Top Local Databases for React Native App Development {A 2020 List}

Is React Native a Profitable Choice for Hybrid App Development?
React Native has established itself as a prime choice of startups and establishments looking for a mode to enter the app domain in a cost and time-efficient manner. And with this establishment, the focus has once again shifted on the incorporation of the platform in the app development process, especially when entrepreneurs are looking to build cross-platform applications. Increasing with this full-grown demand for React Native app development is the pressure on React Native developers to develop high-performing offline first apps that can be scaled whenever required. This, in turn, has led them to look back at the technology stack and choice of platform to build React Native applications off of. Especially the backbone of the application – React Native database. In this article, we are going to look into names that are fit for React Native app development today and are worthy of being in the list of top React Native databases for 2020. Let us start in a full disclosure mode, though.Let’s highlight the factors we looked into when curating the list of the top react native databases for 2020 and for some more years to come.

Table Of Content:

  1. Factors to Consider When Choosing React Native Databases for Your Project
  2. The Best React Native Databases for App Development
  3. Realm
  4. Firebase
  5. SQLite
  6. PouchDB
  7. Async Storage
  8. Watermelon DB
  9. Vasern
  10. BerkeleyDB

Factors to Consider When Choosing React Native Databases for Your Project

Complexity of the Data 

Algorithmic Complexity. Community finding algorithms in real… | by Luís Rita | Towards Data Science

A key-value storage is default option for a number of server-side and client-side scripting languages. Mainly, both – values and keys – have to be serialized in strings, either by a React Native developer or through the library itself. Now although necessary, serialization can bring serious halts and issues in how your application performs, especially when it operates in a limited resources environment of smartphones.

So, ideally a react native development company chooses a database which helps you store more complex data compared to the key-value pairs like full documents and objects and comes with complex data types.

Number of Line of Codes  

Solved: Given The Following Program Codes In C Language, 1... | Chegg.com

If you take more than 20 lines of code to write a simple CRUD operations, any advanced database should be your last choice. Because, not only an advanced DB would make coding complicated but it would even affect the database performance heavily and the overall React Native app development cost. Additionally, processing of so many code lines would slow down the application greatly.

So do not make use of a database that comes with advanced functionality if it carries the chances to lower your app’s user experience and delay the release speed.

Synching of the Offline Data

Offline Functionality Concept Icon. SaaS Argument Idea Thin Line.. Royalty Free Cliparts, Vectors, And Stock Illustration. Image 162784553.

If you are developing a low complexity application which does not offer multiple-user collaboration, you can use a simple database that would work well with a simplified synchronization functionality. These app types can sync with server whenever an internet connection is established.

With collaboration being the primal feature of an application, syncing functionality demands the database to be complex. Applications like Trello, which cannot show different versions of a document or project, however, requires a react native app development company to achieve perfect synching even when the network conditions are patchy.

Handling Data Conflicts and Concurrency

SQL Server Concurrency Control Interview Questions

The more collaboration related features you add inside your application, the more would be the possibility of data conflicts.

You should look for databases, which share the conflict-handling policies on website or the repository pages. Dig into the database documents to get aware of how they handle syncing and conflicts or look into the trade-offs that are made and the effect it would make on the application.

Memory Management

Memory management in mobile apps – CrossPlatform

Inefficient database memory handling practices can lead to app crashes.

Compaction is one of the proactive processes of memory management in which the documents or data that are not going to be of use are deleted from the memory.

The process is like the ‘garbage collection’ part of programming, which ensures there is free memory available at any given point in time.

On the basis of these five factors we have identified the local React Native database options which would be best suited for your react native application development process.

The Best React Native Databases for App Development

Realm

Realm Database: Alternate for SQLite & Core Data | Appmonks

The Realm database has been brought into existence for development of real-time and offline applications which run on both wearable and mobile devices. The database has proved to be equally beneficial when you create React Native mobile apps for iOS and Android. It is not built on ORM or on top of SQLite, so it comes with own database engine and does not rely on the key value stores.

This is one of the reasons why React native developers use Realm as one of the chosen local react native database options to handle large data or for the development of high performance applications.

While there are other databases for simple apps, the combination of Realm and React native is best suited for large sized apps.

