Utility Inspection Field App (PWA)

The first decision was the platform. Crews used a mix of Android phones and iPhones, and the contractor needed reach and low running cost more than deep device integration. A progressive web app gave both: one React and TypeScript codebase that installs to the home screen, opens full-screen like a native app, and updates the moment a new version is published, with no app-store review in the way.

Service workers, managed with Workbox, cache the application itself so it opens instantly with no connection. From the crew's point of view it simply behaves like an app on their phone.

• One codebase for Android and iOS
• Home-screen install with a full-screen, app-like interface
• Updates without an app-store release cycle

Everything a crew needs for the day is stored on the device in IndexedDB when they set off: the job list, asset details and the inspection forms. Forms are completed and saved locally, so a crew standing beside a cabinet in a valley with no signal works exactly as they would in the depot.

Completed inspections join a queue. The app is honest about what has and has not been sent, showing clearly which records are waiting to upload, so crews never wonder whether their work has been lost.

Photographs are often the most important part of a defect report and the easiest part to lose. In the app, photos are taken from within the inspection, tagged with GPS position and timestamp, and stored with the record they belong to. There is no separate camera roll to sort through later.

Images are compressed on the device before they are queued, so a full day of photographs can upload over a weak connection at the end of a shift. The utility receives evidence that is clearly tied to an asset, a place and a time.

When a signal returns, Background Sync uploads queued inspections without the crew doing anything. Real life adds a complication: the office may have changed a job while the crew was out of contact, perhaps reassigning it or adding a note.

The sync process detects those cases and handles them clearly rather than silently overwriting one version with another. Web Push notifications let the office reach crews with updates when they are connected. Together these mean the office sees inspections as soon as they can physically arrive, and defects are reported to the utility the same day.