Offline Access and PWA

2Timer works without internet once it has loaded on a device. Your meets are kept in the browser on that device, not on a server, so timing and meet work carry on at a venue with no wifi or cell service. Only the systems that talk to an online service wait for the internet. Installing 2Timer like an app makes it open from its own icon with no internet, and makes the browser less likely to clear your meets.

Will 2Timer work at a venue with no internet?

Yes, if 2Timer has loaded on that device before you lose the internet. Open 2Timer and your meet at home or in the hotel, while you still have a connection, and install it (see Install 2Timer). At the venue, open it from its icon.

With no internet you can still:

• open the meets on this device, and create or change meets;
• work with athletes, entries, events, teams, groups, sessions, and rounds;
• seed, record results, score, and print or export reports;
• time with the stopwatch, and with any timing system that writes to a folder, uses a serial cable, or is on your local network (see Systems that work without internet);
• import and export files, and make .2t backups. Open Meet Exchange files are the one exception: 2Timer reads and writes them offline once it has done so on this device with internet.

The very first visit to 2Timer on a device needs the internet, so it can load.

Where your meets are kept: this browser on this device

Your meets live in the browser you made them in, on that device. They are not shared with:

• another computer, tablet, or phone;
• another browser on the same computer;
• another browser profile;
• on iPhone, iPad, and Safari on a Mac, the installed 2Timer app, which keeps its own meets.

Installing 2Timer doesn’t copy meets between devices. To move a meet, make a .2t backup on the old device and open it on the new one: see Move a meet to another computer or device. Clearing the browser’s site data deletes the meets on that device, so keep a .2t backup of every important meet, or let 2Timer keep one for you in a folder: see Automatic backups to a folder.

Automatic backups to a folder

Some computers erase browser data without asking: a school laptop set to clear it when the browser closes or the computer restarts, a private window, a browser short on space. 2Timer Backup keeps a copy of each meet off the browser: it saves the meet’s .2t backup into a folder you choose, such as one on an SD card, a USB stick, or a synced folder, whenever the meet changes. It works in Chrome and Edge on a computer; browsers that can’t use a folder don’t offer it, and Back up now still works there.

Set it up once

• From a meet: on the meet’s dashboard, press Back up automatically… at the bottom of the page, next to Back up now, and choose the folder. The meet starts backing up straight away.
• Before the season: in Settings → Systems, under Backup, choose Add a backup → 2Timer Backup, press Choose folder, and pick the folder.

When the browser asks to let 2Timer edit files in the folder, allow it. In Chrome and Edge, choose Allow on every visit if it’s offered, so you aren’t asked again each time 2Timer opens.

Once it is set up, every new meet backs up from the start, whatever the sport. Each meet writes its own file straight into the folder, named after the meet and its date, such as Riverside Invitational 2026-11-07.2t, and replaces it within about a minute of each change. The folder holds the newest backup of each meet only. Renaming a meet keeps its file’s name. 2Timer never changes or deletes any other file in the folder, and deleting a meet leaves its backup there.

What you see

• The meet’s dashboard footer says Saving to 2Timer Backups · Saved 2:14 PM, or Backups aren’t running with Start.
• If a backup can’t save (the card is out, the folder is full, or the browser needs your OK again after a restart), a small backup icon appears in the meet’s header on every screen. Tap it: Allow asks the browser again, and otherwise it opens the backup’s row on Connections, which says what’s wrong and offers Choose another folder. Timing carries on meanwhile, and with the card back in, the next save replaces the file and the icon goes away.
• Stop a backup on Connections if you don’t want it; it stays stopped.

Back up a meet from one device at a time. Two devices backing up the same meet to one synced folder both write the same file, and the last one to save wins, even if it is older.

Closing the tab or leaving the meet saves what isn’t saved yet, as far as the browser allows. A sudden restart can still lose the last minute.

Get a meet back from the folder

If the browser lost the meet, the newest backup is in the folder. On the Meets screen, choose Import a meet → Choose file, open the backup folder, pick the meet’s file, keep Everything from the backup, and create the meet. On a laptop that was wiped, the meet’s backup says it Needs a folder: choose the same folder, and 2Timer Backup is set up on this device again and carries on with the same file. See Importing a 2Timer Backup.

What 2Timer counts: usage counts and turning them off

Nothing from your meets leaves this device unless you send it somewhere. 2Timer does count which features are used each day, such as “exported Hy-Tek results”, along with the app version, the browser, the kind of device, and the country. These usage counts never include names, teams, times, or anything you typed, and nothing in them tells your device apart from anyone else’s.