Benefits of Realm and React Native:

  • Realm Sync – the sync services operate in the background and records, saves all the user interactions and the service requests locally.
  • Offline friendliness through Redux Offline – for those looking for a solution to implement offline-first architecture through Realm for React native apps, Redux offline can be a great option.
  • Security – It uses multiple encryption standard for every different mobile platform.

Pricing:The Realm is a local database in react native app that is completely open-source and free. The pro version, though comes with a cost. But if you purchase the platform for creating react native apps it would cost $1750 per month.

FirebaseThe Firebase Blog: Firebase expands to become a unified app platform

Firebase supports the real-time NoSQL database for the development of react native applications. It is chosen mainly for its offline data change and data synchronization practices. The reason why Firebase for Startups is such an in thing is because it is completely capable of handling the requirements of the M and C of the MVC needed for react native based applications.

Benefits of Firebase for React Native App Development 

  • Real-time syncing of data – with Firebase for React Native, the data is synced in real time for all clients, at the same time. This becomes very important for when an app goes offline unannounced because of the unavailability of internet connection.
  • Low setup efforts – Firebase offers a cross-platform API which calls for minimal setup when it is being used inside an application. Additionally, you won’t need an application server for accessing the data as it can directly be accessed through a mobile phone.
  • Offline persistence – the combination of Firebase and React Native gives the developers an ability to develop real-time apps with offline persistence capabilities. This consists of marking users’ presence online or offline and storing timestamp whenever users get disconnected.

Pricing:

Firebase is free to upto 1GB data storage. However, it does offer a $25 for 2.5 GB data storage minimal price in addition to a pay as you use package.

SQLite

SQLite - Wikipedia

It was designed to offer local storage to mobile applications. The prominence of the word Lite in the database name implies that it is a lightweight library and that it requires minimal setup. It can also be directly integrated within the mobile application for directly accessing the database.

Benefits of SQLite for React Native based Application Development 

  • ACID compliance – it is an ACID compliant database which implements SQL standards with some omissions. The architecture of the library is file-based and there are some tools that can handle all the data types with simplicity and ease.
  • Offline persistence – In order to enable the offline persistence via SQLite, developers can use a react-native-SQLite-storage plugin for managing data within application.

Pricing: 

SQLite, being in the public domain is free to use and open source. However, if you want to obtain license for copyright infringement, you would have to pay one time fees of $6000.

PouchDB

Getting Started with PouchDB. PouchDB is an open-source JavaScript… | by Karthikeyan s | Beginner's Guide to Mobile Web Development | Medium

PouchDB is an open source Javascript database that stores data in JSON format and enables developers to take advantage of using React Native in the easiest manner: by developing, reading, updating, querying, and deleting queries with a single JavaScript API. The database is compatible with MySQL, CouchDB, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB.

Benefits of PouchDB for React Native App Development

  • Because the PouchDB stays inside a browser, the need to perform queries over network is not there. This, as a whole, leads to faster queries’ execution.
  • Developers can sync data with any supported server and thus can run the applications both offline and online.

Async Storage 

React Native Async Storage. React Native Async Storage use for… | by Infinitbility | Infinitbility | Medium

Async storage is a local storage system that gives developers the capability to store data locally and persist data between the app reboots. The database comes in-built with React native so it can be used without any additional deployment.

Benefit of Async Storage for React Native Apps:

  • It comes in handy when you have to save the data which the app need to use even after the user has closed the app or the device.

Watermelon DB

Watermelon DB: Relational Database For Highly Scalable React & React Native Apps | Bypeople

Built on SQLite, it is a high-performance reactive database for React Native which comes with the potential of scaling hundreds to thousands of records without losing its speed. The database has been well optimized for building complex applications in React Native with a focus on real-world performance.

Benefits of Watermelon DB for React Native App Development:

In addition to scaling over 100 – 10000 records, Watermelon DB also supports developers to take full advantage of using react native through:

  • Offline first system
  • Static typing with Flow
  • Building apps on SQLite foundation

Vasern 

Top List of Local Databases for React Native App Development - eTatvaSoft

It is one of the most lightweight, fast, and open-source databases for app development using react native. The Vasern API is used not just for local data storage but also for cloud storage and syncing across the app’s clients. Vasern’s design and structures are inspired by various open source databases.

