Last updated: Jun 8, 2026, 11:09 AM
After an outage or service disruption, use this guide to reconnect your devices and confirm payments, open checks, and shifts are back to normal.
After an outage or service disruption, use this guide to reconnect your devices and confirm payments, open checks, and shifts are back to normal. Covers "Toast service disruption" messages, devices still showing offline, payments stuck in Processing, and shift reviews after the outage.
Applies to: Toast POS, Toast Web, Toast Flex terminal, Toast Go® 2 handheld
Permissions needed:
What you'll accomplish: Confirm every device is back online, every payment from the outage period is captured or accounted for, every open check is reconciled, and every shift review is complete.
Use this table to match the symptom you're seeing to the right section below.
| Symptom | Most Common Cause | Quick Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Device still shows "Offline Mode" or "Toast service disruption" after your internet is back | Toast app needs to be force-stopped and re-launched, or your local network is still disconnected from the Toast cloud | See Device Still Showing Offline or "Toast Service Disruption". If your network is also offline, see Outages and Disruptions: Troubleshoot Internet or Network Connection Issues first. |
| Payments still show as Processing in Reports > Payments > Payments | Devices haven't finished submitting offline-mode authorizations to the Toast cloud | See Confirm Payment Status. Do not select Capture in Close Out Day. |
| An open check has a payment that came back Denied or Declined | The card authorization expired or was rejected when the device reconnected | |
| Online orders placed during the outage are queued in Orders Hub and not firing to the kitchen | Toast holds online orders for manual approval after an outage to prevent a kitchen flood | |
| Employees can't complete shift reviews from the outage day | The time entry needs to be reopened by a manager before the employee can see the day's checks |
| Important: Do not select the Capture button in Close Out Day. Triggering this function manually may cause authorizations still processing to be missed, resulting in deposit discrepancies. |
Once your devices are back online, complete these steps in order to restore normal operations. Select any section below for detailed instructions.
Expected outcome: Every device shows online status, every payment from the outage is in Authorized or Processing status (with Processing payments moving to Authorized over the next few hours), and every open check from the outage day is closed or reconciled.
"Toast service disruption" is a message that appears on your POS when your device loses its connection to the Toast cloud — typically due to an internet outage, network disruption, or a local connectivity issue. It does not always mean Toast's systems are down.
If you see this message after your internet or power has been restored:
Expected outcome: The Offline Mode notification bar clears and the device shows normal POS function.
| Important: Do not uninstall the Toast app while it is still in Offline Mode. Stored data and offline payments may be removed. |
Expected outcome: Payments in Processing status begin moving to Authorized within a few hours of the device staying online.
Credit and debit card authorizations taken during an outage are automatically captured as each device reconnects to the Toast cloud. You do not need to manually trigger this process.
| Important: Do not select Capture in Close Out Day while payments from an outage are still processing. Manually triggering capture may cause in-progress authorizations to be missed, resulting in deposit discrepancies. |
Keep merchant copies of receipts signed by guests as records for payments taken offline. These are useful if a payment is lost, a tip adjustment is needed, or a chargeback occurs.
In Toast Web, navigate to Reports > Payments > Payments to check the status of payments taken during the outage.
| Status | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Processing | The device is submitting the payment for authorization. |
| Authorized | Payment was approved and is pending final capture. |
| Denied | Payment was not authorized by the card network (also shown as "Declined"). |
Note: Payment authorizations can expire if too much time passes between the transaction and when connectivity is restored — in some cases as early as 24 hours after the transaction. Some Card Issuers have longer allowances before they deny the payment. Toast recommends resolving connectivity issues as quickly as possible to prevent authorization expiry and declined payments.
Denied payments on open checks cannot be retried through Toast. Choose one of the following options to close affected checks:
Expected outcome: Every check that had a denied payment is closed using one of the three options, with the choice tracked separately so the outage's effect on sales is visible in your reports.
Expected outcome: The shift review is complete for the outage day and the employee's earnings, tips, and cashouts reflect the day correctly.
Verify that all employee time clock entries are accurate for the offline time period. During Offline Mode, employees should clock in and out on the same device — discrepancies can occur if this did not happen. Check your Time Entry Management report and correct any inconsistencies. See Edit Employee Time Clock Entries for instructions.
Expected outcome: Every employee's time entries for the outage period are accurate and ready for payroll.
When your devices come back online, any online orders that arrived during Offline Mode appear in Orders Hub with a pending status. You must manually approve each order before it can be processed or voided.
Without approval, orders remain queued and will not fire to the kitchen — even if auto-fire is enabled. This prevents a large influx of outdated orders from reaching your kitchen when you reconnect.
To handle queued orders:
Expected outcome: Every queued order from the outage is either approved (fired to the kitchen) or voided.
Loyalty points cannot be accrued or redeemed during Offline Mode. After restoring connectivity, make manual adjustments to any affected guest loyalty accounts. See Manually Add and Adjust Rewards Balances for instructions.
Expected outcome: Affected guest loyalty accounts have the correct point balances applied for outage-period transactions.
If the steps above do not resolve your issue, gather the following before contacting Customer Care:
Contact Customer Care through the Support button in Toast Web or Toast Payroll Web, or through the Support tab in the Toast Now app.
"Toast service disruption" appears on your POS when your device loses its connection to the Toast cloud. It does not necessarily mean Toast's systems are down — it often indicates a local network or internet issue. Check the Toast System Status page at status.toasttab.com to confirm whether there is a known outage. If Toast systems are operating normally, see Outages and Disruptions: Troubleshoot Internet or Network Connection Issues to diagnose your connection.
Also asked as:
A "backgrounded" payment is the same thing the article and Toast Web call a Processing payment — a card that was authorized while the device was offline, and is now being submitted to the card network as the device reconnects. The status will move from Processing to Authorized once the card network completes its review (usually within a few minutes to a few hours). If the card network declines the authorization when it reconnects, the check moves from closed back to open and the payment shows as Denied — see Reconcile Open Checks With Denied Payments.
Payments can be declined after an outage if the card authorization expired before connectivity was restored. Some card networks expire authorizations in as little as 24 hours. Declined payments cannot be retried through Toast. Close the affected checks using one of the methods in the Reconcile Open Checks section above, and keep merchant copies of signed receipts in case you need to collect payment through another method.
No. Do not select Capture in Close Out Day while outage payments are still processing. Manually triggering the capture function may cause in-progress authorizations to be missed, resulting in deposit discrepancies. Payments process automatically once your devices reconnect.
Offline payments begin processing automatically as soon as each device reconnects to the Toast cloud. Most payments capture within a few minutes to a few hours after reconnect. If a payment still shows as Processing after three to five days, contact Customer Care.
No. Do not resync data on any device that still has payments in a Processing status. Resyncing may remove stored payment data before it has been submitted for authorization.
If you've confirmed the payment was successfully processed and there are no missing payments, you can clear Toast POS App stored data to remove the incorrect check status. To do so:
Note: Clearing storage will sign you out of the app. Make sure you have your login email and password before proceeding.
Also asked as:
A closed check can reappear as open after an outage when the card payment was authorized while the device was offline but the card network later declined the authorization when the device reconnected. When that happens, the check moves from closed back to open automatically. Reconcile the check using one of the three options in the Reconcile Open Checks With Denied Payments section above.
Also asked as:
Do not complete Close Out Day while your devices are offline. Keep your devices powered on overnight so that payments can begin processing automatically when connectivity is restored. The next morning, navigate to Reports > Payments > Payments to confirm payment status, reconcile any open checks with denied payments, and complete shift reviews. Do not select Capture in Close Out Day until every payment from the outage has moved out of Processing.