Two specific features ensure that a screen continues to display content when it loses its network connection:
- Fallback image
- Offline signage caching
Setting fallback signage
Fallback signage is the single image a screen shows when it can play nothing else. It sits below Default playlist and Scheduled playlist in your signage settings.
- Log in to your Airtame Cloud organization.
- Go to the Screens tab.
- Select the screen or screens to configure and click Edit settings.
- In the Digital Signage section, find Fallback signage.
- Add a single image.
- Click Apply changes.
Offline signage caching
Offline signage caching lets a signage app store its content on the device while it plays online, so the screen keeps showing your content when the network drops and so it doesn’t have to re-download the content for every replay.
This article covers what has to be true for content to be stored, which apps support it, and what a screen shows when it cannot reach the network.
Key benefits of offline signage caching:
- Lower network bandwidth load: The screen only downloads content after a change is identified, preventing unnecessary network activity.
- Smoother and faster playback: Your playlist runs without interruptions or the lag caused by fetching files repeatedly.
- Uninterrupted signage visibility: If the connection drops, the screen serves its stored copy to stay active rather than showing an error.
Requirements
An app plays offline only when all of the following are true.
- The app supports offline playback. See the next section.
- The app has completed a full online run. Having run online once is not enough — the store has to finish. An app that started storing and was cut off, because the playlist advanced or the screen restarted, leaves nothing usable behind.
- The content fits in device local storage. A screen sets aside part of its storage for signage content, shared across every app in the playlist. Space is filled first come, first served, and nothing already stored is ever removed to make room. If an item does not fit it stays online-only, and a smaller app later in the playlist can still fit.
Storage is never guaranteed. Once content is stored it survives a restart, so a screen that reboots without a network still knows what it can play.
Which apps can play offline
| App | Plays offline | What gets stored |
|---|---|---|
| Dropbox video | Yes | The video file |
| OneDrive video | Yes | The video file |
| PowerPoint | Yes | A PDF export, refreshed only when the file changes |
| Canva (private mode) | Available soon | A PDF export, refreshed only when the design changes |
| Image | Yes | The image |
| World clock | Available soon | Nothing — the app has no content to fetch |
| Google Slides | No | — |
| Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox gallery | No | — |
| Unsplash | No | — |
| Website | No | — |
| YouTube | No | — |
| Room overview | No | — |
| Power BI | No | — |
| Trello | No | — |
What a screen shows when it is offline
An offline screen works through three levels in order:
- The active playlist — the scheduled playlist if one is running, otherwise the default playlist. The screen plays the items it has stored, in playlist order, and skips the rest.
- Fallback signage — the single image you set.
When a screen loses its network connection while a scheduled playlist is active but lacks cached items, it falls back to playing stored items from the default playlist. Once connectivity is restored, the screen reverts to displaying the scheduled playlist.
Should neither playlist contain stored media, the screen displays fallback signage.
| What you have configured | Screen is online | Screen is offline |
|---|---|---|
| Default playlist only | Default playlist plays | Stored items in the default playlist play, others are skipped. If none are stored: fallback signage |
| Default and scheduled playlist, inside the scheduled window | Scheduled playlist plays, overriding the default | Plays stored items from the scheduled playlist. If these are unavailable, it goes to the default playlist, and ultimately to fallback signage. |
| Default and scheduled playlist, outside the scheduled window | Default playlist plays | Stored items in the default playlist play. If none are stored: fallback signage |
| Fallback signage, no playlist | Airtame's default content | Fallback signage |
| Nothing configured | Airtame's default content | Airtame's default content |
Wherever the table says fallback signage, a screen without one configured shows Airtame's default content.
When the network comes back, the screen resumes normal playback.
What clears stored content
Any change to your signage settings clears everything a screen has stored:
- Swapping the playlist
- Adding or removing an app
- Editing a single setting inside a single app
- Disconnecting the screen from Airtame Cloud
The screen cannot tell which stored content is still valid after a change, so it discards all of it rather than risk showing something out of date. Apps store their content again on their next online run — so allow time for each app to play online before relying on offline playback.
Known issues and limitations
This feature automatically aims for end users to always see relevant content and are never shown errors they cannot resolve. It also optimizes network load and performance in the background, without admins or content managers having to opt in or configure anything.
- There is no view of what a screen has stored or how full it is.
- There is no way to clear stored content directly. Editing the playlist is the only way to clear a screen.
- You are not notified when an app could not store its content.