The Benefits of this Inspiration from Multiple Open Source Database Include:

  • It is open source
  • Developer friendly end-to-end database syncing
  • Focus on consistency and performance
  • Fast operation

BerkeleyDB 

Using BerkeleyDB

Berkeley DB is an open source, high performance backend for React Native which allows developers to handle data in multiple ways. It offers an API for multiple languages which includes iOS and Android.

It can handle data in multiple ways: a relational way like how SQLite does or through the Key/Value pair data as byte arrays and supports multiple data items for a single key.

While these are the top React native databases of the current and the speculated time there are a number of other backend tools that developers and react native app development companies use to create their application.

The answer to which is the best database tool ultimately depends on your project type. Get in touch with our consultants to discuss which react native database would best suit your project.

Must Know Skills: Backend Developer

The backend is the part of a web application that is unrevealed to the user. Unlike front-end, back-end development operations are not very easy and usually turn out to be complicated and manifold; this part is in alignment with the server. Backend operations are a lot different that are controlled by different programming languages like C, C++, Perl, and Ruby. It is a broad field that’s further subcategorized into several levels.

A backend developer usually doesn’t work alone; backend developers usually work in teams of 2 or more people. A team of backend developers contains different specialists that are responsible for their specific discipline. Some are responsible for database management, some work with caching schemes and scripting while some focus on website architecture. Behind every successful website and application, the combined effort of the whole team plays its role. A backend developer’s code bridges the communication between database and browser.

To describe the working of a backend developer in a nutshell, we can say that such a developer mainly focuses on the following:

  • Web Development Languages
  • Database and Cache
  • Server
  • API (REST & SOAP)

The essential requirement for becoming a backend developer is to have a keen knowledge of at least one server-side programming language.

What is the role of a backend developer?

Front-End Web Developer Job Description Template | Toptal®

To understand the skills required to become a backend developer, one needs to analyze what are their responsibilities. Only then we can relate their skills to their roles and responsibilities. The key responsibilities of backend developers are:

  • They work with front-end developers and provide server-side algorithms of user-facing web application elements. Backend developers code in server-side language to create logic so that web applications function correctly.
  • Other than coding and creating functional web applications, backend developers also optimize them for increasing response time and efficiency.
  • They analyze the goals and requirements, handle bugs and errors, and come up with solutions.
  • They also interact with the database for storing data and ensure that every user has access to what they search.
  • They also manage APIs that are executed across the devices.
  • They are also involved in building the architecture of the system.

Backend Developer Skills

To have efficient backend developer skills, one needs to have complete command on the subject. A good developer is aware of every new trend and invention in his domain. He urges to learn and align with all advancements coming his way.

Technology progresses every day. Many innovations are being made, and adapting to modern techniques is imperative to sustaining the game. Luckily in the development domain, a new trend might be complicated in learning, but it is focused on reducing the coding effort. Every new language aims to have minimal syntax, and it is suitable for a developer to invest some time to learn it.

The necessary technical skills required to become a backend developer are:

  • In-depth knowledge of at least one backend programming language and framework.
  • Knowledge of front-end technologies, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, so that he can communicate with the front-end team.
  • He should be capable of managing a hosting environment along with the database administration.
  • He should be capable of scaling applications to handle the load changes.
  • He should have enough knowledge of accessibility and security compliance.
  • It’s good for him to have an experience of version control, such as GIT.
  • A backend developer is not expected to have command on every programming language. That is not possible for a human to have expertise in each of them. But they are expected to be experts in their opted language.

 

More Backend Developer Skills to add on the resume

1. Web Development Languages: Back-end developers work simultaneously with front-end developers, setting server rationale to outside components of the web application. So as to execute this rationale, the backend engineer utilizes server-side scripting language. The best programming languages that you must know while talking about backend developer skills are:

