Most content on an Arc screen is cached locally, so if a screen loses its internet connection it keeps playing from what's already stored. Once the connection returns, the screen fetches anything new and carries on as normal.

Content is cached and stored in the device's media cache, so if a Chrome device goes offline it continues playing until the connection returns. Once back online, the screen fetches and shows any new content.

A few apps stream rather than cache, such as YouTube and Vimeo. These are skipped while offline and the screen moves on to the next item in the collection. For the most reliable offline playback, make sure video content plays on the device at least once while it's connected, so it has the chance to cache properly.

If there's a power failure, the device reboots and restarts the Arc player automatically.

Content is also cached and stored in the media cache, and will keep playing, but it won't refresh with new content until the connection returns. Streaming content is skipped, and the screen plays the next item in the collection instead.

To ensure smooth offline playback, play video content on the device while it's online first, so it has a chance to cache.

Some of these devices don't yet fully support rebooting in offline mode, due to hardware and OS limitations. If there's a power failure and both the internet and the device go down, you may see a "Waiting for internet connection" message on screen until the internet returns and Arc starts again.

Arc stores content locally on the devices running the Arc player, so screens can keep displaying it without a live connection. This is what lets a screen carry on working through a brief outage rather than going black.

There's a difference between offline support and preloading. Offline support means content is fully stored and can play indefinitely without a connection. Preloading means content has been fetched in advance so it can play through once, even if the connection drops partway through, but it isn't stored for ongoing offline use.

Some apps can only stay offline for a limited time. The Date layout app, for example, will display offline for up to 24 hours before it requires input.

Apps that stream content rather than store it can't play offline. On Arc, this currently applies to:

If a screen goes offline while one of these is due to play, it's skipped and the collection moves on to the next post.

For the most stable offline experience, upload content such as images and videos directly into Arc rather than relying on streamed or embedded sources. Uploaded media is stored locally on the device and keeps playing from the last synced version even if the connection drops.

Keep in mind that a screen won't show anything you've updated remotely until it reconnects. Until then, it continues showing the last content it had cached.