Can I log dives without a signal?
Saving works with no signal at all. Picking the dive site is the one part that doesn't.
Yes, with one catch: starting a brand new log needs a moment of signal to pick the dive site. Everything after that, Save included, works with nothing at all, and your logbook opens and re-sorts offline too.
The one part that needs a signal
Picking the dive site searches the Divemates catalog, and that search is live. With no signal the search fails instead of returning results, and a log can't move past the site step until a site is chosen, so start one while you still have a bar or two.
Everything after that is local: the date, depth and duration, gas mixes and pressures, weights, suit and your notes. A dive started in the harbor and saved three hours later on the boat works end to end.
Two things stay live: the tank size list, and the searches for buddies, marine life, the divemaster and the dive shop. Your cylinders carry over from your last dive, so the tank list mostly matters when you change kit, and everything else can be added by editing the dive once you're back on a connection.
Note: if the day got away from you entirely, log the dive later and set the date back. See "Logging a dive from a past trip" for the time zone part of that.
How a dive that hasn't synced looks
It sits in your logbook like every other dive, with a small circular arrows mark next to the date. There's no banner and no error to dismiss, because being offline isn't a failure.
When it goes up
As soon as it can. Saving a dive attempts a send straight away, and after that the app tries again whenever you open it, sign in, or pull down on the logbook to refresh.
Each dive is sent on its own, so one awkward dive never holds up the rest. If one has been sitting there since yesterday, pull down on the logbook to nudge it.
When it's worth worrying
Two things are worth a second look:
- A dive still showing the circular arrows after you've been online for a while. Pull down to refresh, and if it stays put, tell us.
- An exclamation mark instead of the arrows. That means we couldn't accept the dive as it stands, usually because something it points at (a dive site, a species) is no longer there. Open the dive, edit it, and save again to put it back in the queue.
Note: don't delete and reinstall Divemates while dives are still waiting. Unsent dives only exist on your phone, and a reinstall that isn't restored from a backup takes them with it.