Salesforce Mobile Offline

1 What is Salesforce Mobile Offline?

According to the official Salesforce documentation, Mobile Offline is a feature that transforms how field workers, sales representatives, and service technicians interact with Salesforce data in areas with limited or no network connectivity.

Core Capabilities

With Salesforce's LWC offline capabilities, you can:

• Access data locally: View records stored on your device even without internet
• Create new records: Add accounts, contacts, opportunities, and custom objects offline
• Edit existing records: Modify field values that automatically queue for synchronization
• Delete records: Remove records that sync deletion to the server when online
• Automatic sync: All changes sync seamlessly when connectivity is restored

How Offline Access Works

2 Mobile App Plus vs Standard Salesforce Mobile App

Understanding the difference between the standard Salesforce Mobile App and Salesforce Mobile App Plus is crucial for planning your offline strategy.

Mobile App Plus Features

According to Salesforce's official announcement, Mobile App Plus includes three core capabilities:

Mobile Publisher vs Mobile App Plus

A common source of confusion is the relationship between Mobile Publisher and Mobile App Plus. These are different products serving different purposes:

Licensing Considerations

The basic Salesforce Mobile App is included with every Salesforce license. However, Mobile App Plus is a separate add-on product. Contact Salesforce sales for specific pricing as it varies based on your existing licensing and user count.

3 Briefcase Builder Deep Dive

Briefcase Builder is the administrative tool that lets you define which records should be downloaded to mobile devices for offline access. It's the foundation of Salesforce's offline data strategy.

What is a Briefcase?

A briefcase is a collection of filter rules that determine which records are primed (downloaded) to a user's device. Think of it as a personalized subset of your Salesforce data that travels with each mobile user.

Creating a Briefcase

According to the Salesforce Help documentation, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Setup — Go to Setup → Mobile Apps → Salesforce → Offline → Briefcase Builder
2. Create New Briefcase — Click "New Briefcase" and provide a descriptive name
3. Add Objects — Select standard or custom objects to include in the briefcase
4. Define Filter Rules — Create conditions to limit which records are downloaded
5. Assign to Users — Associate the briefcase with specific users or permission sets

Filter Rules and User Context

One of the most powerful features is the ability to filter records by User ID using the $User context variable:

// Example filter: Records owned by current user
{
    "object": "Account",
    "filterLogic": "OwnerId = $User.Id",
    "recordLimit": 500
}

// Example: Accounts in user's territory
{
    "object": "Account",
    "filterLogic": "Territory2Id IN ($User.UserTerritory2Association)",
    "recordLimit": 1000
}

Related Record Priming

According to Salesforce release notes, you can prime related records automatically:

4 LWC Offline Development

According to the Mobile and Offline Developer Guide, building offline-capable Lightning Web Components requires understanding three technical pillars:

Supported Wire Adapters

According to LWC documentation, these wire adapters work offline:

GraphQL Wire Adapter for Offline

The GraphQL wire adapter is recommended for offline scenarios. According to Salesforce's official guidance, here's why:

GraphQL Code Example

import { LightningElement, wire } from 'lwc';
import { gql, graphql } from 'lightning/uiGraphQLApi';

export default class OfflineAccountList extends LightningElement {
    @wire(graphql, {
        query: gql`
            query getAccounts {
                uiapi {
                    query {
                        Account(first: 10) {
                            edges {
                                node {
                                    Id
                                    Name { value }
                                    Phone { value }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        `
    })
    accounts;
}

Real-World Scenario: When GraphQL Shines

Consider a field technician's mobile app that needs to display:

• Service Appointments for today
• Related Work Orders with status
• Customer Account details
• Contact phone numbers

Development Tools

Salesforce provides specialized tools for offline LWC development:

• Salesforce Mobile Extensions for VS Code (0.5.0): Provides enhanced diagnostics for offline compatibility
• ESLint Plugin for LWC Mobile: Static code analysis with mobile-specific rules (npm install --save-dev @salesforce/eslint-plugin-lwc-mobile)
• Offline App Developer Starter Kit: Available on GitHub

5 Data Priming & Synchronization

Understanding how data flows between Salesforce servers and mobile devices is essential for building reliable offline applications. According to Salesforce documentation, this process involves priming and synchronization.

What is Data Priming?

Data priming is the process of downloading selected records from Salesforce to the mobile device's local storage before the user goes offline. The device periodically syncs while still online, ensuring users have access to records if connectivity is lost.

Sync Down Process

According to the Mobile SDK documentation:

Sync Up Process (Draft Records)

When users make changes offline, those changes are recorded as drafts. According to Salesforce's sync up documentation:

1. Local Change Detection — System identifies created, updated, or deleted records in local storage
2. Queue Management — Changes are organized in a queue with proper sequencing
3. Server Replication — When online, changes are applied to Salesforce server
4. Confirmation & Cleanup — Successful syncs clear draft flags; failures remain queued

Ghost Records

According to the Offline Management documentation, "ghost records" are local records that correspond to server records that have been deleted. The sync down payload doesn't reflect server-side deletions, so these records remain in local storage until explicitly cleaned up.

