Building Offline-First Flutter Apps with Strapi

[Claradev32]

What is your article idea?

This comprehensive guide will teach you how to build robust, offline-capable Flutter mobile apps using Strapi as the backend, focusing on seamless data synchronization and media optimization strategies. You'll learn techniques for caching data locally, synchronizing it with the Strapi backend when online, handling conflicts during synchronization, and providing a smooth user experience throughout online-offline transitions. Also, you'll explore optimizing images and videos for efficient mobile delivery, including compression, responsive images, lazy loading, and adaptive bitrate streaming. The guide will also cover integrating implementing secure authentication and authorization, and following best practices for building high-performance, offline-first Flutter apps that deliver exceptional user experiences, even in areas with poor or no internet connectivity.

What are the objectives of your article?

• Introduction

  • Overview of offline-first mobile app development
  • Benefits of offline-first apps
  • Challenges of building offline-first apps (data synchronization, media optimization)

• Setting up the Development Environment

  • Installing Flutter and configuring the development environment
  • Setting up a new Flutter project
  • Installing and configuring Strapi

• Offline Data Synchronization

  • Implementing a local database
  • Fetching data from Strapi and caching it locally
  • Handling CRUD operations (create, read, update, delete) in offline mode
  • Synchronizing local data with the Strapi backend when online
  • Handling conflicts and data merging during synchronization
  • Implementing optimistic updates and rollbacks

• Media Optimization for Mobile

  • Uploading media files (images, videos) to Strapi's Media Library
  • Optimizing images for mobile delivery (compression, responsive images, lazy loading)
  • Optimizing video delivery
  • Caching media files locally for offline access
  • Handling updates and synchronization of media files

• Building the Flutter UI

  • Designing the app's user interface
  • Displaying data from the local database
  • Handling user interactions and offline CRUD operations
  • Implementing media rendering and optimization techniques

• Synchronization and Conflict Resolution

  • Detecting and handling network connectivity changes
  • Implementing background synchronization strategies
  • Resolving conflicts during data synchronization
  • Handling media file synchronization and updates

• Authentication and Authorization

  • Implementing user authentication with Strapi
  • Handling JWT tokens and refreshing access tokens
  • Role-based access control and permissions management
  • Securing data synchronization and media access

• Conclusion

  • Recap of key concepts and techniques
  • Resources for further learning

What is your expertise as a developer or writer?

Advance

What type of post is this?

Tutorial

Terms & Conditions

• [X] I have read the Write for the Community program guidelines.

[Claradev32]

Hi @Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku I wish to write on this topic

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32 ,

This looks interesting. Will you be willing to give more focus on the "offline-first" aspect of this tutorial and add crosslinks to blog posts where necessary?

This is so that we have a detailed tutorial on building an offline-first app. Please let me know if you will do this.

[Claradev32]

Yes, I can. Also, are there some sections in my outline that you don't need for this tutorial?

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

They are needed, but whereby we have an already existing blog post for a particular aspect of your draft, you can add a cross-link to the blog post.

The reason I asked is because sometimes we don't get a draft that matches the original article idea. Please let me know if you would like to continue or you have any other questions.

[Claradev32]

I would like to continue?

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Please proceed. Thank you!

[Claradev32]

Hi @Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku Here is the first draft: https://hackmd.io/88yq1mmIRaCWBRkAlCwGOg

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32 ,

Your contributions are amazing. Thank you! I will add this to the review backlog.

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32 ,

It skipped my mind. Please provide a GitHub repo to the complete code. And please always ensure to provide a GitHub repo for every article that involves a working app. Thanks

[Claradev32]

Hi @Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku I have added the GitHub repo to the complete code.

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32 , thank you!

[Claradev32]

Hi @Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku Any update on this draft?

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32, thanks for your patience and contribution. When it is time to publish your article, we will publish it. Thank you.

[Claradev32]

Hi @Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku Any update on this draft? Is there something I need do to help move things forward?

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32 ,

Thanks for your patience. At the moment, we are prioritizing requested contents for publication. When it is time to publish yours, I will definitely publish it.

Meanwhile, I ran your codes at some point in time, but was throwing some errors. Please make sure your codes are running.

Thanks for your contribution!

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32 ,

Thanks for your contribution to the "Write for the Community" program. Please I left some reviews on your draft under the "General Review From Theodore" section. Please incorporate them. Thank you!

[Claradev32]

Hi @Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku I have incorporated your reviews.

Thanks

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32,

Thank you!

One more thing. If I shut down the Strapi server and add a todo, it won't be displayed.

But once I start up my Strapi server and refresh the app, it synchronizes, and the todo that was not displayed previously will then be displayed.

Is this the way it should work? It should display an added todo even when my backend is disconnected, right? And then synchronizes when the server starts running.

[Claradev32]

Hi @Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku I have fixed that issue

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32 ,

I hope you are doing great! Thank you for your contribution!

I have rerun your app one more time. Here are some current issues:

• If I add a new item offline and then close and reopen the app, it will show a duplicate of an item(s) I created while online.
• The items I added offline are not stored inside Strapi even after restarting my Strapi backend. Do you have any idea why this happens? I guess you are not saving them to the Strapi backend.

Please ensure your code runs as expected. Publishing a blog post for the day or constantly reviewing an author's draft is delayed for such reasons. Let me know if you need any help or have any questions.

[Claradev32]

Hi,

• I have fixed that.
• You can't have an item you added offline in your Strapi backend because it was added while you were offline(the Strapi server is inaccessible at this point.). The background fetch runs every 15 minutes to check if the Strapi server is back online and then syncs the data stored in your device's local database with your Strapi backend.

@Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku

[Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku]

Hi @Claradev32 ,

Note that I am only running the one on Github. Your app still does not work as expected. It doesn't sync even after 15 minutes. And the duplicate error still persists.

[Claradev32]

@Theodore-Kelechukwu-Onyejiaku Yes, the code just pushed successfully now. You can pull the changes.