Installed data: what the phone keeps in reserve
The seven reference sets Sentinel downloads onto your phone so the map works with no coverage, and how to force an update.
For a trail to show up at the bottom of a valley with no signal, its track has to be already on the phone. Same for task types, difficulty ratings, folders.
That's what installed data is for: seven reference sets Sentinel downloads and keeps locally. You normally have nothing to do here — this screen exists for the times you want to check, or to force.
Where: mobile app, the ⚙ button at the top of the Terrain view → Installed Data.
What gets installed
The Installed Data screen.
- 1An up-to-date set: the installed version, in grey.
- 2An update available: the text turns gold, and so does the button.
- 3A download in progress, with its progress bar.
Seven sets, always the same:
| Set | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Trail | The full track of every trail — the biggest one, and the most useful offline |
| Structures | The inventory of built works and their positions |
| Structure types | The types and their inspection questionnaire, with the numbering rules |
| Task Types | Your custom types and the built-in ones, with their icons |
| Trail Difficulties | The levels, their symbol and their colour |
| Structure Folders | The filing folders for structures |
| Task Folders | The filing folders for tasks |
These are reference sets, not your work. Your tasks, photos and reports aren't here — they travel another way, described in working offline.
Reading a row
Each row carries a state, and the text under the name tells you which:
- "Version: 1.4.0" in grey — the set is installed and current. Nothing to do.
- "New version available: 2.1.0" in gold — the server has a newer one. The download button turns gold too: it's the screen's only visual signal, and it means "there's something to take".
- "Data not installed" in grey — this set has never come down to this phone.
During a download the button becomes a spinner and a progress bar appears under the text. The files are compressed: a two-hundred-trail network comes down in seconds on a decent connection.
You normally have nothing to do
This is the important part, and it's why many people never open this screen.
Sentinel updates these sets on its own. A background task regularly compares the phone's versions against the server's and installs whatever changed, without asking. When a colleague adds a trail from the web, your phone eventually has it.
So this screen is good for two things only:
Checking. You're heading into a sector with no coverage and want to be sure the trails are current. One glance: if everything is grey, you're set.
Forcing. A colleague just created a trail and you're leaving in ten minutes. Tap the button on the Trail row: the version comes down right away, without waiting for the next automatic pass.
Pull the list down to refresh it if you want to re-check against the server.
When it doesn't work
"Unable to download data." You have no coverage, or the server didn't answer. The set stays as it was — nothing is broken, the old version keeps working. Try again with signal.
"Update in progress, try again later." The server is rebuilding that set and the file isn't ready yet. It passes: wait a minute and tap again.
A set that stays "not installed". Most often this place simply has none of that thing — no structure folders, for instance. There's nothing to download, and it isn't a problem.
Three things to know
Data is per place. If you work for two organizations, each place has its own sets, installed separately. Switching places doesn't reload everything.
A stale set loses you nothing. You're simply missing what was added since: a trail created yesterday won't appear on your map until the Trail set moves up a version.
Before a long outing, install everything. It's thirty seconds of connection in the parking lot, and it decides what you'll see on the map for the next six hours.