  • Ruby: Ruby is a programming language that is utilized accompanied by Rails. Ruby is to Rails as PHP is to Zend, or as Python is to Django. The sheer class and finesse of the language are what attract the back-end developers towards this language and make it a must-have in your tech stack. It prioritizes conventions rather than configuration, which helps the back-end developers as they don’t have to waste their precious development time in configuring the files to start the development process.
  • Python: Curated by Guido van Rossum and rolled-out in 1991, Python is an interpreted, cutting-edge, general-purpose programming language. It reduces the need of coding to a very significant level and has high utility because of the presence of third-party modules. The ease of use and extensive libraries offer back-end developers more productivity as compared to other programming languages. Not just for building basic applications like desktop apps, Oss, Business Apps, and web frameworks, but Python is also the best fit for AI and ML-based web development.
  • PHP: PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is an open-source back-end scripting language used by developers to build web apps and sites. PHP also has a huge assortment of utilitarian modules and a couple of the modules accessible in PHP incorporate Graphics and PDF, among others. One of the greatest advantages of PHP is that it is very easy to learn and use because of its simple syntax. Anyone who is familiar with C language can easily grasp PHP without any difficulty.
  • Java: Java is an object-oriented, platform-independent, general-purpose programming language that is designed to have negligible implementation reliance. As a result of Java’s power, convenience, cross-stage capacities, and security highlights, it has become the most preferred language among developers.

2. Comprehensive Knowledge of Databases: Become familiar at stacking and recovering data from databases. Though front end developers can associate with databases and interface with them too, server-side development is right now the standard method to control advantaged and extraordinary access to that information, including storage and recovery. Start with great social style databases, and move towards chart databases as your knowledge permits.

3. Connecting to Application Programme Interface (API): Internet browsers aren’t the only entity to interact with web applications. Regularly, an organization will offer a mobile app for iOS or Android alongside its principal site. There are additionally program based applications that principally utilize JavaScript, not server-side rendered HTML (through structures like React, Vue, or Angular). To recover information for the display, these applications require an Application Programmer Interface, or API to associate with.

HTML might be helpful for designing substance in internet browsers, however, there are greatly improved configurations for information that will be utilized by different projects. The two most mainstream positions for API information are JSON, which represents JavaScript Object Notation, and XML, which represents eXtensible Markup Language.

4. Server Handling: Your site needs a database to deal with all the client and product data. A database stores site content in a structure that makes it simple to recover, arrange, alter, and store information. It runs on a remote PC called a server. There is a wide range of databases that are generally utilized, for example, MySQL, Oracle, Postgres SQL, and SQL Server. For server management you can choose any one of these and acquire an expertise on it: Docker, Kubernetes, Nginx, Node.js, New Relic etc.

5. Knowledge of Popular Frameworks: You must have knowledge of the frameworks identified with your preferred language. For example, on the off chance that you go with Java, you would be required to know Spring, Hibernate, and so on. These are well known Java-based frameworks. Additionally, on the off chance that you go for Python, you would be required to know Flask, Django or some other Python-based framework.

Estimated income of a Backend Developer

 

According to research, and taking the previous year’s figures into consideration, backend developer trends to earn up to $120,798 per year. This figure could vary based on expertise, experience, skills, and is also dependent on the company, country, and other factors. Also, it is worthwhile to note that there’s a vast difference between the pay-scales of backend developers and front-end developers. Front-end developers aren’t paid as much as backend developers. The reason is that front-end work is mostly done with the help of automated tools, while backend development requires much technical expertise.

What is the future of Backend Development?

 

As of the current market trends, there are no worthy alternatives to backend developers and backend development. So naturally, the future is very bright for such developers. In this digital age, every business is required to have an online presence, and for that, they require high-quality backend development for their websites. Although many clients are not aware of the difference between backend and front-end still, the market cannot survive without backend developers. Despite technology replacing everything with automation, backend developers have a safe future as they are required for the process of developing automated tools.

Summary

The role of backend developers is critical to web development. They are responsible for all the key roles and ensure the deployment of quality products. That is why more and more aspiring web developers are today opting for this career. Such people should have a passion for coding and possess all the required knowledge and skills to become an efficient developer. It is also necessary to have other additional skills, mentioned above, to make your mark in the market.

Evolving with BlockChain

BlockChain defines a specific type of Database. They are designed to write once and read-only database. Which means that they are designed to create only not to edit or delete. The approach ensures that the data inside is secure and can’t be stolen or changed because everyone is watching and keeping all records of what is happening within the system. These databases are simple, transparent and immutable.We can consider it as a growing journal that adds new pages time to time. Blockchain database design is effectively used to enable Bitcoin as a money ledger.BlockChain database is different from a Conventional database. They are not housed in a data structure like array and tables. Also, they do not have any CRUD operations. The approach behind these databases is to open up the whole database for the end user and the user takes the responsibility for that system including security.

