Swops needs a connection
Swops is an online app. Cards are read by AI online, contacts are saved straight into your workspace so your team sees them, and briefs are researched live. There is no offline mode, and nothing waits on the phone to be sent later.
The good news: a scan needs very little. A single scan is a small upload that a weak signal can usually carry.
What you see when the connection drops
- You appear to be offline. Check your connection and try again. What you tried did not reach Swops. Nothing was saved and nothing was charged.
- We could not check your sign-in. Check your connection and try again. You are still signed in. Swops just could not check it without a connection. Try again once you are connected.
- A list shows an error with Try again. Tap it when the signal is back.
If a scan fails this way, keep the scan sheet open and tap Try this photo again once you are connected. The same photo is sent again. See A scan did not work.
Getting a better signal
- Switch Wi-Fi off and use mobile data. Exhibition Wi-Fi is often shared by thousands of phones. Mobile data inside the hall is frequently the better choice.
- Use a personal hotspot. A colleague’s phone, or a pocket router on your stand, gives the whole team its own connection.
- Sign in to the venue Wi-Fi first. Many venues show a page where you accept their terms. Open any website in your browser to bring it up. The Swops app on your home screen cannot show that page.
- Step towards an entrance or a window. Basements and halls with thick walls are the usual dead spots.
The app still opens on bad Wi-Fi
If you added Swops to your home screen, it opens even when the connection is very slow: after a few seconds your phone shows the copy of the app it already has. Your contacts, plan and sign-in always load live, though, so scanning, saving and loading lists still need a connection. See Add Swops to your home screen.
No signal at all? Keep collecting
Photograph the cards with your phone’s own camera app. Keep the cards too, if you can.
Write a line about each conversation, on the back of the card or in your phone’s notes, while it is fresh.
When you are back online, open Scan and use Upload a photo for each card. Each one is read and saved as if you had scanned it live, and uses one scan.
Add your notes and priorities to each contact. See Priorities and conversation notes.
Prefer not to use scans for them? Tap Enter manually, type the details and attach the photo with Attach card photo. That is free, and the photo is kept with the contact without being read. See Add a contact by hand.
On Team Pass and Business, the instant follow-up email, if you have switched it on, goes out when the card is scanned. If you upload the photos later, the email goes out then, not when you met. Contacts you add by hand never get one.
Nothing is charged when a scan fails
A scan uses one of your scans only when a contact is saved. A photo that never reaches Swops uses nothing, and a read that fails is given back automatically. If you are not sure whether a scan went through, open the collection before you scan the card again: if it went through, the contact is there. See What uses a scan, and what is free.