Install Guide - ASAR Reference Guide

Install the ASAR Reference Guide on Your Phone

Install this app to your home screen and it will work even without cell service or Wi-Fi — perfect for backcountry SAR operations. It looks and feels like a regular app.

What you need: Just visit the ASAR Reference Guide website once while you have internet. The app will download everything and work offline from that point forward.

📱

Android (Chrome)

Open in Chrome

Open Google Chrome on your Android phone and go to the ASAR Reference Guide website. You must use Chrome — other browsers may not support installation.

Look for the Install Banner

Chrome may show an Install app banner at the bottom of the screen automatically. If you see it, tap Install and you're done!

Or Use the Menu

If no banner appears, tap the three-dot menu ( ⋮ ) in the top-right corner of Chrome. Look for Install app or Add to Home screen and tap it.

Confirm Installation

A popup will ask you to confirm. Tap Install. The ASAR icon will appear on your home screen just like a regular app.

Tip: After installing, open the app once while you still have signal and give it a minute. It downloads the whole guide in the background (about 17 MB, mostly the reference PDFs). Then it's ready for the field.

🍎

iPhone / iPad (Safari)

Open in Safari

Open Safari on your iPhone or iPad and go to the ASAR Reference Guide website. You must use Safari — this will not work from Chrome or Firefox on iOS.

Tap the Share Button

Tap the Share button at the bottom of Safari. It looks like a square with an arrow pointing up ( ↑ ).

Tap "Add to Home Screen"

Scroll down in the share menu until you find Add to Home Screen. Tap it. You may need to scroll — it's usually about halfway down the list.

Name It and Tap Add

It will show "ASAR Ref" as the name. You can change this to whatever you like (e.g., "ASAR Guide"). Tap Add in the top-right corner.

iPhone note: After adding to your home screen, open it from the home screen icon once while you still have signal and give it a minute to finish downloading. Opening it in Safari is not the same thing — iOS keeps the two separate, so the home screen app needs its own first run. iPhones can also clear cached data if storage gets low, so it's worth opening the app before a callout.

What Works Without a Signal?

Everything you need to look something up works offline. Anything that reads or writes live team data needs a connection — because that information lives on a server, not on your phone.

✅ Works offline

All First Aid protocols
Rope Rescue, Swiftwater, CDFL
GSAR, GSTL, SAR Manager
Communications, Vehicles, Policies
RADeMS calculator
Search pattern generator
The reference PDFs
The search box

📶 Needs a signal

Team Board (posts and replies)
Ask ASAR (the AI chat)
Debrief
Expenses (receipt scan + email)
Drone maintenance & training logs
Site survey
Airspace check
Map links (they open CalTopo)

The offline pages are downloaded the first time you open the app with a connection. You don't have to visit each one — they all come down together.

One exception: Flight Log, Reports, and Battery Health will open offline, but they'll be empty unless you've viewed them at least once with a signal. Their data is downloaded on first view, not up front. If you want them in the field, open each one before you leave.

What happens if you lose signal mid-task? Reference pages keep working normally. The live sections (Team Board, Ask ASAR) will simply stop loading — nothing is lost, and they come back on their own when you reconnect.

How Do Updates Work?

When the ASAR team updates the reference guide (adds new content, fixes information, etc.), here's how it reaches your phone:

ASAR uploads changes to the website

→

You open the app while connected to Wi-Fi or data

→

App fetches the latest pages as you open them

→

You see the new content right away

What you need to know:

Updates are automatic — just open the app while you have internet and it will pick up the latest content.
No action required — you never need to uninstall and reinstall. Just keep using the app normally.
Works offline until updated — if you never connect, you'll still have the last version you downloaded. Nothing breaks.

The "Update app" button

At the bottom of the home screen there's a 🔄 Update app button. You don't normally need it — it's there for when you think you're looking at something out of date.

If there's a new version, it installs it and reloads. Takes a couple of seconds.
If there isn't, it just refreshes the page and tells you you're already up to date.
It will not delete your offline copy. Tapping it is always safe — you can't lose the guide by pressing it.
Safe to tap with no signal. It checks first, and if it can't reach the server it says so and leaves everything alone.

iPhone / iPad — important: the app on your home screen and the site open in Safari are treated as two separate copies. Updating one does not update the other. If something looks out of date, make sure you're checking the home screen app.

Best practice before a callout: Open the app briefly while you have Wi-Fi to pick up any updates. Then you're guaranteed to have the latest info in the field.

Troubleshooting

"I can't find Add to Home Screen"

iPhone: Make sure you're using Safari, not Chrome or Firefox. Only Safari supports this on iOS.
Android: Make sure you're using Chrome. Samsung Internet also works.

"The app isn't working offline"

Open the app once while connected and leave it open for a minute — it needs to finish downloading (about 17 MB) before it can work offline.
On iPhone, make sure you opened it from the home screen icon, not from Safari.
Check you're not on a connection that's technically "on" but not actually working — a half-connected signal is slower to fail than no signal at all.

"I'm seeing old content"

With a connection, tap 🔄 Update app at the bottom of the home screen.
If that doesn't do it, close the app completely (swipe it away) and reopen it.
iPhone: check you're looking at the home screen app, not the site in Safari — they update separately.

"I tapped Update app and nothing seemed to happen"

That usually means you were already up to date — the page just refreshes. This is normal, not a failure.

"Pages are missing or blank"

Make sure you have a good internet connection and open the app. It will re-download any missing content.
If it's Flight Log, Reports, or Battery Health that's empty, that's expected offline — open them once with a signal (see above).
If the problem persists, remove the app from your home screen and re-add it using the steps above.