Offline & mishears
No signal? Keep talking.
Everything you say is saved on the phone first. Stinger sends it when it can, oldest first. If you are in an apiary with no signal, the phone writes a rough draft on its own, and the real record is made when signal comes back. Nothing you said is lost while you wait.
Typed messages queue too. Anything you type in the message bar waits in the same line as your recordings, in the order you made them, so a typed note about one colony never jumps ahead of the recording before it.
Your language. The offline draft is written in the language you speak — your phone's language, unless you pick another in Settings → Offline models → Language. English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish have offline packs (downloaded on Wi-Fi); in any other language your recordings simply wait for signal. Offline models — the language packs and the offline AI model — download on Wi-Fi. To let them download on mobile data too, turn on Download offline models over mobile data in Settings → Offline models (it is off by default). A language you pick yourself downloads straight away.
When a late recording finally goes through, Stinger files it quietly. It will not start talking about a colony you left an hour ago. It keeps the time you said it, so it lands on the right day.
What works without signal
- Recording keeps working. Every word is saved and sent later.
- Offline answers are a comfort, not the record. The phone can read back what it drafted, but a record only exists once the server has filed it. A colony's state does not change until then.
- What you see is what the phone already has. Colonies, their latest state, older history and time travel work offline only for apiaries the phone loaded while it had signal. Open an apiary before you drive out and it travels with you.
- Large operations. A phone holds up to 10,000 colonies. Stinger loads the apiary you are in first, then the rest in the background, most recently used first. Past 10,000, the apiaries you used least are let go and come back when you open them. The first time a phone opens a very large operation on a weak connection, your apiary can take about fifteen seconds to appear.
When Stinger asks offline
With no signal, if you start talking without Stinger knowing which apiary you are in, the phone asks "Which apiary are you in?" Just say the name. You do not have to say it perfectly — the phone sends your answer along with the recordings that were waiting, and the full record is made when signal comes back.
- One answer covers everything waiting. Recordings you made just before you answered, missing the same apiary, are filed under it too.
- Stinger never guesses. If your answer cannot be matched for sure, those recordings go to the needs-attention list for you to sort out later. So does an observation whose question nobody answered within a day.
- Your answer stays on the record, so the transcript shows the question, your answer and what was logged. Answers are free.
- Late questions stay quiet. If a question comes up about a recording from earlier, Stinger does not read it out. It waits in the transcript as a question waiting for your answer.
- Said something else instead of answering? That is fine — it is logged as its own note.
What the screen shows while it waits
Each recording gets its own bubble the moment you stop talking. Until the words come through, the bubble says how long the recording was, for example "voice note · length 7 s". A typed note shows its text; photos show as a count.
The oldest recording is the one Stinger is working on. A short line under it tells you what is happening:
- "Stinger is working" — it is being sent now. A normal one takes about ten seconds.
- "no signal — will send when back" — there is no coverage. Keep working; it goes when you have bars.
- "server busy — retrying in 40 s" — the phone reached the internet but the service did not answer. Stinger waits a little and tries again by itself. Your phone does not fall back to its own draft for this; it just waits and retries.
- "transcribing on the device" — no signal, so the phone is writing the draft itself. On a phone this takes a few minutes. Let it be.
- "waiting for your answer" — Stinger asked you a question and is waiting for the reply.
Recordings behind the first one just say where they are in line, such as "waiting · 2nd in line", and, if the line has stopped moving, the reason. Tap any of these lines to see the whole queue.
Retry now. When the oldest recording has been sending for more than half a minute, or is waiting out a pause, the words Retry now appear under it. Tap them and Stinger drops that attempt and sends again straight away. If nothing has moved for two minutes, a red "1 turn stuck" button also appears at the top. None of this is spoken aloud, so it never interrupts your work.
Hot phone
A phone in the sun slows itself down. When that happens Stinger pauses the on-device draft to protect the recording. Your words are still saved, and the full record is written when the phone cools or the signal returns.
The needs-attention list
Very rarely a recording cannot be sent at all. It then shows as a small red button at the top of the console, uploads need attention. Tap it to try again or to discard it. The recording stays on your phone until you decide.
A batch of new colonies you said offline ("Set up ten colonies numbered 1A through 1J.") is never made on its own — Stinger could not ask you first. It waits in Needs Attention with the question ("Create 10 colonies — 1A through 1J — in Rodman?"): tap CREATE or DISCARD.
When it mishears
- Colony names must match exactly. If it heard "Bench Juan" it asks rather than guessing. Say the name again, clearly.
- A reply you did not expect? Read your own bubble. What Stinger heard is written there.
- Wrong details got logged? Fixing or undoing them is one sentence away — see Logging inspections.
Sessions
While you work an apiary, Stinger keeps listening between colonies. After ten quiet minutes it forgets which colony you were on, so old context never leaks into new work. You can mute and unmute at any time; if the ten minutes have passed, Stinger asks which colony you are on instead of guessing.