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I want to build a mobile web app with transparent offline and sync support for collaborative persistent data. I am considering using Google Drive Realtime API for the backend. How well is offline and sync supported by the API? Does it just work "automagically" from the included API scripts, or should I use some "plugin"? I have searched the documentation without luck.

What I mean by offline and sync support is that, when offline, it should be possible to 

- edit the latest synced version of a document/object previously retrieved from the server
- create new documents/objects
- store all documents/objects locally

As soon as the app goes online again, all modifications and new docs/objects stored locally should be "merged" or "synced" with the server versions.

Per Quested Aronsson
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1 Answers1

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There is no explicit offline support. The API will deal well with flaky internet connections, but you can't load or create entirely offline.

I'm not sure what you mean by sync support, but if you have an internet connection it will automatically sync changes from collaborators and persist them on the server.

Cheryl Simon
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  • I am not sure back then 2014 Realtime(RT) API, but now actually, it has offline like functionality. After user load wep app, turn device to no internet connection mode, still can change RT object. When device connect internet again, RT API will try to bind(sync) local object to RT server. But need non-expired token. Otherwise, error will be everywhere in console. – John Jun 30 '17 at 10:54