“Retry When Ready” — A Smarter Way to Handle Network Failures in Jetpack Compose

“Please try again.”

These are the words users dread to see — especially when they’ve done nothing wrong except have poor internet.

In this post, I’ll show you how to build a reusable, respectful retry system in Jetpack Compose that:

• Remembers failed API requests
• Waits for internet to return
• Gently asks the user: “Would you like to retry?”
• Works not just for login — but any network-dependent call

Let’s build this like a good story: with empathy, architecture, and a clean separation of concerns.

The Problem: Network Failures Break Trust

Imagine this:

1. A user opens your app and enters their login credentials.
2. They tap Log In.
3. Nothing happens — or worse, an error appears:
   “Login failed. Please try again.”

Why?
No internet. Maybe they walked through a tunnel. Maybe their Wi-Fi dropped.

Now imagine if the app said:

“You’re back online. Would you like to retry logging in?”