A day is sent once it’s over, the next time 2Timer is open with internet, so counting works the same at a venue with no connection.

To turn usage counts off, go to Settings → Preferences → Usage Counts and switch off Share anonymous usage counts. Anything waiting to be sent is deleted. The full list of what 2Timer collects is on the privacy page.

Systems that need internet

These connections talk to an online service, so they need the internet:

• ONETIME live reads. When the internet drops, the card says Reconnecting to timing… and ONETIME reconnects by itself when it comes back. Press Replay missed reads to fetch the reads from while it was down.
• RunSignUp, RaceRoster, and Total Active Sports.
• S3 / R2 results publishing.
• FTP results publishing, even to a server on your own network, because it goes through 2Timer’s service.

Without the internet they show “Connection required”. Press their run-now action again once you’re back online. Signing in, switching organization, checking for a new version, and the help chat’s written answers also need the internet.

Systems that work without internet

These need only this device or your local network:

• folder-based timing: FinishLynx, IPICO, MyLaps, ChronoTrack, and Generic RFID;
• file-based timing: Trident and Feibot;
• Time Machine, over a serial cable;
• Race Result and DisplayWorks, on your local network;
• Local Files results publishing, to a folder on this computer.

Choose the folders, and allow access when the browser asks, before race day.

Am I offline? The Offline badge

When the device has no internet, the header shows a red dot and Offline (on a phone, just the dot). Hover over it: “You’re offline. Meet data is available; features that need the internet may not work.”

When you’re signed in, the dot is on your account picture instead: green online, red offline. Nothing is shown when you’re signed out and online. Being offline never removes meets from the device.

Why install 2Timer

Installing adds 2Timer to your device so it opens from its own icon, in its own window. Two things make it worth doing on the device you take to the meet:

• It opens with no internet. At a venue with no wifi, open 2Timer from its icon. You don’t have to find an old browser tab.
• Your browser is less likely to clear your meets. Safari clears a website’s stored data after about seven days of use without a visit, unless it has been added to the Home Screen or Dock. Other browsers can clear site data when the device runs short of space.

2Timer also asks your browser to keep your meets after you create your first one. Firefox asks you about this in its own words; choose Allow. The line at the bottom of the sidebar says whether your meets are protected: Meets protected on this device, or This browser may clear your meets. Install 2Timer or keep a .2t backup. Where the browser can use a folder and 2Timer Backup isn’t set up yet, it says Install 2Timer or back up automatically to a folder instead.

Install 2Timer: the card and the sidebar button

Once you have a meet on this device, the Meets screen shows an Install 2Timer on this device card, and the sidebar has Install 2Timer above Diagnostics. Inside a meet, open the sidebar to find it.

• Where your browser can install with one tap, Install 2Timer opens its install window.
• Otherwise the card’s How to install shows the steps for your browser, the same as below.
• Not now on the card, or the small × beside the sidebar button, hides both for two weeks, along with the sidebar’s “may clear your meets” line. The next time they offer Don’t show again. After that, the steps below still work.

iPhone or iPad

The app you add to the Home Screen starts empty: meets you made in the browser stay there until you bring them in.

1. Save a backup of each meet: on the Meets screen, choose Export .2T backup from the meet’s ⋮ menu.
2. Tap Share (the square with an arrow). If you don’t see it, tap ⋯ first.
3. Tap Add to Home Screen. You may need to scroll. If it isn’t listed, tap Edit Actions to add it.
4. Leave Open as Web App on, then tap Add.
5. While you still have internet, open 2Timer from its new icon and choose Import a meet, then Choose file, for each backup. The new app shares nothing with the browser, so its first open needs a connection.

These steps work in Safari and in every other browser on iPhone and iPad.

Safari on a Mac

This needs Safari 17 or later (macOS Sonoma or later). The app you add to the Dock starts empty, the same as on iPhone.

1. Save a backup of each meet: choose Export .2T backup from the meet’s ⋮ menu.
2. In the menu bar, choose File → Add to Dock, then click Add.
3. While you still have internet, open 2Timer from the Dock and choose Import a meet, then Choose file, for each backup.

Chrome or Edge on a computer

Click the install icon at the right of the address bar, or open the browser menu and choose to install 2Timer (in Chrome under Cast, save, and share, in Edge under More tools → Apps). Your meets come with it. If the address bar shows Open in app instead, 2Timer is already installed: click it to open 2Timer.

