Keeping Firebase sync status without persisting information

Question

I have an app that requires full DB access while offline, to handle that I have used a local DB to hold information, which gives me a larger cache size and better querying capabilities than the provided local cache from firebase.

while I can use Firebase to keep that data synced this requires me to either:

• Use Firebase offline cache just for synchronization sake, doubling the stored information, it also exposes the information in a plain file which was my first issue with using Firebase directly.
• Re download the whole database on startup just to keep the listeners for the session.

I know there is no way to manually update the local Firebase cache from outside and would very much like to avoid manually timestamping the whole db as it defeats the goal of using firebase.

Would it be possible to persist the sync status without the actual data? What I would like is to retain the timestamp of my last update and only receive updates since that time without actually having the info on my local cache.

PS: Using Firestore is not an option as data is constantly being modified by users (likes,favorites, etc) which need constant propagation, making firestore extremely expensive for this kind of app.

Answer 1

firebaser here

There is no API for the Firebase Realtime Database that communicates the synchronization status. At this stage it is unlikely that such an API will be added, although you can always weigh in and file a feature request.