Session Timeout
An alert that appears when the server does not answer in time, letting you retry or dismiss it.
Why you are seeing this: something you did needed the server — loading a list, saving a change, syncing data — and the reply did not arrive in time. The app already retried quietly twice before showing you anything, so by the time this alert appears the connection is genuinely slow, unstable or unavailable. Nothing you typed has been lost, and you have not been signed out.
Overview
| Element | What it says or does |
|---|---|
| Title | Connection Timeout |
| Message | "Unable to reach the server. Please try again." |
| TRY AGAIN | Repeats the exact request that timed out |
| CANCEL | Closes the alert and leaves you on the current screen |
| Detail | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Silent retries before the alert | Two — you only see the alert on the third failure |
| TRY AGAIN availability | Greyed out for the first five seconds, then becomes tappable |
| Effect of TRY AGAIN | Runs the same request again from the start |
| Effect of CANCEL | Nothing is retried; the screen stays as it is, possibly with missing data |
| Your unsaved input | Kept — the alert does not clear forms or leave the screen |
TRY AGAIN is deliberately disabled for the first five seconds. A request that has just timed out will almost always time out again if you retry instantly; the short pause gives a struggling connection a moment to recover.
Getting Here
- Do something that contacts the server — for example opening a list, refreshing data, or signing in.
- The app waits for a reply. If none arrives in time it retries, twice, without telling you.
- On the third failure the Connection Timeout alert appears over the current screen.
Because of the silent retries, seeing this alert at all means the app has already spent a while trying.
Respond to the Timeout
- Read the title to confirm this is a connection problem rather than a message from the server about your data.
- Check your signal, Wi-Fi or mobile data before retrying — retrying on the same dead connection will simply fail again.
- Choose what to do:
| Choose | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| TRY AGAIN | Your connection looks usable now | The same request runs again; if it succeeds the screen fills in normally |
| CANCEL | You want to move on or fix the connection first | The alert closes; the screen may show partial or stale data |
- If you cancelled, fix the connection and then reopen the screen to load it cleanly.
If TRY AGAIN keeps timing out, cancel and switch networks — off Wi-Fi onto mobile data, or the other way around. A Wi-Fi network that is connected but has no route to the internet is one of the most common causes, and the device will not flag it for you.
If the timeout interrupted something you were saving, do not assume it failed. Reopen the screen once you are connected and check whether the change is there before entering it a second time.
Where You Will See It
The same alert is used across the app wherever a request can time out. Common places include:
| Screen | What was being fetched |
|---|---|
| Downloading Data | Your agencies, templates and icons after sign-in |
| Share Data | Your received, temporary and expired shares |
| Sign-in, register and forgot-password screens | Account and verification requests |
| Map and reference map screens | Map and reference layer data |
| Device and connection settings | Device registration and status updates |
A different problem produces a different message. An alert with wording from the server is telling you about your data, not your connection. Being returned to the sign-in screen means your session actually expired, which is not this alert.
How This Connects
- What triggers it. Any server request in the app that exceeds its waiting time three times in a row. The retry-twice-then-ask pattern is shared, so the alert looks identical wherever it appears.
- What it does not do. It never signs you out, never clears a form, and never deletes local data. If you were signed out, that was a session expiry handled separately — see Login.
- Related screens. During first sync the alert appears over Downloading Data, which retries the same sync step when you tap TRY AGAIN. On Share Data the Received tab still shows locally stored shares even after a timeout, while the other two tabs stay empty.
- Offline behaviour. With no connection at all, most screens show cached data rather than timing out; the alert is more typical of a connection that exists but is too slow to answer. Work you do offline is kept on the device and synced once you are back online — see Downloading Data.
- Settings involved. None. There is nothing to configure for timeouts; the wait time and retry count are fixed in the app.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| TRY AGAIN is greyed out | Wait five seconds — it becomes tappable on its own |
| TRY AGAIN times out again | Cancel, switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data, then reopen the screen |
| The alert appears again and again on one screen | Leave that screen, confirm another app can reach the internet, then come back |
| You are connected to Wi-Fi but everything times out | The network has no working internet route; switch to mobile data or another network |
| The screen is empty after you cancelled | Nothing loaded. Reopen the screen once you are connected |
| You are not sure whether your change saved | Reopen the screen after reconnecting and check before re-entering it |
| You were sent back to the sign-in screen instead | Your session expired rather than timing out — sign in again, see Login |
| An alert appears with different wording | That is a message from the server about your data, not a connection timeout. Note the wording and tell your administrator |
| Timeouts happen only in one building or vehicle | Likely a coverage dead spot; move, or switch networks before retrying |
Related Pages
⬅️ Previous: Screen Saver | Next: Downloading Data ➡️