Mobile users now expect desktop quality data driven interactive applications.
Yet as a mobile users, ‘Offline’ or ‘Intermittent connectivity’ is a fact of life.
Mobile networks simply don’t provide that same level of consistency that we get from the desktop. We, as app developers can’t keep building applications with the desktop mentality of assuming we have a permanent, fast and reliable connection.
The time has come for mobile app developers to accept reality.
It’s time to think about designing and building our applications as ‘offline-first’, where the offline mode isn’t simply a fall-back for an error scenario but the main mode of operation, and internet connectivity is established under app control.
There are many ways to build mobile applications and we all have our own favourite tools which we don’t want to give up.
When building data driven occasionally connected mobile applications, the common issue we all face is Bi-Directional Data Synchronisation and when/where to start that sync. Automatic data sync when a connection becomes available can create its own issues. What is needed is a simple and controlled method for performing Bi-Directional Synchronisation.
SQLite-Sync Offline-first applications, with working offline SQLite storage. Synchronisation with Microsoft SQL or MySQL back-end servers. Automatic mobile schema creation if required. ‘Click-To-Sync’ web service.