Market or covered hall
Keep recording loyalty when 4G doesn’t reach under the hall, or when the whole market shares one cell tower.
Watch out forOpen the counter with internet before service.
Guide
Scan a loyalty card without a network: how it works
The customer holds out their phone, you open the counter to credit the visit… and the network stops responding. At the market, in a food truck parked behind a covered hall, in a basement shop, or the day the router reboots in the middle of the rush, the question is the same: do you ask them to come back for their stamp?
With Cartia’s offline counter, no. You scan as usual. The visit is kept on your phone or tablet, then sent on its own when the connection returns. One condition: you must have opened the counter at least once with internet on that device.
Here is what works during the outage, what has to wait, and what your customer sees. Offline mode is included in the Pro and Business plans, at no extra cost.
What offline mode lets you do
The offline counter is included in the Pro and Business plans. Even without a connection, you keep doing the four everyday gestures:
- Scan a card that already exists
Any of your customers’ cards, even one never opened on this device.
- Credit stamps or points
Choosing the quantity, exactly as you do online.
- Remove a stamp added by mistake
The correction gesture stays available, and waits in the queue like the rest.
- Record a reward
With one precaution if the counter doesn’t know the customer’s balance yet: more on that below.
Each visit is kept on the device with the exact time. When the network returns, Cartia receives it and rechecks it like a normal scan: card still active, subscription current, balance sufficient for a removal or a reward. Anything it rejects appears at the counter, under “Rejected on sending,” with the reason.
How does a visit go?
Nothing to turn on, nothing to teach the team. Four moments, two of which need nothing from you:
- 12:03
The outage is visible
A red “Offline mode” banner appears at the top of the counter. You know visits will stay on the device until they can go out.
- 12:04
You scan as usual
The customer shows their card. You scan the QR code, choose the number of stamps or points, confirm. No notebook to keep for retyping everything in the evening.
- 12:04 → 12:41
The visit waits
The “Waiting to send” list shows what hasn’t gone out yet. Each visit keeps the time it happened, recorded in the history if it is sent within 7 days.
- 12:41
The network returns, everything goes out
Without you touching anything. Cartia rechecks each visit; if it rejects one, the counter shows it to you with the reason.
What works, what has to wait
| Action | During the outage | When the connection returns |
|---|---|---|
| Scan a customer’s card | Yes, even if the card was never opened on this device | The visit is sent and rechecked |
| Credit stamps or points | Yes, the operation is kept on the device with its time | The balance is updated, at the time of the visit if sent within 7 days |
| Remove a stamp added by mistake | Yes | The operation is sent and rechecked |
| Record a reward | Yes, with one precaution if the balance is unknown | Cartia checks that the balance was sufficient |
| Show the new balance on the customer’s card | No, it keeps the last balance received | The card receives its update |
| Sign up a new customer with the shop’s QR code | No | Sign-up becomes possible again |
| Search by name for a customer never opened on this device | No | Search becomes possible again |
| View a dashboard page already opened on the device | Yes, read-only, as it was before the outage | The data refreshes |
| Open a dashboard page never visited on the device | No | The page becomes available again |
| Edit customers, campaigns or settings | No | To do once reconnected |
Offline mode is first of all about keeping the counter running. It doesn’t turn the whole dashboard into software that works without internet: pages already opened stay readable, changes wait.
If the customer’s balance is unknown
You can scan a customer’s card even if it was never opened on this phone or tablet. But offline, the counter doesn’t necessarily know their balance: it never had a chance to download it.
To give them a reward, look at the progress shown on their card, in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. That is the last balance their phone received, not necessarily the exact state of every recent operation.
Cartia rechecks the balance when the network returns. A reward recorded offline therefore remains subject to that check. If in doubt about the progress available, wait for the sync before confirming the perk.
What your customer sees
If the card is already in their Wallet, the customer shows it as usual: the QR code displays without a network. Nothing to reinstall, nothing to start over.
- Their QR code
- Displays even when their phone has no network. The card lives in the phone’s memory, not on a website to load.
- Their balance
- The stamp or points you just recorded don’t show up right away. The counter first has to send the operation, then their phone has to be able to receive the update.
One sentence is enough to avoid any misunderstanding:
Avoid promising an update “in a few seconds”: if the customer has no network either, their Wallet may keep the old balance for a while.
Which businesses is it for?
Four situations where the network drops at the worst moment. Each time, the same point of attention: prepare the device, then check the queue.
Food truck
Scan cards on a poorly covered pitch, or in a business park where the network saturates at noon.
