As I’m stuck on an airplane with no Internet connectivity, I decided to try out different apps and see which are remotely usable while offline.
Most apps, especially retail/Ecommerce, offer little to no functionality.
The good
Tumblr takes the cake for offline functionality. It pulled up my old posts from last time I logged in without complaining about lack of connectivity. I was able to Favorite a post and have it show up in my favorites, and I could access most menus such as my followers, even if some of the user images were sometimes missing. In fact, I was even able to queue up this post!!
The bad
Walmart and Target at least allow me to click through a few menus without leaving me at a dead end. Zappos also gives me a nice home screen and lets me navigate through categories before stopping.
The ugly
Fab, eBay, and Wanelo, all dead-end me before I can even see a single product.
Karma goes one step further and boots me out of the app when I don’t have a connection.
Shopstyle seems to be the worst offender of the bunch, trapping me in an endless loop of ‘connection lost’ dialogs until I exit the app with the home button.
A great offline experience can really set an app apart. As many New Yorkers know, 75% of your commute is spent offline while riding the subway (aside from the new wireless initiatives), and a functional offline mode will keep me clicking while I’m riding.
(note: I focused on e-commerce apps because I’ve been researching them a ton for Shapeways.)
