An offline dive log: log dives with no signal, and keep them safe
Boats, islands and quarries often have no signal at all. A good dive log keeps working there and catches up later. Here is what to look for, and what to do before you go.
· 2 min read
What offline has to mean
Offline is more than not crashing. A dive log that works without a signal keeps the log on the device, lets you add and edit dives, and saves them there, then sends them to your other devices when the connection comes back. Anything that needs the network to save is an app that loses dives on a boat.
How Loggerfish handles it
Loggerfish keeps your logbook on the device you are using, so you can log a dive from a boat with no signal at all and it will still be there. With an account, your dives sync to your other devices as soon as you are back in range. An account is optional; without one the log lives on the device alone, which makes a backup matter more.
Before you leave
- Open the app once with a connection. The browser version keeps what it needs once it has loaded, so load it on the harbour wifi, not on the boat.
- Sync, if you use an account. Make sure your dives are on every device that will be used for logging.
- Make a backup. A full backup file is one file you can restore on any device. Do this before the trip and again after it.
- Know what stays on the device. Photos are kept on the device only, so they are not in backups or in the Excel export. Keep your original photos in your phone's own library as well.
- Charge the device. The best offline log is no use at 0 %.
While you are away
Log each dive when you surface, while you remember the gas, the conditions and who you dived with. Dive sites you have already used are quick to pick, and a new one can be added by name and filled in later.
When you get back
Open the app with a connection and let it sync. Check the dive count against what you expect, then make a fresh backup. If you keep a spreadsheet as well, export to Excel now and save a dated copy.
Nothing here replaces your computer
A logbook records dives; it does not plan or control them. Use your dive computer and your training for the dive itself.
Log your next dive offline in Loggerfish
Free to start, no card. Your logbook, and every export of it, stays yours on every plan.
Names such as PADI, SSI, MySSI, Subsurface, Shearwater and Garmin belong to their owners and are used only to say which product we mean. Loggerfish is not affiliated with any of them. What a guide says about them comes from their own public pages, listed beside the statement with the day it was checked. If something is out of date, write to support@loggerfish.com and we will correct it.