Sync problems: what to check before calling support
By the end of this article you’ll be able to tell a phone with no signal from an app that’s stuck, fix the common cases in a minute, and know what to send support when it really is stuck.
Start with the bar
The thin bar at the top separates two very different situations.
Offline on an amber bar means your phone has no connection. The app is fine — it’s waiting. Check the phone: airplane mode, a Wi-Fi network that wants a sign-in page, a basement. The moment the phone is back online a sync starts on its own and the bar returns to Up to date. There is nothing to press.
Sync error on the normal bar means the phone is connected but the office couldn’t be reached or didn’t finish. The app retries by itself — a few seconds later, then less often, never more than five minutes apart — and clears the error the first time a sync goes through. You can hurry it along with You → Sync Now. If it stays for more than a few minutes on a good connection, try the back-office website on the same phone: if that won’t load either, the problem is between you and the office, not in the app.
Pending won’t go down
3 pending that doesn’t shrink after a Syncing… run means the run didn’t finish — look for Sync error or a Sync failed. It’ll retry automatically. toast. Wait for the retry, or tap Sync Now. A queue that has sat for hours while online with no error is worth reporting.
Pending work is never lost by waiting. It is lost by signing out, by removing the phone from Your Devices, or by a full week offline — see the banner below for the third.
A job or customer is missing
- The office added it after your last sync. Sync Now, then look again.
- It’s outside what the phone holds — about three months back and two weeks ahead. A day beyond that reads Not loaded on the month view, and its jobs aren’t on the phone yet.
- A customer page says This customer isn’t on this device. — same cause: sync and reopen.
- Find says Nothing has synced to this device yet. — the phone has never completed a first sync. Get a signal and wait for Up to date.
- You’re acting for a different company. Check Company: on the bar; change it under You → Company.
The red badge
1 to review on the bar isn’t a sync problem — the sync worked, and the office kept its version of something. Tap it and read the reason; see When the office changed the same thing.
Banners and sign-in screens
- Offline too long: 2 changes will be discarded in 2 days unless you reconnect. — red, below the bar. The phone hasn’t reached the office for most of a week and holds unsent work. Any connection — a minute of Wi-Fi — clears it.
- This device was offline too long, so its downloaded data was cleared for security. Sign in to download it again. — on the sign-in screen. The week ran out. Sign in with a connection and your work downloads afresh; whatever was pending is gone, so tell the office what you did that week.
- Your session ended. Please sign in again. — your sign-in expired or the office removed this device. Sign in; you need a connection for that.
- Downloaded data could not be opened, so it was rebuilt. Anything not yet sent may need re-entering. Restoring from the server… — amber. The phone’s copy was damaged and replaced. Once the bar reads Up to date, check the jobs you worked on most recently.
What not to do
- Don’t sign out or reinstall to fix a sync. Either clears the phone, pending work included; if there is unsent work, Sign Out stops to ask you first.
- Don’t keep tapping Sync Now. One tap starts a run; more taps join the same run.
What to send support
If Sync error has stayed on a good connection, or pending work won’t leave the phone, email support@waxstak.com with:
- What the bar says, word for word, with the Last synced … time next to it.
- The pending count, and roughly when the oldest change was made.
- The company name from the bar, and the screen you were on.
- iPhone or Android, and the version from More → About.
Contact support from the app has the rest.