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The Airplane Mode Test: Ten Minutes To Truth

Do not trust the sales demo. Put the phone in Airplane Mode. If the app breaks, do not buy it. A simple test for sturdy software.

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The Demo Illusion

Software demos are theater. They are rehearsed. The data is clean. The connection is fiber-optic. The sales rep knows exactly where to click. Everything looks “seamless.”

I do not care about seamless. I care about sturdy.

I see Operations Directors get charmed by sleek interfaces. They see pretty charts. They see “AI integration.” They forget the mud. They forget the dead zones.

I have a rule. Before we sign anything, we do the Airplane Mode Test. It takes ten minutes. It saves us years of pain.

Here is the reality: Your field crew works in the gaps. Between cell towers. Inside shipping containers. Under bridges. If the tool breaks in the gap, the tool is useless.

We need to break the tool before we buy it.

The Bottleneck: Perfect Conditions

Vendors build for the “Happy Path.”

The Happy Path assumes:

  1. The user has an LTE connection.
  2. The server is online.
  3. The API is fast.
  4. The battery is full.

In the field, the Happy Path is a lie. The connection is intermittent. The server is busy. The battery is at 12%.

If you buy software based on the Happy Path, you are buying a bottleneck. You are introducing a point of failure that you cannot control. You are telling your team: “You can only work when the telecom provider allows it.”

That is unacceptable. We control the work. Not the signal.

The Pipe: Testing for Resilience

Here is the test. Do this in the meeting. Do it while the sales rep is watching.

  1. Download the app. Do not look at the web version. The web version is irrelevant.
  2. Log in. Let the data load.
  3. Turn on Airplane Mode. Kill the WiFi. Kill the Bluetooth. Sever the link.
  4. Do the work. Fill out a form. Scan a barcode. Take a photo.
  5. Hit Save.

Watch what happens.

Scenario A (The Failure): The app freezes. A spinner appears. It spins forever. Or worse, a popup says: “Network Request Failed.” You cannot proceed. You cannot start the next task. The tool has locked you out. Result: Do not buy.

Scenario B (The Pass): The app saves instantly. It says: “Saved locally. Pending sync.” The screen clears. You are ready for the next task. Result: Proceed to step 6.

  1. Close the app. Kill it completely from memory.
  2. Re-open the app. Keep Airplane Mode on.
  3. Find the record. Is it there? Is the photo there?
  4. Reconnect. Turn off Airplane Mode. Watch the sync.

If the data survives the reboot and flows up the pipe when the signal returns, the software is load-bearing. It respects the physical reality.

This test does not require a degree in computer science. It requires common sense. If it cannot handle ten minutes without a signal, it cannot handle a winter in the field.

Filter out the fragile toys. Buy the tools.

FAQs

What is the Airplane Mode Test?

A stress test. We cut the connection and do real work. If the app fails, it is not fit for the field.

Why do vendors fail this test?

They build for the happy path. They assume constant signal and fast APIs. The field does not care about assumptions.

Can we fix a cloud-only app later?

Rarely. Retrofitting offline is invasive. It is like trying to waterproof a foundation after the house is built.