IoT offline – what should you be able to access

I am working on an IoT system, which connects many different products via a gateway.

Now we had a big discussion what the user should be able to access when the gateway or one of the devices is not reachable.

A lot of data is stored in the user`s account, which, in both cases, is still available (e.g. current settings of a device, schedules, device history (when did it do X)) even if a device or the gateway is offline.

There are some people that argue that you should block everything when the gateway is offline. Not even let the user see his connected devices. And block the possibility to "enter" the device, to see its settings and history, if the device itself is not reachable. Other think we should just show basic information and not show (completely hide) all interactive elements, like all settings of a device.

Note: "Not reachable" does not mean that a device is not working - we do not know if it is working.

I have quite a different opinion on it.

I would be happy about some thoughts about this.

Thank you so much. Becky