.", the host isn't told, and reception and security are alerted as soon as the check-in reaches Agoo, which screens it again.
- A match the device missed (a misspelt name, or an entry added since its last sync) is found when the check-in reaches Agoo. The visit is flagged as having entered while offline, and security is alerted at once.
- Removing someone from the watchlist removes them from every device at its next sync. Unpairing a device, or wiping it remotely, deletes the copy, and a revoked device's keys are replaced.
When two devices disagree
Offline devices can't see what other devices are doing, so occasionally two records overlap. Agoo keeps both on the visit's timeline and resolves them predictably:
| Situation | What Agoo does |
|---|---|
| A visitor is checked out at the gate and again at the offline kiosk | The first check-out stands; the second is noted on the timeline. |
| A pass was cancelled in the Console, then scanned at an offline kiosk | If the kiosk synced after the cancellation, it refuses the pass. If not, it accepts it, because it can't know yet, and after sync the visit is flagged for reception to review. |
| Someone was added to the watchlist after the kiosk lost its connection | The kiosk can't match them until it syncs. Agoo screens every offline check-in again on sync: a match alerts security at once, and the alert says the visitor entered while offline. |
| A staff clock-in looks suspicious (the device clock was off, or the phone's location and its check disagree) | The punch is kept and flagged for a manager to review. A phone clock-in from outside the geofence, and not on the site's Wi-Fi, isn't accepted: the employee clocks in at the kiosk. |
Preparing for dumsor
- Keep kiosks charging. A tablet on charge starts a power cut with a full battery. Check battery levels in Console → Devices after long outages.
- Back up the router and printer. A small UPS or inverter for the router and badge printer keeps check-ins syncing and badges printing through most cuts.
- Have a second connection. A tablet with a data SIM, or a mobile Wi-Fi device, keeps the kiosk online when the office internet goes down with the power.
- Lock down so restarts don't matter. If a battery runs flat, a fully locked-down kiosk (an iPad with MDM) comes back to Agoo on its own. With Guided Access, or screen pinning on Android, someone needs to lock it again.
- Check the load-shedding timetable. If an outage is due during your morning rush, make sure devices are charged beforehand.
- Practise. Run the offline test from the go-live checklist every few months, so new staff know what offline looks like.