Two years ago we had an unpleasant experience when we were on the Bernina Express. Just as the ticket collector approached, my wife was unable to open her Rail Pass. We are doing a similar journey in September and we want to avoid a similar occurrence. I used AI to question what was the best strategy. Basically it said that the app failed because it had a poor signal. When the Rail Planner app detects even a sliver of data (like a 2G or spotty 3G signal on a mountain pass), its default behavior is to immediately reach out to the Interrail servers to check for updates. If that connection is weak or drops mid-request, the app hangs indefinitely on a loading loop or a blank screen. The recommendation was to update the app when leaving our hotel the day of our trip across the Alps, and then to put the phone onto flight mode By treating the app as a purely offline tool for the trip across the Alps one will bypass the network glitches entirely.
I thought it would be wise to get human feedback to this recommendation.
