Why is a team member showing offline while they are actively working?

It depends on where you’re checking their status. The Who’s Online widget and other areas of Hubstaff update at different intervals.

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Who’s Online widget

The green dot in the Who’s Online widget updates in real time. If a member is actively tracking time and their green dot is not showing as online, the most likely causes are:

• Their desktop timer is not currently running
• They have an internet connectivity issue preventing the app from syncing
• Their timer was recently started and the first sync hasn’t completed yet — allow 1–2 minutes

You can click the refresh button on the Who’s Online widget to manually pull the latest status without waiting for an automatic update.

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Other dashboard data and reports

For data outside of the Who’s Online widget — such as hours worked, activity levels, and project time — the desktop app syncs with Hubstaff’s servers approximately every 10–15 minutes. This means:

• A member’s tracked time may take up to 15 minutes to appear in reports and dashboards
• This is expected behavior and does not mean time is being lost. All time is stored locally on the device and uploaded when a stable connection is available, even if tracking was done offline

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If a member’s status stays offline and doesn’t update

If the green dot in the Who’s Online widget does not change to online after the member has been tracking for a few minutes, check the following:

• Confirm their desktop timer is actively running (not paused or stopped)
• Check for internet connectivity issues on the member’s device
• Ask the member to click the refresh button on the Who’s Online widget
• If tracking time appears to be recording locally but not uploading, the member may need to check their firewall or proxy settings