Where to store the data of the mobile app? | IT Depends

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The mobile application data is like the glue that connects all its functions.

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But what's the best way to store them? Well, it depends.

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We can store our data in two ways,

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locally on the device or externally on the server.

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But the truth is there are very few applications that only use one solution.

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Let's consider where to store the data depending on its type.

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Data necessary for the functioning of our application.

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There are many questions that we need to ask ourselves first

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before making a great decision.

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Do you want your application to be partially functional when

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user loses reception?

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Or how is the service supposed to know that the user is logged in?

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Should an application reset the settings each time it's opened?

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Looking at these examples,

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we can think about the storage of authentication tokens,

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user preferences, or caching the necessary data.

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These are not all types of data and not every application needs all of them.

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So it's good to consider what is essential for your business.

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Quick access data.

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It's not a secret that locally stored data can be accessed instantly.

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Therefore, when your application needs speed,

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it's best to keep the data on a device.

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Levels in the game or airline tickets are good examples in that case.

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It would be frustrating to wait for the level to load on a bus,

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and imagine the stress of standing in front of the gates

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waiting for the tickets to show up.

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Data that must be available.

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Sometimes it's not about speed,

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but the availability of data itself.

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The worst thing is when the user wants to check something

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important, but can't access it.

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An example would be a contact list or an archive of a text

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chat with someone.

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It would not be practical to keep such things on a server

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and have limited access to them.

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Now let's look at another solution.

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Server data storage would work better in the following scenarios.

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Large amounts of data.

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Although the amount of space on phones increases every year,

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it is still associated with a higher device price.

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Therefore, if we need large amounts of data,

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it's better not to keep them locally where there's probably

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not enough space anyway.

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Perhaps the most famous example of the user's big data is the photo library.

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We can store small thumbnails locally,

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and only when the user selects one of them,

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we download the selected file from the server and display the full version.

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You just have to remember that in this case of storing large

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amounts of data on the server,

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access to them depends on the user's Internet connection.

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Data that must be up to date.

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If you want your application to have the most up to date data,

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you should keep it online.

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In that way, each user will know about every

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changes that are introduced to the database.

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If you operate in the ecommerce industry,

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this solution is tailored to your needs.

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It will let your clients know what things are available for purchase.

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Sensitive data.

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It is a common practice not to store sensitive data unless

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necessary, but if you really need them,

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it's safest to keep them encrypted on a secure server.

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If you don't need to access sensitive data in the offline mode,

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the server is usually a much safer place to store them than

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the user's phone.

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A mobile device can be lost or stolen and so can the

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information stored on it.

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But as I said, unless you really need to,

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don't ask the user for sensitive data.

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As we can see,

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the boundary between the decision of whether storing

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data locally or on the server is very thin.

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It depends heavily on what your application would be used for.

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So it's worth asking yourself a few questions before deciding.

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Should it be kept up to date?

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How large is our data?

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Should the data be available all the time?

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Does the app need quick access to the data?

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Answering them will definitely help in deciding where it's

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best to keep your data.

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Hopefully, explanation of what we mean by it depends in this

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case answers this question.

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Thanks for watching and see you again in the next IT depends episode.