What works without the internet
The POS saves every sale on the device first and sends it to the cloud after. What keeps working when the internet drops, what needs it and what it says, how you can tell, how long a sign-in lasts without the cloud, what happens when the line is back, and how Sub, Waiter, kitchen display, board and kiosk behave.
On this page
FooodPos is local first. Every POS writes its work to its own storage before anything is sent: a bill, a dish, a discount, a payment. It sends that work to the cloud in the order it happened, as soon as it can. So when the internet drops in the middle of service, the counter keeps going.
FooodPos is built to ride out a dropped connection during service, not to run without the internet for days. This page says exactly what goes on, what waits, and what needs the line.
How you can tell
Tables3 unsynced2🔄EN☀⚙
Could not reach the server — working from the cached menu. (Cannot reach the server)1
T01 · 2 paxT02 · 4 seatsT03 · 4 paxT04 · 4 seats
- The amber line: the POS could not reach the cloud, and is selling from the menu, prices and table plan it already holds. On Android it says No connection to the server. Working from the cached menu. It goes when the line is back.
- 3 unsynced: changes made on this POS that the cloud does not have yet. Tap it to refresh at once. It counts down to nothing as they go. Beside it, a red 1 refused would be work the cloud refused and will not take again; see The cloud refused a bill or a payment.
Also:
- No network, in amber in the status bar, means the device has no network at all (no address), not only no internet.
- A Sub or Waiter POS has a small dot at the top left: green when all is well, red with Cannot reach the internet since 18:02, or Main POS T01 not reachable since 18:02 when it works through its Main.
- After a payment the window says Saved on this POS in amber instead of Paid, with Saved on this POS. It will reach the cloud when the connection returns. (Android: Saved on this device.…). The payment is taken; nothing more to do.
What keeps working
| Without the internet | |
|---|---|
| Signing in with a PIN, or a password the POS holds | ✅ (see Signing in, and how long it lasts) |
| Opening and closing a shift, cash in and out, the X reading | ✅ It works now, even offline. |
| Opening bills, adding dishes, from the menu and table plan the POS holds | ✅ |
| Discounts, promotions, voiding dishes and bills | ✅ A manager's code and PIN are checked on the POS. |
| Save & Fire: kitchen tickets | ✅ The POS prints straight to the station's network printer, or its own. |
| Splitting a bill, moving a bill to another table | ✅ Moved to table T04 on this POS. The cloud is told as soon as it can be. |
| Taking payment: cash, card terminals (PBB, Fiuu), and every method but iPay88 | ✅ The POS reaches a card terminal over your shop's network or a cable. |
| Printing the bill and the receipt, and reprinting | ✅ |
| Taking back a payment, changing the payment method | ✅ |
| A refund of a bill this POS took and still holds | ✅ |
| Day end at the Main POS | ✅ It closes its own drawer and prints its own Z (below). |
| Pay later, taking a deposit, keeping a bottle (Kept items) | ✅ When they are in your plan. Using a deposit or collecting a debt needs a manager's code and PIN. |
What needs the internet
Each says so plainly, and nothing half-done is left behind.
| What the POS says | |
|---|---|
| Vouchers | Vouchers need a connection: only the cloud can say a code is still unspent. The bill can still be paid, and a voucher applied once the connection is back. |
| Giving a voucher | Giving a voucher needs the internet. Nothing was given. |
| Member: finding, registering, paying with points or wallet | Finding a member needs the internet, and this POS cannot reach the cloud right now. The bill can still be paid as usual. |
| iPay88 e-wallet | iPay88 needs the internet, and this POS has none now. Take another payment method. |
| Emailing a receipt | Emailing a receipt needs the internet, and this POS cannot reach the cloud right now. Printing, reprinting and the PDF work without it. |
| QR orders | None arrive while the line is down, and accepting one needs the cloud. |
| Printing a table's QR code | Printing a table's QR code needs a connection: the code is kept on the cloud, which this POS cannot reach just now. Nothing was printed. Try again once the connection is back. |
| The waiting queue | The queue needs the internet. |
| Bookings | Cannot reach the server |
| Stock in and wastage | Stock in and wastage go straight to the cloud, and this POS cannot reach it right now. Nothing is saved on this POS. Key the document in once the internet is back. |
| Marking a dish sold out | Marking Teh Tarik sold out changes it for every POS and the QR menu, so it needs the cloud. This POS cannot reach it. |
| Handing a kept bottle back | Handing a kept item back needs a connection: only the cloud can say the bottle is still on the shelf, and two POS terminals guessing would hand out the same bottle twice. The keep can be collected as soon as the connection is back. |
| A deposit's refund, forfeit, extension or void | Done on the cloud, by a manager: this POS must be online. |
| Some refunds: a bill paid at another POS, with a member, on Pay later or a deposit, or with a surcharge | This refund needs the internet. Try again when this POS is online., with the reason under it |
| Changing the menu on the POS | Changing the menu needs the internet. Nothing was changed. |
| A kitchen printer plugged into another POS | KITCHEN prints at another POS once the cloud has this order. |
| Pairing a new POS, the back office and its reports | need the internet |
A table with guests but no bill here
With several POS, a table may show guests whose bill is on another POS. Offline, this POS cannot fetch it, so it asks first:
Table T03 shows guests, but this POS has no bill for it and cannot reach the cloud to fetch it. If another POS has its bill, start here only when you are sure. Start a new bill on T03 here?
