The rally does not wait for the network.

It is 18–18 in the deciding game. The umpire’s scoring pad has been online all afternoon. Then the venue Wi-Fi disappears. Aarav and Vihaan win the next rally. The umpire taps their side, and the score becomes 19–18 on the pad.

Play continues. Arjun and Kabir level at 19–19, then concede the next point. On the umpire’s device it is now 20–19. An organiser looking at the public board may still see 18–18. Both screens are looking at different amounts of the same match record.

This example starts with an already paired device and an opened, claimed match. Establish that setup while connected. Continuing the active match offline is different from pairing a fresh device, claiming a new match or resuming a suspended one; those actions need the server.

A tap has somewhere to go.

SmashIQ saves scoring events in the browser’s local database on the pad. The score is calculated there, so the next point can appear without waiting for a successful network request. Events that have not reached the server remain queued.

That local record is why the umpire can keep scoring the active match. It also has a practical consequence: the device now holds work that has not reached anyone else. Keep using the same pad and protect its local data.

Read the sync status · simplified labels

  • Online, synced
    The pad is connected with no queued events.
  • Offline — 3 queued
    Three local events are waiting to be sent.
  • Syncing — 3 queued
    The connection is back; queued work still remains.
The real pad uses a compact dot and queued count; opening its sync control shows the status text. Colour is paired with a written meaning here.

A queued event is not necessarily one point: scoring also records match and interval actions. The count tells you how much work remains, not how many rallies the public board is behind. The three-event example above happens to contain three point taps.

Match over can still mean “waiting to sync.”

Aarav and Vihaan win the next rally: 21–19. The umpire completes the match on the pad, but the network is still down. SmashIQ keeps the completion flow on an offline waiting screen until the required scoring events and result can be sent.

One match · four moments

  1. 1

    18–18 · connection lost

    The active pad keeps its match and score.

  2. 2

    20–19 · three rallies later

    Those point events wait locally. Other screens may lag.

  3. 3

    21–19 · match completed on the pad

    “You’re offline” asks the umpire to reconnect and finish syncing.

  4. 4

    Connection returns

    The pad retries the queued work and completion. Successful sync returns it to the worksheet.

An illustrative sequence for an unchanged match assignment. A server rejection or hand-over needs review; it is not a successful sync.

Wait for that successful return before leaving the match. Seeing signal again is only the start of syncing. If the pad reports a failure, read the reason and involve the tournament desk instead of treating it as confirmation.

Sending again should not add the point again.

A network can fail after the server receives a point but before the acknowledgement reaches the pad. On reconnect, the pad may need to send that event again. Each event keeps its identity, so a recognised retry does not create an extra point.

The server also checks that the work still belongs to the current match and scoring session. If another device has taken over, or the match has been changed at the desk, old queued work cannot simply overwrite that decision. SmashIQ surfaces the conflict or hand-over for review.

That is the boundary of the offline promise: continue recording on the active pad, then reconcile with the server’s accepted match record. It is not permission for two disconnected pads to score the same match independently.

Make the outage an ordinary part of the briefing.

Before the event, use a designated test match to rehearse losing and regaining connectivity after the pad has claimed it. Check what the sync indicator means, what the desk can see, and what happens when completion waits for a connection. Keep the exercise away from a live competition match.

During a real outage, keep the active pad powered and its scoring screen open. Do not clear browser storage, reset local data or switch to a fresh device to fix a missing connection. Unsynced work is still on this device, and clearing it can remove that work. If the device itself fails, involve the referee and tournament desk; offline storage cannot protect a lost device or a cleared browser database.

Once the queue and result have synced, the rest of the tournament can catch up. Until then, the umpire has the local score and the desk has a reason to treat its online view with care.