Why is the Helium hotspot "Offline"?

You might be seeing your hotspot status as Offline on the Explorer and HeliumGeek app. The API server checks every hotspot regularly to determine their state. Hotspots are marked as Offline if any of the following conditions is met;

• The API server is not hearing from the hotspot for some time (it is not in its PeerBook anymore)
• The hotspot was not participating to PoC activities as a Challenger for a long time (1900 blocks (2*poc_challenge_interval), around 32 hours)

Being marked as offline is a signal that something is wrong with your hotspot. As hotspots challenge each other regularly, not being able to perform challenging is not a normal situation. You can check the activities tab on Explorer to see when was the last challenging performed.

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Why a hotspot would not challenge for long?

Hotspots need to be in-sync with the blockchain to be able to participate to PoC tasks. When the hotspot lose the sync, it won't be able to challenge others too.

You can check hotspot screen on HeliumGeek to see the state of the last activity gap and the sync gap. Sync gap is shown when your device is reachable and up to date height information can be retrieved.

Another alternative to check the sync status is to pair with your hotspot using Bluetooth on the Helium Hotspot app.

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How to keep the hotspot in-sync?

The most important thing to do is to make sure the hotspot has stable and high speed Internet. Instead of Wi-Fi, have a Ethernet cable to the hotspot. Also make sure the Internet speed is not degrading over time.