What happens to your screens when the internet drops
· 5 min read
They keep playing. A Casty player downloads its media, layouts and schedule ahead of time (two days ahead by default) and plays everything from its own storage. When the internet goes, the screen carries on with what it already has, and the breakfast menu still switches to lunch at 11:30. What stops is anything that needs a live connection, like a web page or a live stream, along with any changes you make in the CMS, which wait until the screen is back online.
What carries on
Everything the player has already downloaded. That covers your images and videos, the layouts they sit in, your playlists, and the schedule that says what plays when. Dayparts and repeating events keep switching at the right times, because the player is working from its own copy of the schedule. The default layout keeps filling any gaps, as usual.
If the power goes as well, the player starts up on its own when it comes back, with no login needed, and plays from what it has stored. Nobody has to be at the venue to get the screen going again.
What stops
Anything that fetches from the internet while it's on screen. A web page in a layout, embedded web content and HLS live streams won't show until the connection returns. Widgets that pull from outside services, such as weather or currency rates, can't get fresh figures either.
Changes you make in the CMS also have to wait. A new event, an edited layout or a price changed on a menu board sits there until the player next checks in, and the same goes for Collect Now and screenshot requests.
You lose your view of the screen, too. While it's offline, the Displays list shows a cross in Logged In, and the thumbnail is the last screenshot it sent, which could be hours old.
How long a screen can manage offline
Players download content ahead of its scheduled time, two days ahead by default. A dropout of a few hours, or even most of a day, is unlikely to be noticed by anyone in the venue.
Longer outages are where it gets tricky. Anything scheduled further ahead than the player has downloaded won't be on it yet, so a new campaign due to start on Monday may not appear at a venue that's been offline since Friday. How far ahead each player downloads can be changed. If one of your venues has an unreliable connection, email us and we'll look at setting it further ahead.
Plan content so an outage doesn't show
With a bit of planning, most dropouts pass without customers noticing anything.
Schedule big changes early. If a new menu or a promotion starts on Saturday, schedule it on Wednesday or Thursday. The players download it in good time and a Friday outage won't touch it. Last-minute changes are the ones that miss a screen.
Keep the important information in content the player stores. If your opening hours or prices only exist on a web page shown inside a layout, they disappear when the internet does. An uploaded image, or text placed straight onto the layout, keeps showing offline.
Make the default layout out of uploaded images and text, so there's always something sensible on screen whatever happens.
Give live widgets a supporting role. A weather widget in the corner of a layout is fine, because if it can't update, the rest of the layout still does its job. A live stream filling the whole screen is a different matter, and worth having a plan B for if the connection at that venue is shaky.
Spotting an outage
On the Displays page, a cross in Logged In and an old Last Accessed time mean the screen hasn't checked in. Click Filters and set Logged In to No to see every offline screen at once.
Note the Last Accessed time. It tells you when the problem started, which often points to the cause: a power cut, building work, or the broadband going down that afternoon. If several screens in one venue dropped out at the same moment, look at that venue's internet or power first.
Getting back online
When the connection comes back, the player checks in on its own, picks up anything that's changed and downloads what it's missing. Status shows Downloading until it has caught up, then Up to date. If you'd like it to check in straight away, use Collect Now from the screen's menu.
If a screen stays offline after the venue's internet is back, something else has probably changed, such as the router, the Wi-Fi password or the power to the player. A screen shows as offline goes through the checks in order, and why is my screen offline has a fuller troubleshooting list. For a steadier connection in the first place, see Wi-Fi or wired, and the offline playback section of the features page has the short version.
Questions people ask
Will my screen go black if the Wi-Fi goes down?
No. It keeps playing the content it has already downloaded, on schedule. Only the parts that need a live connection, like a web page or a live stream, stop showing.
Can digital signage work without any internet at all?
Not for long. The player needs a connection to download content and pick up changes, and you can't check on it from the CMS while it's offline. It can ride out an outage with what it has stored, but a screen that's never online never gets anything new.
Do I lose my schedule if the power goes off?
No. The schedule and the content are stored on the player. When the power comes back, it starts on its own without anyone logging in and carries on from where the schedule says it should be.
Will the screen catch up by itself when the internet comes back?
Yes. At its next check-in it picks up any changes and downloads anything it's missing. Use Collect Now if you want it to check in straight away.