What is BlockChain

DNS on Blockchain: the next evolution of domain names?

The Blockchain is a very strange thing — simultaneously the most overhyped, least understood and most disruptive technology of our time.

For example- You want to send a public message to your friend with text as “Love you”. In general, you would walk up to your friend and simply express your feelings but what if your friend is far away from you. Still you have some options like, you will write a letter, send an email, send WhatsApp or Facebook message or via a friend you’ll convey your message to your friend or maybe some other way but the fact is that in all those ways you have to rely on someone and put your trust in their hands.

There may be fact that something can go wrong in between. The mail company may lose the letter somewhere along the way, or email/WhatsApp/Facebook service might get hacked or crashed while sending your message or, your friend forgot to convey your message. The message is very common and you will not be worried if it gets hacked but what about if you want to send some confidential information to your friend that is of billion dollars.

Would you still be relaxed until your message reached your friend? The answer is NO. This time you will not send your message the way you usually send it without any tension. Here comes the very popular technology blockchain that doesn’t rely on the third person and that’s why it is secure.

Blockchain was introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 and he explained the idea in his article that changes the way we store data forever. The idea ensures that this type of storage will provide the facility in which everyone can see what is inside and make sure that everything is real, nothing is fake. If something is on the network it can’t be changed even a single bit, it stays forever.

All data shared in blockchain is compressed in blocks and once any block is added into the chain after being approved, it can’t be altered. In case if you want to change/modify something, you have to add a new block on the top of the previous block and that will notify all other participants that you have added something. It is also possible that you can go a block back to see the information stored earlier.

Let’s consider the previous example- Imagine that you had a nasty conversation with your friend and don’t want to go further with her/him and want to send a message saying that “You are not what you were before and I hate you!” through blockchain. Once this letter is approved, the letter is compressed into a block and added to the chain and all participants will get a notification that your friend is not trustworthy.

But after some days, all things sort out between both of you and now you want to send a message saying that “I still Love You” so you have to write another letter for apology purpose and when this letter gets approved and added to the blockchain, everyone will seeth the relationship changes between both of you. All the users can now see both letters, the earlier one where your friend was not trustworthy and the new one where you again have the same bonding. So what this example mean here? A blockchain is a records holder, where all data is safe and saved forever. You can read and analyze any data.

Blockchain has no central storage. Each member inside blockchain has a copy of all data. You can keep all data on your side but it is not necessary. No one can change even a comma in your data because all other members have the original copy of the data and will simply exclude the one where you changed something if you are not the owner of that data. The rule of the blockchain is that only the owner of the data can make changes.

If you want to make transactions on the blockchain, you need a wallet. A wallet is required to store and exchange bitcoin. Blockchain member gets two keys: a private and a public one. One interesting thing is that how the system knows that it’s you who is making changes? Well, the answer is with the help of these keys and asymmetric cryptography.

If a message is encrypted using a particular public key, only the owner of the paired private key will be able to decrypt the message. When you want to send a message to your friend through a blockchain, you need to broadcast a message encrypted with the private key of your wallet, only you know the private key of your wallet which is required for unlocking the wallet. As a result, your message gets encrypted and generates a digital signature on it.

Each encrypted message needs to be approved by the other members or we can say by their systems before it becomes available for the receiver party. A digital signature is used by blockchain computers to double check the source and the authenticity of the requested transaction. The digital signature is a string of text that is the combination of the transaction request and private key, therefore it cannot be used for other transactions. If you make any change in the transaction request then the digital signature will change.

Your friend can easily access the message that you want to send him/her using the receiver’s key, which is, in turn, is generated somewhere along the lines of encrypting and signing your messages/transactions.

The total number of possible Bitcoin addresses is 2¹⁶⁰ or 1461501637330902918203684832716283019655932542976. This large number protects the network from possible attacks while allowing anyone to own a wallet. Also, an attacker has to compete against the whole network to break the blockchain system which is almost impossible.

