Issues with Offline Capabilities in Power BI Mobile – Slicers Crashing

[ChitsJ]

Hey,

I am currently working on a Proof of Concept (POC) report in Power BI to showcase the offline capabilities on mobile and tablet devices. While I have developed the mobile version successfully, I am experiencing a significant issue related to offline version.

When I attempt to go offline to check the reporting capabilities, I've noticed that the slicers consistently crash. Unfortunately, this issue persists even after I have taken steps to limit the data size, considering the 250 MB data cache limit.

I would appreciate any insights or suggestions on how to resolve this problem or any recommendations for troubleshooting steps I could take.

[v-prasare]

Hi @ChitsJ,

We are following up once again regarding your query. Could you please confirm if the issue has been resolved through the support ticket with Microsoft?
If the issue has been resolved, we kindly request you to share the resolution or key insights here to help others in the community. If we don’t hear back, we’ll go ahead and close this thread.
Should you need further assistance in the future, we encourage you to reach out via the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum and create a new thread. We’ll be happy to help.

Thank you for your understanding and participation.

[ChitsJ]

Hey @v-prasare,

I connected with Microsoft team internally and found out that the issues which we face currently are due to the known Power BI Limitations and our interactions complexity.

Key Insight - Slicers, page cards, and dynamic parameters often break offline due to interaction dependencies and cache limitations.

As Microsoft continues to explore the offline capabilities in mobile and field-ready reporting solutions, PFB what's currently supported/not supported in Power BI:

What’s Possible in Offline Mode

• Mobile App Access: Power BI mobile apps (iOS and Android) allow users to view dashboards and reports offline, provided they’ve accessed them previously while online. Cached data is stored locally and refreshed periodically when connected.
• Offline-First Mode for Model-Driven Apps: Users can work with synchronized data on their devices even in low or no network conditions. Sync frequency and connection types can be customized.
• Read-Only Interactions: Users can interact with cached visuals such as tables, matrices, and navigation buttons. 

What’s Not Supported

• Live Connections: Reports using DirectQuery or live connections are not cached and cannot be accessed offline.
• Interactive Visuals: Slicers, page cards, and dynamic parameters often break offline due to interaction dependencies and cache limitations.
• Data Size Limits: Offline caching is limited to 250 MB. Larger datasets may not be fully available.
• Paginated Reports: These are not supported in offline mode on mobile apps.
• Excel Workbooks: Entire Excel files embedded in Power BI are not accessible offline.

Thanks for your assistance with this issue.

Best Regards,

Chitrang

[v-prasare]

Hi @ChitsJ,

Thanks for the update here. your insights truely valueble to our community. This will help our community members with simliar questions find answers quickly. as you mentioned this is a limitation, can you confirm whether we can close the thread? or you still need any help here.

If we don't here back from you, we will go ahead and close this thread

thanks,

Prashanth

MS Fabric community support

[Ilgar_Zarbali]

This is a common challenge when testing offline Power BI mobile reports, especially with interactive elements like slicers. Here’s how you can troubleshoot and optimize:

1. Optimize data model size
   

   * Even if you’re under the 250 MB offline cache limit, heavy relationships, calculated columns, or complex DAX can still overload the offline engine.

   * Remove unnecessary columns and tables, or pre-aggregate data in Power Query before publishing.

2. Simplify slicers
   

   * Use single-select slicers or drop-down formats instead of list-style slicers.

   * Avoid cascading or dependent slicers for offline scenarios.

   * Limit slicers on high-cardinality fields.

3. Test on multiple devices
   

   * Try on different mobile OS versions and devices to rule out device-specific rendering bugs.

   * Update the Power BI Mobile app to the latest version.

4. Check version compatibility
   

   * Some slicer types, especially newer visuals or custom visuals, may not render offline.

   * Replace custom visuals with native slicers when testing offline functionality.

5. Monitor memory and logs
   

   * Check your device logs for crash reports to see if it’s a memory issue.

   * Reduce page complexity (fewer visuals and interactions) to test stability.

6. Report to Microsoft
   Since this could be a bug, submit a ticket with your PBIX file, device details, and crash logs via the Power BI Support page (https://support.fabric.microsoft.com/).

I hope it will help.

[origin_apk]

Known limitation—try reducing slicer complexity or use bookmarks/filters instead for offline mode.

[v-prasare]

Hi @ChitsJ , 

In this scenario i suggest you to raise a support ticket here. so, that they can assit you in addressing the issue you are facing. please follow below link on how to raise a support ticket:

How to create a Fabric and Power BI Support ticket - Power BI | Microsoft Learn\

@michalfoster , thanks for your prompt response. 

thanks,

prashanth 

MS Fabric community support

[michalfoster]

Hi @ChitsJ ,

Thank you for reporting.
Could you please clarify what you mean by “crash”? If possible, could you share a screenshot to help us better understand the behavior?

In general, for report filtering to work offline, you need to apply the filters while you are still online before going offline. Not all filtering options are cached automaticly only those that were active when you were online.

You can find more details about this behavior in our documentation here: Data access while you're offline .
Thanks,

Michal

[ChitsJ]

Hey @michalfoster ,

The visuals seem to be breaking when we go offline and try to check these capabilitites.
As you have mentioned, we applied the filters while still being online before going offline and then tried looking at the same set of data. But it still doesn't seem to work.

PFB the screenshots for your reference.

Moreover the visual breakages are not following a specific pattern but it's the visual interactions which tends to break the visuals randomly.

Thanks,
Chitrang