Press Wait, and take the order at the POS that has the bill. Press Start a new bill only when you are sure no other POS has it. With one POS only, the bill simply opens.
Signing in, and how long it lasts
- A PIN works with no internet: the POS checks it itself. The very first time, the POS needs the internet once to learn who may sign in: This POS needs the internet once, to learn who may sign in here. Connect it and try again; after that, PINs work with no internet.
- A password works with no internet once the POS holds its check. Until then: Sign in once with the internet on, then your password works offline too. Your PIN works now.
- The cloud's side of a sign-in. To send a person's work, the POS needs the cloud to confirm that person's sign-in. A sign-in made offline is confirmed by itself as soon as the POS reaches the cloud; until then that person's work waits, kept on the POS: Not sent: the cloud has not confirmed this sign-in yet. It does by itself once this POS can reach the cloud.
- 12 hours. The cloud's confirmation lasts 12 hours. A POS that can reach the cloud renews it by itself, for a PIN or a password the POS checked. For a password the cloud had to check, it is not renewed: from two hours before the end, the table plan says This sign-in expires at 18:30. Sign in again while you have a connection, or the queue will stop until you do., and after it This sign-in has expired. Sign in again — bills already taken are safe on this POS and will send once you do.
Shifts, day end and refunds are sent under the POS's own pairing, so they never wait for anybody to sign in.
When the line is back
- The POS sends what it saved, in the order it happened. A change sent twice (when an answer went missing) is counted once.
- The unsynced count goes down to nothing, and the amber line goes. A payment window still open turns from Saved on this POS to Paid.
- A bill is dated when it was rung, not when it arrived. The cloud keeps the POS's own time for up to 7 days back; work that arrives later than that is dated on the day it reaches the cloud. Another reason not to leave a POS offline for days.
Day end without the internet
The Main POS closes the day on its own records: it closes its own drawer, prints its own Z, and queues the close behind the night's bills. It cannot see what is still open on your other POS, and says so: No connection, so what is open on the OTHER POS cannot be checked from here — their bills, their work not yet sent, their drawers. This POS closes its own drawer and prints its own Z now; … Then: Closed on this POS, waiting on the cloud: it is queued behind tonight's bills.
Sub and Waiter POS
It depends on the Main's setting:
- Through the internet: each Sub and Waiter keeps its own bills and sends them itself, as above. Without its own internet it still finds the Main on your own network, to show whether it can reach it and to get its menu through it. Another POS's bills open on it again when the line is back.
- On your own network only: everything goes through the Main at once, so a Sub or Waiter needs no internet of its own, only the Main. While the Main has no internet, vouchers, kept items, bookings, QR orders, stock documents, deposits, Pay later, a receipt by email and Member are refused in words on every POS of its group; taking orders, payments, shifts and the day end go on. If a Sub or Waiter cannot reach the Main itself, it stops with Main POS is not answering: check that the Main is on with FooodPos open, on the same network.
See When the Main POS has no internet.
Kitchen display, order board and kiosk
- A kitchen display through the internet: after the line drops it shows, in red, Offline since 18:02., and where the new orders go: New orders print on the Kitchen printer., or New orders are NOT reaching this screen. Ask the counter. Taps made meanwhile are sent later.
- A kitchen display on the Main: it needs no internet. If it loses the Main: Cannot reach T01 on your own network. New tickets show when it is back.
- An order board through the internet: Cannot reach the internet. The board shows orders again when it is back. On the Main, it needs no internet.
- A kiosk: on the Main it takes orders and cards with no internet; e-wallets and vouchers need it. With neither the Main nor the internet: Ordering is paused. Please order at the counter.