6 Conflict Resolution

When multiple users can collaborate offline, conflicts are inevitable. According to Salesforce's conflict detection documentation, the platform provides built-in mechanisms to handle these scenarios.

Conflict Detection Architecture

The Mobile SDK supports conflict detection with any save operation, regardless of whether the device is returning from an offline state. To enable conflict detection, you specify a secondary cache containing the original values fetched from the server.

Three Data States

Conflict detection compares three versions of the same record:

Merge Modes

Visual: How Merge Modes Work

Consider a scenario where Client changes fields A & B and Server changes fields B & C:

Legend: Green = Changed | Red = Conflict (both changed)

Results by Merge Mode

User Experience for Conflicts

According to Salesforce's offline editing documentation, users can view and manage conflicts from the Pending Changes page in the mobile app:

• The app automatically syncs pending changes when online
• Users are warned if there are conflicts that need resolution
• Failed syncs remain in the list with a notation indicating the failure reason
• Users can tap any record in the list to edit further or, for locally deleted records, to undelete

7 Security & Encryption

Offline data security is paramount, especially when sensitive customer information is stored on mobile devices. According to Salesforce's local data protection documentation, multiple layers of encryption protect offline data.

SmartStore Encryption

According to the SmartStore documentation, SmartStore is built on SQLite and uses SQLCipher to encrypt customer data:

SQLCipher Support

Starting in Mobile SDK 13.0, SmartStore supports:

• SQLCipher Commercial: Standard encryption for commercial applications
• SQLCipher Enterprise: Enhanced security features
• SQLCipher Enterprise FIPS: FIPS 140-2 validated encryption for government/regulated industries

iOS Key Storage Architecture

According to Salesforce's iOS security documentation:

Mobile App Management (MAM)

For organizations with additional security requirements, Mobile App Plus includes MAM capabilities:

• App-level security: Encryption at the application level
• Remote wipe: Ability to remotely erase app data
• Compliance controls: Enforce security policies on managed devices
• Audit logging: Track app usage and data access

8 Governor Limits & Constraints

Understanding the limits and considerations for Salesforce Mobile Offline is crucial for successful implementations.

Briefcase Builder Limits

Unsupported Objects

The following objects are not supported in Briefcase Builder:

• ContentDocument, ContentVersion
• KnowledgeArticle, KnowledgeArticleVersion
• External objects
• Setup objects

Supported: Standard and custom objects that are customizable and layoutable. Person accounts are supported with fields available as filters on the Account object.

Field Service Mobile Specific Limits

According to Field Service Mobile App Limitations:

LWC Offline Limitations

According to Salesforce's offline considerations, LWC Offline has these constraints:

• Not Full Salesforce: LWC Offline is designed for offline functionality but isn't the complete Salesforce service
• Missing Capabilities: Some standard features aren't available offline
• Reduced Performance: Complex operations may be slower on-device
• No Server-Side Logic: Apex triggers, validation rules, and workflows don't execute offline
• Base Components: Not all base Lightning components are optimized for offline mobile use

9 Salesforce Mobile Apps Ecosystem

Salesforce offers multiple mobile apps tailored for different use cases and industries. Understanding which app fits your needs is essential for successful mobile offline implementations.

Official Salesforce Mobile Apps

Salesforce Mobile App

The Salesforce Mobile App is the general-purpose mobile application for accessing Salesforce CRM on iOS and Android devices. It provides mobile access to Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and custom Lightning applications.

Key Features

• Universal CRM Access — View and manage leads, contacts, accounts, opportunities, cases, and custom objects
• Lightning Experience — Native mobile experience with Lightning components
• Push Notifications — Real-time alerts for approvals, Chatter mentions, and custom events
• Einstein Analytics — Access dashboards and reports on the go
• Quick Actions — Create records and log activities with minimal taps

Mobile App Plus for Offline

According to Salesforce documentation, Mobile App Plus is an add-on license that enables offline capabilities for the standard Salesforce Mobile App. With Mobile App Plus:

• Users can access primed data when offline using Briefcase Builder
• Create, edit, and view records without internet connection
• Changes sync automatically when connectivity returns
• Custom offline-enabled LWC components work seamlessly

Field Service Mobile App

The Field Service Mobile App is purpose-built for mobile workers who spend most of their time away from the office—technicians, installers, inspectors, and service professionals who need reliable access to job information regardless of connectivity.

