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Ian bradbury
Ian bradbury

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Which Mobile Backend?

I am looking for a backend platform to host data for a new mobile app. The app will have a fairly complex data structure with private and shared data. Of course I'll be looking to sync data across devices.

In the past I have used Realm and Parse (Sashido hosted). I have had a play with Couchbase - which I do like.

Does anyone have any advice to share?

Please help me find a backend platform that has good developer and mobile tools and that I can rely on.

Top comments (6)

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leob profile image
leob

Firebase? I've used it in the past (quite long ago though) and it worked well.

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bizzibody profile image
Ian bradbury

I have been prototyping using the new Firestore db. I like it very much. I'm not sure it's ready for primetime yet - especially if you're looking to share data and need to write complex security rules.

But that said. I like a lot. In fact writing this has made me review the platform in my 🧠. And there is a lot to like. Maybe this is it. 🤔

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leob profile image
leob

Back when I started developing my first mobile app with Ionic (version 1 still) I briefly looked at Parse ... then I tried Firebase, and never looked back. The API was simply 10 times more elegant and easy to work with! I have no clue however how things are nowadays, probably I'd be inclined to roll my own backend ... just because I can. :-)

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bizzibody profile image
Ian bradbury

I am tempted to roll my own. (ROR) But I ask myself .... is it work the hassle? And I'm 55% responding - No.

I'm not sure - maybe there is an ROR opensource project that provides backend services (Auth/Data). I'm going to hit up DDG to find out.

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leob profile image
leob

If you don't have interest in backend dev and your focus is really on the mobile app and its features then you shouldn't spend time on developing your own backend, instead a pre-baked 'MBAAS' (mobile backend as a service) is the way to go.

Way back then I was quite satisfied about Firebase, and they've made a lot of progress in the meantime, so it must only have got better.

I've heard you can now not only run database queries and updates but also run some of your business logic on Firebase, so you no longer need to build a 'fat frontend' that contains all of your business logic (which is what we did back then).

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bizzibody profile image
Ian bradbury

A quick update.

I've revisited my previous prototyping against the Firebase (and specifically Firestore) and decided. I'm going all in. Fingers crossed.