You love your WiFi and your Vodacom data bundle. You love being always-on, connected to the Internet, to your networks, and to the online world. What you don’t love is when you’re forced into Offline Mode. Here’s how to survive without a connection – no matter where you are.

Gaming

The good news is that there are hundreds of thousands of online games available for your mobile device. The bad news is that many (like Super Mario Run, The Sims FreePlay or EA Sports FC Mobile) require a mobile connection, but the better news (it’s a rollercoaster, people!) is that many of the good ones don’t. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, for example, can be played offline in single-player story mode after you’ve installed it.

The vast majority of Apple Arcade games can also be played offline. Here we call attention to endless runners like Subway Surfers and the visually gorgeous (but often overlooked) Alto’s Adventure; and countless more.  

Reading and Streaming

If you’d like to while away your time by reading, you have a handful of options. E-reading apps like Kindle and Apple’s Books all allow for offline reading, and some – like the super-versatile PocketBook Reader – even let you upload books that you’ve downloaded from other sources (like Project Gutenberg or the Internet Archive).

Bookmark managers like Raindrop are a great option for saving website articles for reading later in an offline environment (we suggest Longreads for quality journalism). Raindrop is where the online literati are going now that Pocket has closed.

Streaming entertainment is obviously impossible without a data connection, but don’t be dismayed: loads of people listened to music on the go before the Internet was invented. Those hardy souls now pre-download their music or podcasts using a Spotify Premium account and listen to their tunes wherever they go. Some also download videos using YouTube Premium, and watch them while they’re out of WiFi range or while their phone is in Airplane Mode.

Older phones used to come with FM radios installed, but most of the newer models require an app to be installed – and even then, you can’t listen to live radio without a data signal. So that’s a non-starter.

Working and Travelling

Truth is, you’re most likely to find yourself without WiFi or without a data signal when you’re either travelling for fun or travelling for work. In cases like these, you’ll find offline maps to be a lifesaver. Navigation apps like Google Maps and Maps.me allow you to download local maps for offline use, so that you can find your way around without a data connection. If you’re hiking or off-roading, they could be the difference between a disastrous day and a short trip back to camp.

Google Drive and the evergreen Evernote, meanwhile, let you select documents or files for offline use. This is especially useful if you’re on a flight and need to get some urgent work done before you get back to the loving embrace of a stable data or WiFi connection.

While being offline happens from time to time, it doesn't have to be the norm. Check out some of these prepaid LTE bundles from Vodacom and keep yourself online.