Watch out forKeep the device you used until the visits are sent.
Basement shop
Credit customers even when the network doesn’t reach the counter.
Watch out forTell customers their card will refresh after the sync.
Wi-Fi outage in the middle of service
Keep recording visits without writing them on paper to retype later.
Watch out forCheck the queue and any rejections after the outage.
By type of business
The businesses where the network fails most often
The counter is the same everywhere; the moment the network drops is not. A truck, a stall, a cellar:
- Food truck loyalty cardThe business where the network depends on the day’s pitch: the page details the gesture in the queue.
- Greengrocer loyalty cardA market stall two or three mornings a week, often under a hall where 4G doesn’t reach.
- Cheese shop loyalty cardA cellar or back room with no network: the counter keeps going, the card updates once you’re back upstairs.
- Bakery loyalty cardThe Wi-Fi outage always lands during the morning rush: you stamp anyway.
Which plan should you choose?
The offline counter is included in Pro and Business. On the Free plan, a connection is still needed to record a visit: the red banner appears, but nothing is kept.
As far as we know, it is also something nobody else offers: as of October 23, 2026, none of the fifteen French loyalty card solutions we track shows a counter that keeps working without a network on its website, and two of them (Loyeo, FaveCard) state that a connection is required to add stamps. The page-by-page survey is in our competitive notes.
Pro costs €29.90 a month, tax included, and everything is in it: notifications on the card, automatic win-back messages, customers sorted on their own, unlimited customers, export of your customer file, unlimited customization, accounts for your team, and the offline counter. Nothing gets added to the bill.
If you often work on a poorly covered pitch, or want to keep going during an outage, it is a real criterion when comparing solutions. Pro and Business come with a 14-day trial, card required at activation. Business, at €59.90 a month, adds two more locations. The plans are detailed on the pricing page, and the demo shows the dashboard.
FAQ
The counter without a network, in questions
Can I scan a loyalty card with no connection at all?
Yes, on the Pro and Business plans, as long as you opened the counter at least once with internet on the device you use. Visits then wait on that device until the network returns, and go out on their own.
Can I use the counter if I have never opened it online?
No. That first connected opening is essential: it gives the device what it needs to open later without a network. Prepare each phone or tablet before a service you expect to run offline.
Does the customer’s card update right away?
No. The visit first has to be sent and accepted once the counter reconnects. Then the customer’s phone has to be able to receive the card update, which needs a network on their side too.
Can I give a reward offline?
Yes. If the card has already been opened on the device, the counter knows its last balance. If not, look at the progress shown on the card in the customer’s Wallet. Cartia rechecks the balance when it syncs and flags any rejected operation.
What happens if an operation is rejected?
The counter shows it to you after the check when the network returns, under “Rejected on sending,” with the reason: a card deleted in the meantime, a balance too low for a reward. A visit waiting to be sent is therefore not final until it has been accepted.
Can I sign up a new customer without a network?
No. Signing up through the shop’s QR code needs a connection, on the customer’s side and on yours. Offline mode is for cards that already exist, not for new sign-ups.
Does the dashboard work offline?
Read-only, for pages already opened on the device. A page never loaded, any change, or a name search for a customer never opened on that device all need a connection.
Is offline mode available on the free plan?
No. It is part of the Pro and Business plans, 14-day trial included. On the Free plan, the counter needs a connection to record a visit.
Do other loyalty card solutions offer an offline mode?
Not as far as we know. As of October 23, 2026, none of the fifteen French digital loyalty card solutions we track (Passcard, Loyeo, Zerosix, Fidellio, FaveCard, BonusQR, Hey Pongo, FidWallet, Cagnotiz, Panthera Cards, Avomark, Smaly, Digital Fidelity, Comercea, SumUp) shows on its website a counter that keeps adding stamps without a network. Two of them, Loyeo and FaveCard, state that a connection is required. Several note, as Cartia does, that the customer’s card stays visible in their Wallet without a network: that is the customer side, not the counter.
Cartia
Try the offline counter with Cartia Pro
Prepare your device with a first connected opening, keep recording visits during the outage, then find the operations synced when the network returns.
- Offline counter: stamps, points, removals and rewards kept on the device, sent when the network returns.
- All of Pro for €29.90 a month: notifications on the card, automatic win-back messages, segments, unlimited customers, team accounts.
- Nothing to install: the counter runs in the browser of your phone, tablet or Android register, and your customers install nothing either.
Offline counter included in Pro and Business · 14-day trial · Card required when the trial starts