The connectivity reality for field teams
Field employees work in hospital basements, rural highways, international markets, and construction sites where connectivity is intermittent or absent. Apps that require constant internet lose GPS points, drop expense submissions, and create data gaps that accounts teams discover weeks later.
Offline-first architecture requirements
- **Local GPS buffering** — Store location points on device during offline periods
- **Expense queue** — Hold claims locally with receipt images until sync
- **Category/limit cache** — Pre-sync policies so validation works offline
- **Background sync** — Automatic upload when connectivity restores
- **Conflict resolution** — Handle overlapping submissions gracefully
Scootee's Flutter mobile app implements all five — built with BLoC architecture for session management and Supabase real-time for approval status updates.