Hikes happen where the internet doesn't. Pack Hiker — especially the Android app — is built to keep working when the bars disappear: reading your plan always works once it's cached; some things you change are queued and sent later; shared editing waits for a connection.
Reading Your Plan Offline
Open a hike while online and the whole thing — itinerary, routes, food, expenses, gear, emergency details — is cached on your device, and stays available for about three weeks since your last visit. Every hike you've opened recently survives, not just the last one, and it works after fully closing and reopening the app.
On the Android app, hike cards on the dashboard show an Offline pill once they're cached — glance before you drive out of reception.
Offline Maps (Android)
Map tiles are separate from the plan data. On a hike's map, tap Offline to download the topographic tiles along your routes for offline use. While offline the map sticks to the topo layer and the detail levels you downloaded.
Tip: Very long routes at maximum detail can exceed the download cap — if that happens, reduce the maximum zoom and download again.
Things That Queue While Offline
These work offline and send themselves when reception returns:
- Chat messages — delivered later, marked with when you actually wrote them
- Gear packing status — tick items off anywhere
- Your food plan — full meal editing offline; syncs with a conflict prompt if the plan changed elsewhere (details)
- Check-in turn-off — safety-critical, so it's stored durably and confirmed only when the server accepts it (post-hike check-in)
An offline banner appears whenever you're disconnected, and everything above flushes automatically on reconnect.
Things That Need A Connection
Shared, structural editing is deliberately online-only — so two people can't unknowingly rewrite the same plan from two paddocks: the itinerary, expenses, the Section Planner, gear-list management, emergency contacts and check-in setup, route uploads, member management, hike settings and the PDF export. The pages still open offline — you just can't change them until you're connected.
Note: Offline support shines on the Android app. The website caches your data too, but map downloads and the Offline pill are app-only.