Who It's For

• Field service technicians and installers
• On-site maintenance workers
• Dispatchers and service coordinators
• Equipment inspectors and auditors

Key Features

• Offline-First Architecture — Designed from the ground up to work without connectivity
• Schedule-Centric UI — Calendar view showing daily/weekly service appointments
• Work Order Management — Complete view of work orders, line items, and service history
• Asset & Inventory Tracking — Access asset records and manage parts consumption
• Signature Capture — Collect customer signatures directly on device
• Time & Travel Tracking — Log time entries and travel to appointments
• Knowledge Integration — Access articles and troubleshooting guides on-site

Offline Priming Approach

According to offline considerations documentation, Field Service Mobile uses a hierarchical priming approach:

1. Service Resource Profile — System identifies the logged-in user's service resource record
2. Assigned Work — Downloads Service Appointments assigned to the resource
3. Parent Work Orders — Primes parent Work Order records for each appointment
4. Related Records — Downloads Work Order Line Items, Assets, and configured custom objects

Consumer Goods Cloud Mobile App

The Consumer Goods Cloud Offline Mobile App enables field representatives to execute retail visits and record store data even in areas with poor or no internet connectivity.

Who It's For

• Retail execution field representatives
• Merchandising specialists
• Trade promotion managers
• Store auditors and inventory checkers

Key Features

According to Trailhead documentation:

• Full Offline Support — High-scalable background synchronization with automatic upload when online
• Visit Calendar — Weekly schedule review with drag-and-drop rescheduling
• Barcode Scanning — Scan products for inventory checks and assessments
• Process-Driven Interface — Single access point for all visit activities and tasks
• Map Integration — Current traffic visibility and turn-by-turn navigation to stores
• Photo Capture — Document shelf conditions, displays, and compliance
• Assessment Tasks — Execute common assessment task types fully offline

Salesforce Maps

Salesforce Maps is a location intelligence platform that helps field sales teams optimize routes, manage territories, and visualize customer data geographically. Its mobile capabilities are delivered through the core Salesforce Mobile App as part of the Maps Mobile transition, while desktop Maps continues to provide the full location intelligence experience.

Who It's For

• Field sales representatives
• Territory managers and sales directors
• Route-based delivery teams
• Outside sales organizations

Location Intelligence

Salesforce Maps transforms how teams visualize customer data by plotting accounts, opportunities, and any Salesforce object on interactive maps. According to Trailhead, users can filter and prioritize accounts based on:

• Einstein scores and revenue potential
• Last contact dates and activity history
• Geographic proximity to current location
• Custom fields and business criteria

Route Optimization

Route optimization is a core strength of Salesforce Maps, helping field teams reduce travel time and maximize customer-facing hours:

• Smart Routing — Create optimized multi-stop routes in minutes, saving hours of planning time weekly
• Turn-by-Turn Navigation — Integration with preferred mapping apps for driving directions
• Dynamic Rerouting — Modify routes on-the-fly when appointments cancel or schedules change
• Map My Schedule — Visualize weekly appointments and identify geographic gaps

Territory Planning

In the desktop experience, sales managers can visualize and manage territory assignments directly from the map interface:

• Territory Visualization — See account distribution across territories on the map
• Real-Time Reassignment — Drag accounts between territories and reassign reps
• Resource Allocation — Identify high-opportunity areas and allocate resources accordingly
• Balance Analysis — Ensure equitable territory distribution based on opportunity value

Mobile Features

According to Salesforce Help, these Salesforce Maps mobile capabilities carry forward into the Maps Mobile experience in the core Salesforce app:

• Check In/Out — Log visits with timestamps, notes, and custom dispositions automatically
• Click2Create® — Create leads or accounts directly from point-of-interest searches while prospecting
• POI Search — Find nearby businesses and cross-reference against existing Salesforce records
• Marker Layers — Plot accounts, leads, and opportunities within a specified radius
• Activity Logging — Capture meeting notes and create follow-up tasks from the field

Adding Custom Objects via Briefcase

For Field Service Mobile and Mobile App Plus, custom objects from outside the standard data model hierarchy can be added to a briefcase so workers can access the data offline. This is particularly useful for:

• Product catalogs and pricing information
• Custom configuration data
• Reference materials and documentation

10 Best Practices & Gotchas

Based on Salesforce Trailhead recommendations and official documentation, here are essential practices for successful offline implementations.

Do's - Best Practices

Don'ts - Common Gotchas

11 Frequently Asked Questions

12 Abbreviations & Glossary

Related Reading

Continue your Salesforce mobile and security learning journey with these related guides:

• Salesforce Security Ultimate Guide — Comprehensive guide covering profiles, permission sets, sharing rules, and security best practices
• 7 Ways to Secure Experience Cloud — Essential security measures for customer-facing Salesforce portals
• Solution vs Technical Architect — Understanding the key differences between Salesforce architect certifications
• Apex Design Patterns — Best practices for scalable and maintainable Apex code development