CRITICAL: Offline recording UI appears but audio is lost when connection drops

[omi-discord-vector]

Problem

When internet connection drops during recording, app shows offline recording indicator/icon (suggesting it's buffering), but audio is actually lost instead of being saved for later sync.

Reproduction (Tested)

1. Start recording with Omi device connected
2. Say phrases 1-3 (internet connected)
3. Disconnect internet (airplane mode / Wi-Fi off)
4. Observe: app shows offline recording UI/icon
5. Continue speaking phrases 4-9 (while disconnected)
6. Reconnect internet
7. Continue speaking phrases 10-11 (reconnected)

Expected

• Phrases 1-3: captured ✅
• Phrases 4-9: buffered locally → synced when connection returns ✅
• Phrases 10-11: captured ✅

Actual

• Phrases 1-3: captured ✅
• Phrases 4-9: LOST ❌ (despite offline recording UI showing)
• Phrase 10 onward: captured (only AFTER reconnect) ✅

Evidence

Test conversation: https://h.omi.me/conversations/f968265a-0ef8-4a6b-8088-41a90a20eb82
Shows phrases jump from 3 → 10, confirming 4-9 were lost.

Impact

CRITICAL DATA LOSS BUG:

• Users trust the offline recording UI indicator
• But audio is silently dropped instead of buffered
• No warning that recording failed
• Defeats core "always capture everything" promise

Root Cause (likely)

UI shows offline mode, but backend doesn't actually buffer audio when WebSocket disconnects. Audio frames are dropped (as confirmed in code analysis: no else clause when socket.state != connected).

Severity

HIGH — breaks trust in device reliability for critical recordings (meetings, etc.)

[hugoaap-code]

@beastoin @mdmohsin7 a gift for you

[beastoin]

@hugoaap-code did you find the offline audio on your phone? If you used the Omi device with the Opus codec, then when the WebSocket disconnected the WAL should have activated and stored the audio on your phone.

[beastoin]

Of course, manual syncs are still required to align your audio with the targeted timeframe of the conversation, but basically the WAL feature was there from the beginning to make sure you dont lose your audio bytes when the websocket disconnects.

[beastoin]

Also @hugoaap-code, can you add the person who reported the issue (the human, I mean) to the issues created by the bot? It would help a lot with clarifying the problem. You know, ambiguous issues with no clear steps slow us down a lot.

[hugoaap-code]

Hey @beastoin that was me bro

[hugoaap-code]

@hugoaap-code did you find the offline audio on your phone? If you used the Omi device with the Opus codec, then when the WebSocket disconnected the WAL should have activated and stored the audio on your phone.

No but I didn't search for it.

The experience I imagine to be perfect:

I don't want to have to search for saved offline audio; I just want to see my conversations in my Convo feed, regardless of whether my connection dropped during recording.

If internet fails The app should automatically keep recording offline and add to my Convo without me having to think about it.