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Our iOS app uses CoreData as the local datastore and we use Firebase to sync the local data across devices. We also rely on FireBase for user authentication, so its just not the data sync. All our queries are done against the local database. This 'local db + Firebase' combination has worked well so far and we are starting to build the Android version.

With the new brand new Android code, we are debating if we should follow the same approach as iOS or just use ONLY the Firebase database.

Some features that are important to our app:

  1. Work completely offline (Firebase does a great job of syncing when there is online access)
  2. Have a single cloud database as the source of truth i.e. mimicking a server side database
  3. Reduce network usage, i.e. use it only when required
  4. Be able to perform a variety of queries on the data
  5. Real time data across devices (Firebase realtime sync is awesome )

Any disadvantages to our existing approach 'local db + Firebase' or what will we lose if we switch to using just the Firebase Database ?

Frank van Puffelen
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ArdenDev
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  • I read through links like these on SO, but what I’m looking for are learning from developers on this approach 1. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39029252/use-firebase-db-with-local-db (AND) 2. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34486417/firebase-offline-capabilities-and-addlistenerforsinglevalueevent – ArdenDev Aug 08 '17 at 02:32
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    It would be a lot easier to maintain if you just use Firebase as your storage solution – Matthew Aug 08 '17 at 02:34
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    This is really an opinion based question which is not generally appropriate for this site. IMO... #1 is where Firebase is not going to be a good solution as it's an Online database with some offline capabilities. I would encourage you to stick with a single database solution and if you can move to an online structure, Firebase will fit the bill. Be prepared to re-think your database structure as things like fetching objects, filters and relationships don't exist in the same way as in Core Data. – Jay Aug 08 '17 at 18:50

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FireBase just released FireStore which was built from the ground up to also support offline mode. Looking forward to test this

ArdenDev
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