Overview
The current built-in synchronization (Sync to Device) process in Mendix—especially for native mobile apps and PWAs—is often slow and opaque, leading to poor user experience and performance bottlenecks. Developers have little control over what data is synced, how much, and when.
Problems
- Sync fetches entire data sets, even when no changes occurred.
- No delta sync or smart detection of what has changed.
- No visibility into what’s being synced, sync progress, or object count.
- Sync blocks the UI, resulting in long loading times.
- Debugging slow sync issues is difficult without tooling or metrics.
Proposal
Introduce advanced synchronization control and performance enhancements:
Smart/Differential Sync
- Sync only new, modified, or deleted objects.
- Use lastUpdated timestamps or object versioning.
- Optional: sync based on user role or context.
Granular Entity-Level Sync Strategy
Define per-entity sync behavior in Studio Pro:
- Sync on login only
- Sync on user action
- Sync periodically or in background
Sync Progress Indicator
Built-in widget showing:
- Sync status (e.g., "Fetching Orders...")
- Percentage complete
- Estimated time remaining
Background Sync Option
- Run sync in the background after app load or on idle time.
- Improve perceived performance and allow users to interact with the app sooner.
Developer Sync Debug Mode
- Preview what will be synced before execution.
- Include sync logs, object counts, and durations.
Benefits
- Speeds up initial and recurring syncs.
- Greatly improves UX in offline-first, data-heavy, or mobile use cases.
- Brings transparency and developer control to a critical part of native and PWA workflows.
- Reduces need for error-prone custom sync logic.
Related References
- Manual workarounds like Incremental Synchronization with changedDate are documented:docs.mendix.com > Incremental Synchronization: https://docs.mendix.com/refguide10/mobile/best-practices/incremental-synchronization/
- Developers have raised similar pain points in the community:
Slow Native App Sync - Mendix Forum Discussion : https://community.mendix.com/link/space/mobile/questions/109985
Optimize Offline Sync - Forum Thread:https://community.mendix.com/link/space/mobile/questions/126134
These prove the need is well known, but this proposal goes beyond workarounds to request built-in Studio Pro support.