We are now so accustomed to everything we use requiring some kind of internet access that it’s easy to forget about good, old offline functionality. Yet even in our hyper-connected age of social media and smart homes, there are still plenty of apps with local functionality. And we’re not talking about obscure apps mostly used by a niche of tech enthusiasts and open-source evangelists, either. We’re talking about extremely popular programs, at least some of which you may already have installed.

From media streaming apps to popular security solutions, plenty of the apps we use daily either work fully offline or have a robust number of offline-capable features. You can use your browser without internet, store media locally, pay for purchases in stores, and even log into your accounts, all without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. The peace of mind that comes from knowing you can use your apps when traveling or when the internet is down affords crucial peace of mind. So, here are five everyday apps that work without internet access.

Sure, most of what you do in a web browser may require an internet connection, but they retain a lot of functionality even when you’re offline. Chrome and Chromium-based browsers also function as media players for music, movies, and photos. They can be used to read and edit PDFs, a functionality you can improve with PDF editing extensions. You can even use them to read other document formats such as .txt, .js, .css, and so on — handy when coding.

Moreover, Chromium’s rendering engine, Blink, allows the browser to act as an interface for apps installed on your computer. Discord, though requiring an internet connection to function, is a good example. The standalone Discord app you can install on your phone or desktop is actually an Electron app using a stripped-down version of Chrome to render itself. However, you can also run Discord directly in Chrome as a web app with nearly identical functionality.

Many offline apps also work this way. For instance, ComfyUI is a popular app used for local AI image generation. After installing the program and its dependencies on your machine, you access the user interface with a web browser. Jellyfin, a popular, free media server app similar to Plex, also uses a browser interface for its GUI. We’ve only scratched the surface here, too, as there are many offline extensions also available for download.

Most people stream their music these days, and there’s no more popular service than Spotify. But although the app is primarily designed around streaming music from the cloud, it has several offline features that make it useful even without an internet connection. You can download songs, albums, and playlists for offline playback, and the app can also play local audio files.

Spotify has a download button at the top of every album or playlist page and in the three-dot menu for individual songs. If you ever need to stock up on music for a flight or road trip — where a 4G or 5G connection may not be available – you can use the download feature to do so. You can have up to 10,000 songs stored offline at any given time. The music can be stored for an unlimited period of time, provided you connect to the internet at least once every 30 days. You must also be subscribed to Spotify Premium; free users can only download podcasts.

Spotify can also be used as a local music player. If you have a digital music library, this is a great way to listen to those iTunes downloads and totally legal Limewire tracks alongside all of your current favorites. However, Spotify will not play local files by default. To enable the functionality on iOS or Android, head into the app’s settings by tapping your profile picture at the top-left of the home tab. Tap Settings and Privacy, then tap Apps and Devices. Enable the Local Audio Files feature, and you’re off to the races.

Depending on whether you own an iPhone or an Android smartphone, you probably have Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, respectively. These apps offer a lot of convenience, allowing you to leave your wallet at home and make purchases by tapping your phone to a payment terminal, or have access to your event tickets and membership passes in just a few taps. But some users will be surprised to learn that you can do all of that without an Internet connection.

Your digital wallet uses near-field communication (NFC) to pay with your stored credit and debit cards. When you tap your phone to pay, it supplies the payment terminal with a tokenized version of your card. In fact, this method is more secure than swiping or inserting your actual card, since it transmits an encrypted token that stands in for your card rather than transmitting the actual card information. The card data itself is stored securely on your device, so the phone doesn’t need internet access. Remember, your plastic credit cards aren’t connected to the net, either.

As for tickets and passes, many are simply barcodes or QR codes, so they don’t require internet connectivity to work, either. Even when an event ticket uses a dynamic ticket code — the reason why screenshots of your concert tickets don’t always work anymore – Google or Apple Wallet will store the algorithm used to generate those rotating codes, allowing you to scan the ticket even when you’re offline.

Avid bookworms are likely to have at least a few books in Amazon Kindle format, or an open-source e-book format such as EPUB. Being able to bring reading material on a trip without taking up too much space in your bag is a major boon, especially if you’re packing light.

If you already have an EPUB book on your device, virtually any e-reader app will be able to read it. If you’re a Kindle user, you’ll need to download the books ahead of time. You can do so by simply tapping on the book cover from inside the Library section of the Kindle app, and the app will notify you when it has finished downloading. For novel-length books composed almost exclusively of text, this only takes a few seconds on a robust connection, though it can take a bit longer for image-laden volumes such as magazines and graphic novels. 

Once downloaded, Kindle books should stay on your device until manually deleted. However, we’ve found that they can sometimes be erased on Samsung Galaxy Android devices if the system puts the app in deep sleep. It’s also worth noting that Amazon removed some offline functionality from the Kindle in 2025, so you’ll no longer be able to download and transfer Kindle ebooks via USB.

If you take notes in a book, highlight portions of text, or otherwise annotate, Kindle will sync those annotations to your account once you are back online, provided that you have Sync turned on in the app’s settings. To make sure Sync is turned on, open the Kindle app, then tap the More tab on the bottom right of the screen. Tap Settings, then make sure the box next to Sync is checked.

If you’re somewhat serious about your digital security, you’ve probably got an authenticator app installed on your phone, be it Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or something else. You should always enable two-factor authentication for your online accounts, and an authenticator app provides significant security benefits over SMS-based 2FA, which is unencrypted. But some users might not know that your Authenticator apps generate authentication codes without needing an internet connection.

When you add an account to your authenticator app using an alphanumeric code or a QR code, you’re not transferring data over the internet. What you’re actually doing is feeding the authenticator a secret key, something like a missing variable for a math equation. Another variable in the equation is time, which is why the codes reset every 30 seconds. When you use a code generated by your authenticator, you’re giving the account you’re logging into the answer to that math equation. The account checks it against its own answer, using the same secret key and time variables, and grants you access if the sums match.

The fact that this process does not require the internet is part of the point, since it prevents codes from being redirected or intercepted — two major risks of SMS-based 2FA. This also means that, if you find yourself in a situation where you need to log in somewhere without an Internet connection on your phone  — such as when you’ve paid for in-flight Wi-Fi only on your laptop  — you can still get a one-time password from your authenticator apps.