The Chat receives new messages, reactions, “Typing...” and, on the website, the ringing of calls through a real-time connection, open while the website or the app is open. If that connection drops, the Chat keeps working and the messages people send you are not lost: they are saved and appear when the Chat fetches them. They only stop appearing the moment they arrive.
How to tell the connection has dropped
No warning appears in the Chat. These are the signs:
- new messages arrive a few seconds late;
- in a one-to-one conversation, the other person shows as offline: no status dot on the photo and, on the website, “Offline” under the name; “Typing...” stops appearing;
- on the website, the number of unread messages next to Chat, in the menu, may not go up when a new message arrives, until you reload the page or come back to this tab;
- on the website, calls stop ringing in that tab.
Why it happens
- The device lost its internet connection or the network went down for a while.
- You switched networks, for example from Wi-Fi to mobile data, or the computer woke from sleep. On the website and in the app, a connection that goes more than 45 seconds without a signal from the server is replaced by a new one automatically.
- The MyFitnessClient server was updated. The connection drops during the update and reconnects by itself.
- Your account already has 10 real-time connections open, across tabs, windows and phones. See the section The limit of 10 connections per account.
How to fix it
To get the Chat updating by itself again:
- Check that the device has internet: open another website or another app. On the website, the “You are offline” warning means the browser lost the network; in the app, the Offline banner means the same (see The app says “Offline” or takes a long time to load).
- On the website, reload the page. The real-time connection opens again and the Chat shows what arrived in the meantime.
- If you have several MyFitnessClient tabs or windows open, close the ones you aren't using and reload the page you're on.
- In the app, send the app to the background and come back to it: the app opens a new connection and reads the open conversation and the list again. On a phone, you can also pull down the Chat list to refresh it.
- If it keeps happening, open the Chat in another browser or on another device with the same account, to find out whether the problem is only on this device.
When the connection is back, new messages appear the moment they arrive and “Typing...” appears again.
The limit of 10 connections per account
Each account can have up to 10 real-time connections open at the same time. Each of these counts as one connection:
- a browser tab with the professional's dashboard or the client area open, on any page and not just in the Chat; on a computer, tabs you aren't looking at also count;
- a MyFitnessClient window installed as an app on a computer or phone;
- a phone with the MyFitnessClient app open in the foreground (the app closes the connection when it goes to the background).
From the 11th connection on, the server refuses the new connection without showing any warning. That tab keeps opening pages and sending messages, but without real-time updates: the Chat may only update with a delay, other people's status and “Typing...” don't appear, and calls don't ring in it. The 10 connections that opened first are kept, even if the refused one belongs to the tab you're using. When you close other tabs, the refused tab tries again by itself; to avoid waiting, reload it.
What the Chat does while the connection is down
On the website, the Chat fetches new messages in the open conversation from the server every 5 seconds and updates the conversation list every 15 seconds. If those requests fail, it waits longer and longer between them, up to 1 minute. With the tab hidden or without internet, it stops, and resumes as soon as you return to the tab or the internet comes back. At the same time, it tries to restore the real-time connection, the first time after 3 seconds and then at longer and longer intervals, up to 1 minute. When it succeeds, it shows the messages that arrived in the meantime and updates the list.
On the website, these requests to the server only bring in new messages. If, during the outage, someone edited or deleted a message, reacted to a message or read yours, you only see it when you open the conversation again or reload the page.
In the app, the open conversation updates every 6 seconds and the conversation list every 15 seconds. The app tries to restore the connection after 1.5 seconds and then at longer and longer intervals, up to 30 seconds. When it goes to the background, it closes the connection; when you return to it, it opens a new one and reads the open conversation and the list again.
Messages sent without internet
On the website, a message sent without internet doesn't wait for the network: it fails and shows, next to the time, a red button with a circular arrow, Retry. In the app, a text message or a GIF waits for the network for up to 1 minute; if the network doesn't come back, “Not sent. Tap to try again.” appears. See The message was not sent and Retry appears.
If this did not solve it
Write to the MyFitnessClient team through the contact on the “Didn't find what you're looking for?” card, at the end of the Help Center home page. In the app, the same card, at the end of the Help Centre, shows the email for problems with the app. If you're a professional, you can also create a request in Support, in Settings. Send:
- whether you use the website or the app, and on which device;
- on the website, the browser and how many MyFitnessClient tabs you had open;
- the day and time the Chat stopped updating;
- the conversation where it happened.