Does AppSheet time out on mobile devices?

I have a client with drivers following a certain route.

  • Driver stops at site A and inputs info,
  • Phone sits in the truck with no activity until driver gets to Site B (could be 10 - 60 min later)
  • Driver inputs info for Site B and so on.

Drivers are advising theyโ€™re inputting 23 records lets say at site A but say theyโ€™re disappearing. In this case Google Sheets shows 6 out the 23 records.

Does AppSheet time out after a few minutes of inactivity?

0 8 438
8 REPLIES 8

Steve
Platinum 4
Platinum 4

I donโ€™t know for sure whatโ€™s happening in your case, but I know the app will try to sync every 30 minutes (by default), and I suspect it will do so even if a form is open. If a sync occurs while a form is open, I believe the existing form input is lost. Thatโ€™s my suspicion.

So we need to make sure users donโ€™t leave a data entry form open and leave the app? Is there a way to force a save after so many minutes of inactivity?

Also, if the user, on a phone, leaves that app to go to another app, leaving AppSheet open in the background, does the sync still perform in the background? I havenโ€™t tested this but it appears that syncs only happen when the app is open and has the focus.

Hi Lucinda, this certainly appears to be the case for my client. We tested leaving a record open with multiple child record entries for over 27 minutes and on the 27th minute the entire record disappeared - no data was submitted to Google Sheets.

Iโ€™ll need to redesign the app to allow for the user to save along their route.

There is not.

I donโ€™t think so, but I donโ€™t know for sure.

Or just disable the automatic updates.
Under BEHAVIOR - OFFLINE/Sync

2X_6_6aee4c3755c53d596921cf5a2a98a1d1697f4ded.png

Hi Fabian how is the data treated if the automatic updates are turned off? In our case the drivers may leave the phone idle for up to an hour, would the screen stay put and data intact OR is there still a possibility we could use the data when it sits idle like this?

At what point is the data saved if we turn this off? Only when the user presses Save?

HI @Daisy_Ramirez the documentation may answer your questions

Thanks Fabian, yes read through these earlier. Based on these data doesnโ€™t get saved to the database until Save is pressed.

Top Labels in this Space