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In the past, I have built both a large enterprise-grade mail/calendar/contacts app which interfaces with Exchange, as well as a chat app: https://www.checkpoin

In the past, I have built both a large enterprise-grade mail/calendar/contacts app which interfaces with Exchange, as well as a chat app: https://www.checkpoint.com/products/capsule-workspace/#overview https://www.checkpoint.com/products/capsule-workspace/#overv... https://itunes.apple.com/il/app/check-point-capsule-workspace/id522091441?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/il/app/check-point-capsule-workspac... RN list views are terrible, as all the data is held in memory. For a chat or a mail apps, that's catastrophic. "Paging on the server" is not a solution; users want all their data on the device. In my previous comment, I actually meant a different scenario than displaying a list. Take any proper mail client or a chat app; the first thing they do once a user logs in is start preloading previous data that can be found in cloud / on the server. Depending on the amount of data available, that is a very serious undertaking in and of itself, doing it efficiently enough in the background while updating the UI where needed upon insertion. This is just not possible in a single-threaded JavaScript. Your mindset of only holding a small subset of data on the mobile is erroneous and is empirically not what users want; it's a web mentality and has no place in any app development but web. We went with this approach, albeit for security reasons. The result was the vast majority of users were unhappy. Users wanted a full blown Outlook in their mobile, and there was no reason not to give it to them.

doublerebel 9y ago
I don't see how any of this is a limitation of React Native and not a result of poor app architecture. If a list is too big to fit in RAM, but not too big for the device, page it from the local SQlite DB. All kinds of web and mobile apps asynchronously fetch remote data while keeping a responsive UI. There are also service workers and other ways to prioritize UI. The vast majority of popular chat and email apps keep at least some of the data on the server by default -- Gmail, K9 mail, Outlook itself -- so I don't see where there is proof that users want something different.
- martinald 9y ago
  The problem is paging the local SQlite DB requires you to use the main UI thread without causing nasty bugs. The main problem is large redux objects, which you're right - needs major refactoring. It's a pain.

doublerebel 9y ago

I don't see how any of this is a limitation of React Native and not a result of poor app architecture. If a list is too big to fit in RAM, but not too big for the device, page it from the local SQlite DB. All kinds of web and mobile apps asynchronously fetch remote data while keeping a responsive UI. There are also service workers and other ways to prioritize UI. The vast majority of popular chat and email apps keep at least some of the data on the server by default -- Gmail, K9 mail, Outlook itself -- so I don't see where there is proof that users want something different.

martinald 9y ago
The problem is paging the local SQlite DB requires you to use the main UI thread without causing nasty bugs. The main problem is large redux objects, which you're right - needs major refactoring. It's a pain.