No signal on your trip: local board or shared group?

Choose a local board if you want to keep marking predictions without internet. Choose a shared group if everyone needs the same prediction list and their own progress visible to the group, and can wait for a connection to make changes. A saved shared board is a copy for viewing; it does not turn the group into an offline game.

Tales Ahead is in private testing, with no public App Store download yet, as checked on 17 October 2026. This guide describes the current app and group service. Check app availability before planning a game around a download.

Choose before reception becomes unreliable

• A local board: you can view, mark and edit it offline. Its content stays in the app's storage on your device rather than being sent to the group service.
• A shared group: everyone has the same nine predictions, with their own progress. The app keeps the last fetched copy for viewing, but shared marks and edits need a successful connection to the service.

The homepage's offline explanation makes this distinction. A local board is useful when continuing to play matters more than seeing everyone's progress together. A shared group is useful when that common view matters and the group is comfortable pausing updates while disconnected.

For a fictional example, Sam is organising a train weekend with stretches of poor reception. The group wants to keep noticing moments along the way. Sam can choose local play for those stretches, or keep a shared group and agree to update it after reconnecting. Neither choice requires anyone to make a prediction happen. Use kind observations that the group is happy to leave unmarked.

Prepare a shared group while connected

Have intended participants join and open the shared board before leaving reliable reception. Refresh it, check the title and nine predictions together, and agree what counts for each square. This gives each participant a chance to fetch the current board; it does not guarantee that every phone has saved an offline copy successfully.

Agree on edits before saving them. Any current member can change the shared title and predictions, and saving an edit resets everyone's marks. The Support page explains the group's individual progress and this reset.

In Sam's example, the group chooses to leave the shared list alone during the journey and check it again when connected. That is a group agreement, not an app feature that locks the list.

Treat a saved copy as an earlier view

The saved predictions, marks and member list reflect the last fetched state. They cannot tell you what another member has changed since then. A visible board is therefore not evidence that the latest progress has arrived or that a new mark has saved.

The current app can show “Offline copy · changes need a connection” and offer “Try refreshing.” That describes an unavailable update; it does not establish that poor reception is the only possible cause. The service or access to the group may also be unavailable.

The shared app does not queue offline marks or edits for automatic merging later. If an event happens while disconnected, remember it and check the current prediction before choosing to mark it once the group is available again. Do not treat a tap or a failed save as confirmation.

Reconnect, check, then mark

1. Refresh the shared group. If it still cannot update, keep treating the displayed board as a saved copy.
2. Read the current predictions and your progress. An edit may have changed what a square means and cleared marks. If a save timed out, its outcome may be uncertain: check whether the intended mark is already present before trying it again.
3. Mark only the prediction you now intend to mark. A change to an older version of the board can be rejected; refresh and make a new choice rather than assuming it applies to the replacement text.

These details come from an owner inspection of the current app and API implementation on 13 October 2026. They describe its save and revision handling, not a real-device test of Sam's fictional journey. Support is the place to check current group guidance.

If the app says access ended, reconnecting cannot restore a removed membership. The invitation guide explains removal and replacement invitations. Keep invites and private exports out of support messages.

Keep a local list for another trip

Use a local board’s Share board file control when you want to keep or reuse its title and nine predictions. Importing that file creates a separate local board with no squares marked. It keeps the prediction order and leaves the original board in place. Copies play independently and do not sync. The file does not preserve a finished game’s checkmarks.

In Sam’s fictional weekend, a local list worked well enough to use again. Sam can open it under On this phone, choose Share board file and save it somewhere they control. From the home screen, Import board lets Sam select that file and opens the new copy. Read its predictions before starting a new round; if importing fails, read the app’s error and keep the original.

That local-board file contains no invitation or membership credentials. Importing it does not join a shared group, restore its progress or recover host controls. A person who wants to join a shared group needs its current private invitation. The invitation guide explains what that access allows.

The title and predictions remain readable content in the file. Choose the share destination with that privacy in mind, and keep private exports out of support messages. The privacy page explains export destinations and device backups.

The Share board file and Import board details were checked in the app source on 17 October 2026. No real-device file transfer or private-group recovery was tested.

Keep the privacy choice clear

Offline viewing does not make a shared group local-only. The service still stores its title, predictions, nicknames, progress and membership identifiers. Local boards stay on your device; backups and any export destination have their own data handling. The privacy page explains both.

For Sam's train journey, the practical choice is whether marking must continue without a connection. If it must, choose local play. If the group chooses shared progress, plan a pause and a fresh check before resuming updates.