Offline & mishears
No signal? Keep talking.
Every recording is saved on the phone first and uploaded when it can be. In a dead-zone apiary, Stinger transcribes on the device and files a draft; when signal returns your saved recordings upload by themselves, oldest first. A recording that uploads late is processed silently — the record is written, but Stinger will not speak up an hour later about it or ask questions of thin air.
Typed messages queue too. Anything you type in the message bar joins the same queue as your recordings and goes up in the order you made it, so a typed note and a spoken one from the same hive stay in sequence. Offline, a typed message gets a draft on the device just like a recording does.
What you see while it waits. Every recording gets its own bubble the moment you stop talking — a microphone and "voice note · length 7 s" until the words come through; a typed line shows its text, and photos show as "2 photos". The first one in line shows what is happening under it: "Stinger is working (12 s)", "no signal — will send when back", "server busy — retrying in 40 s", "transcribing on the device…", "waiting for your answer" (Stinger asked you something and is holding the line for the reply), "saved as a draft — will send when back". The ones behind it say where they stand and, when the line is not moving, why: "waiting · 2nd in line · no signal". Tap that line to see the whole queue; when a turn is allowed a nudge you get Retry now. If the first one has been stuck for two minutes a chip appears at the top — "1 turn stuck". Nothing is spoken about any of this.
Hot phone. In the sun a phone throttles itself. When it runs hot, Stinger pauses the on-device model to protect the recording; your words are still transcribed and saved as a draft with the transcript only, and the full read-back arrives when the phone cools or signal returns. Nothing is dropped.
The needs-attention list
A recording that permanently cannot upload (rare) shows as a small red button at the top of the console labeled uploads need attention. Tap it to retry or discard — the audio stays on your phone until you decide. Nothing is ever lost quietly.
When it mishears
- Names must match exactly — if it heard "Bench Juan", it will ask rather than guess. Re-say the name clearly.
- A reply you did not expect? Check the transcript — what it heard is right there in your bubble.
- Wrong data got logged? Corrections and reverts are one sentence away — see Logging inspections.
Sessions
While you work an apiary, Stinger keeps the mic warm between turns. After 10 quiet minutes the session resets (anchor cleared) so previous context never carries over into new work. You can mute the app and unmute later to keep working. If the 10 quiet minutes have passed, Stinger asks again which colony you are on rather than guessing.