For now, it is almost impossible to hack your private key because it is a very long and complicated as shown above. So saying blockchain is the new era of storing data in a secure way will not be a wrong statement.

5 Data Security Tips for Working From outside Office

Data Privacy vs. Data Security [definitions and comparisons] – Data Privacy Manager

One of the biggest advantages of the internet is that it has enabled business users to work away from the office. With technology such as laptops and smartphones, we can work from home and when commuting and take our data with us when we go to meet clients. While this brings a range of benefits, it also creates an increased responsibility to keep that data secure. In this post, we’ll give you some tips on how to achieve that.

1. Backup regularly

How to select a data backup system - TechRepublic

Imagine that one of your employees develops a lucrative project for a client and is travelling to meet them. Imagine, too, that the only copy of the project is stored on the employee’s laptop. There are numerous weaknesses in this scenario. The laptop can break, it can get stolen or it can become one of the many that get mislaid by travellers every day. 12,000 laptops a week are left abandoned just at US airports.

The possible consequences of this are that the months of work put into the project are wasted and the lucrative contract is lost.

By backing up your data regularly, however, this problem can be completely eradicated. If the laptop is lost, you’ll still have another copy of the data to use. While backing up can be done simply by saving data to a USB drive, the best option is to use a cloud backup service. You can’t lose cloud storage like you do a pen drive and you’ll be able to access the data from any machine with an internet connection.

2. Turn unused devices off

The Fact on Whether Turning Off The Main Power of Unused Appliances Would Save Electricity - Goody Feed

Another data security loophole is that people don’t always realise that a laptop with the lid shut is still vulnerable to attack. Closing the lid simply initiates a low-power sleep mode designed to bring the machine back to life quicker than rebooting. While the hard disk powers down, the laptop’s memory continues to be active and can be accessed and copied using an external USB port. What’s perhaps worse, is that for encrypted laptops, the vulnerable memory can contain the encryption keys giving hackers access even to encrypted data.

The solution is simple, when devices are not in use, they should be shut down, not put into sleep mode.

3. Use encryption

What Is Encryption? Explanation and Types - Cisco

Encryption turns your data into an unintelligible string of characters that even the boffins at GCHQ couldn’t unscramble without an encryption key. It means that even if your raw data was hacked or stolen, no-one would be able to make sense of it.

As a safety precaution, all devices used out of the office should be protected with encryption software. Such apps can keep personal files, contacts, notes, wallets and multimedia files secure, as well as backing up your passwords, recording unauthorised login attempts and sending notifications of attempted hacks.

At the same time, those companies which store their data in the cloud should make sure that this too is encrypted, so that if a user gains access to the machine, there is another layer of protection to prevent them getting hold of the data stored online.

4. Network protection

Exploring Network Security (+8 Ways to Protect Your Network)

Another potential vulnerability is someone getting access to data via an attack on the network. Devices are particularly vulnerable when they connect to mobile hotspots with weak data security and it is here, in places like transport stations and public areas that hackers may make attempts to steal your data.

One of the first steps you should take is to ensure employee’s devices have a properly configured firewall that will block suspicious connection requests. As a company, you should ensure the firewall configuration is put in place by your own IT team, whether this is on a company device or on a personal device that an employee uses for work.

Another data security feature is the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) which will protect the users’ devices when they connect to any network away from the business premises. Though the connection is not as fast, the data will be automatically encrypted, preventing it being compromised by those seeking out victims on public networks.

5. Use cloud storage

How to Use Cloud Storage for Memory

Using cloud storage can really help boost the data security. For a start, as data is held centrally on the server, there is no need to have a separate copy of it stored on the laptop or other device. This way, if the device is lost or stolen, there is no data to steal. As data stored in the cloud can be encrypted, even if someone has access to the laptop, they will not be able to access the data without the encryption key, for which further authentication should be needed. The other benefit, of course, is that keeping data stored centrally means that should one person update a file, everyone else will have access to the latest version. When separate versions are stored across many different devices, it can be difficult to know which is the most up to date.

Conclusion

While the internet has given us better ways to work and communicate and freed us from the confines of the office, it does create risks that we need to manage effectively. Data stored on devices can be stolen by hackers accessing the hardware or from intrusion over a network. Hopefully, the tips provided here will help prevent this happening and keep your company’s devices and data secure.

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