Chrome on Android

Open the ⋮ menu and choose Add to Home screen or Install app. Your meets come with it. If the menu offers to open 2Timer instead, it is already installed.

Firefox on Android

Open the ⋮ menu, tap More, then Add app to Home screen. It adds a shortcut that opens 2Timer in Firefox.

Edge on Android

Open Edge’s menu and tap Add to phone.

Firefox on Windows

1. Click Add tab to taskbar at the right of the address bar. It needs Firefox 143 or later, and the copy of Firefox from the Microsoft Store doesn’t have it.
2. Open 2Timer from the taskbar. If your meets aren’t there, choose Import a meet, then Choose file, for each meet’s backup.

If Add tab to taskbar isn’t there, this copy of Firefox can’t install 2Timer. Keep a .2t backup of each important meet instead.

Other browsers

Look in your browser’s menu for Install app or Add to Home Screen. If it has neither, keep a backup instead: choose Export .2T backup from the meet’s ⋮ menu on the Meets screen.

Browsers that can’t install

Firefox on a Mac or Linux can’t install websites as apps, so the Meets screen shows a Keep a backup of your meets note instead of an install card. Keep a .2t backup of each important meet: choose Export .2T backup from the meet’s ⋮ menu on the Meets screen.

After installing, open 2Timer from its icon rather than a browser tab, so you are always working in the installed copy.

My meets are missing in the installed app

On iPhone, iPad, and Safari on a Mac, the installed 2Timer keeps its own meets, separate from the browser. It opens empty, with a note about bringing meets from the browser. Your meets are still in the browser.

1. In the browser, on the Meets screen, choose Export .2T backup from each meet’s ⋮ menu.
2. In the installed app, choose Import a meet, then Choose file, for each backup.

On a computer with Chrome or Edge, and on Android, the installed app shares the browser’s meets.

Links to 2Timer open in the app

Once 2Timer is installed with Chrome or Edge on a computer, a 2Timer link you click in the browser, in an email, or on another site, opens in the installed app, in a new window. A 2Timer window you already have open stays where it is. If links still open in a browser tab, open 2Timer’s app settings (in the installed app’s ⋮ menu, App info, then Settings) and choose to open supported links in the app. Installed with Chrome on Android, 2Timer links open the app too.

Links you tap on an iPhone or iPad, links clicked in a desktop mail app such as Apple Mail or Outlook, and links in Firefox open a browser tab instead. In Chrome or Edge, click Open in app in the address bar to switch.

Update 2Timer: New version available

2Timer checks for a new version every 10 minutes, and when you come back to it, while you’re online. When one is ready, a box at the bottom right says New version available. Update now to load it.

• Update Now reloads 2Timer on the new version. Your meets stay.
• Later hides the box. The new version loads once every 2Timer window or tab has been closed and 2Timer is opened again.

To check by hand, open Diagnostics and press Check for Update. See Repair and Recovery.

“Saved by a newer version of 2Timer”

A meet, or this device’s settings, that a newer 2Timer opened can’t be opened by an older one, so 2Timer leaves it untouched and says so:

• Update now loads the newest 2Timer, and the meet opens.
• If it says The update didn’t load on this device, press Repair App. It loads 2Timer fresh and keeps every meet.
• If it says the meet opens again with the next update, there’s nothing to do: the data is safe and opens once the next 2Timer is out.
• 2Timer was updated in another tab means another tab updated a meet open here. Press Reload; anything typed in this tab and not saved is lost.
• 2Timer couldn’t update this meet means the update hit a problem with this meet. Nothing in it changed. Press Download this meet’s data and send the file to 2Timer support.

Before race day with no internet

• Open 2Timer and the meet on the race-day device while you still have internet, and install it.
• Update 2Timer before you leave, not at the venue.
• Choose the timing and results folders, and allow access, before race day.
• Keep a current .2t backup of the meet on another device or a USB stick, or set up automatic backups to one.
• If you’ll open or export an Open Meet Exchange file at the venue, do it once before you leave.
• Expect ONETIME, RunSignUp, RaceRoster, Total Active Sports, S3 / R2, and FTP to wait for the internet. Run them again when it comes back.

Offline problems

Related Pages

• Getting Started
• Importing a 2Timer Backup
• Systems and Connections
• Repair and Recovery

Metadata

• Last Updated: 2026-11-06
• Document Version: 0.4
• Status: Active