Bi-directional Offline-First Data Sync with MongoDB and ObjectBox

In today’s fast-paced, decentralized world valuable data is generated by everything, everywhere, and all at once. To harness the vast opportunities offered by this data for data-driven organizations and AI applications, you need to be able to access the data and seamlessly distribute it to when and where it’s needed.

The key to achieving this lies in efficient, offline-first on-device data storage, reliable bi-directional data sync, and a scalable data management backend in the cloud. In other words, you need the infrastructure to manage data flows bi-directionally to tap into fresh data throughout your organization, processes, and applications at the right time.

Together, MongoDB and ObjectBox provide developers with a robust solution to empower seamless workload and data flows on the edge and from the edge to the cloud. ObjectBox seamlessly syncs data bi-directionally across devices even without Internet and syncs back to the cloud and MongoDB when connected. With ObjectBox devices stay in sync also in environments with intermittent connectivity, high latency, or flaky networks. Capture and unlock the value of all your data, anytime, anywhere, without relying on a constant Internet connection, with MongoDB + ObjectBox.

Seamless Offline-First Data Sync for Edge Devices

Maintaining service continuity is essential, even when devices are offline. Your customers, users, operations, and employees need to be able to rely on essential data at all times. That’s where ObjectBox comes in. It comprises of two key components: the ObjectBox Database and ObjectBox Data Sync.

The ObjectBox Database is a lightweight, on-device solution that is highly resource-efficient and fast on restricted hardware like mobile, IoT, and embedded devices, and even in the cloud. 

ObjectBox Data Sync enables seamless bi-directional data synchronization between devices. By handling only incremental changes in a compressed binary format, ObjectBox Sync ensures minimal data transfer, automatic conflict resolution, and a seamless user experience even in fluctuating network conditions. This approach effectively simplifies the development process by offering complex sync logic via easy native-language APIs, allowing developers to focus on core app functionality.

Once a connection is available, ObjectBox Data Sync instantly synchronizes changes with MongoDB, providing real-time, bi-directional data sync between edge devices and MongoDB’s robust cloud backend.

The Benefits of Offline-First and Real-Time Data Sync with MongoDB and ObjectBox:

• Resource-efficiency & Highspeed: ObjectBox excels at consuming minimal computational resources (CPU, power, memory, …) while delivering data persistence speed that is typically on-par with in-memory caches for read operations.
• Offline-First Operation: Ensure continuous app performance, even with no internet connection. ObjectBox stores and syncs data bi-directionally on the edge and additionally with MongoDB once connected.
• Real-Time Data Sync: Get reliable, bi-directional data synchronization across devices and MongoDB, enabling real-time updates and data consistency.
• Scalable Edge: Easily handle 100k operations / second on a single device. Host the Sync server on any edge device (like a phone) and easily handle 3M clients with a three-node cluster.  
• Scalable Cloud Backend: With MongoDB, businesses can scale their applications to handle growing data and performance demands, seamlessly syncing data between millions of devices and the cloud.

Flexible Setup Scenarios: Tailor Data Sync to Your Needs

ObjectBox and MongoDB offer flexible setup scenarios to meet different application needs. The two main setup options are the central sync and the edge sync setup.

The Central Sync Setup syncs data between edge devices and MongoDB in the cloud, providing centralized data management while retaining offline-first functionality. The ObjectBox Sync Server runs in the cloud or on-premise.

The Edge Sync Setup allows devices to operate and sync data efficiently offline between ObjectBox instances within an edge, e.g. within one location, or within a car. When reconnected, changes are synchronized back to MongoDB making it ideal for environments with intermittent connectivity or distributed devices that need to function independently while syncing back to the cloud when possible.

This structure offers a flexible approach to integrating edge and cloud systems, empowering organizations to choose the setup that best fits their specific use case. More details.

Use Cases for MongoDB + ObjectBox :

1. Data-Driven Organizations: In a data-driven organization, every decision relies on access to relevant, up-to-date data. ObjectBox enables real-time data collection and synchronization from edge devices, ensuring access to critical data, even when devices are intermittently connected. This streamlines operations, improves decision-making, and enhances analysis across distributed teams and IoT systems. With MongoDB’s scalable cloud infrastructure, decentralized data integrates seamlessly with the cloud backend for efficient management.
   
2. Point-of-Sale (PoS) & Retail Edge Computing: A seamless customer experience and the ability to keep selling and never lose a transaction, even during internet outages, are essential for PoS systems / in retail. ObjectBox enables offline-first data storage and syncing for PoS systems, allowing transactions to be processed locally, even without internet connectivity. When connectivity returns, ObjectBox syncs transaction data back to MongoDB in real time, ensuring data consistency across multiple locations. Retailers can then leverage MongoDB’s analytics to gain insights into customer behavior and optimize inventory management.
   
3. Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) & Connected Cars: Modern vehicles generate vast amounts of data from sensors and onboard systems. ObjectBox enables efficient on-device storage and processing, providing real-time access to data for navigation, diagnostics, and infotainment systems. ObjectBox Data Sync ensures that local data is synced back to MongoDB when connectivity is available, supporting centralized analytics, fleet management, and predictive maintenance, optimizing performance and safety while enhancing the user experience.
   
4. Manufacturing & Smart Shopfloor Apps: In smart factories, machines and sensors continuously generate data that must be analyzed and processed in real time. ObjectBox enables local data storage and fast data sync on-premise without the necessity for an Internet connection, ensuring that critical systems that are not connected to the Internet can run smoothly on-site. With a connected instance, ObjectBox takes care of synchronizing this data with the cloud and MongoDB for further analysis and central dashboards.
   
5. AI-Applications with On-device Vector Search: ObjectBox is the first and only on-device vector database, empowering developers to run AI locally on mobile, IoT, embedded, and other commodity devices (Edge AI). In combination with a Small Language Model (SLM), this allows developers to build local AI applications (e.g. RAG, genAI) that run directly on the device—without needing a cloud connection. By syncing with MongoDB, businesses can combine the power of on-device AI with centralized cloud data for even greater insights and performance. This is especially beneficial in scenarios requiring real-time decision-making, such as personalized customer experiences and predictive maintenance.

In today’s data-driven world, a data-first strategy requires seamless integration between edge and cloud data management. The combination of MongoDB and ObjectBox unlocks the full potential of your data. MongoDB’s powerful cloud platform, together with ObjectBox’s efficient on-device database and offline-first capabilities, is ideal for capturing the value of your data from anywhere, including distributed edge devices where valuable data is generated all the time. This partnership empowers businesses to seamlessly handle decentralized data, enabling fast and reliable operations at the edge while syncing back to the cloud for centralized management. Whether on IoT devices, mobile, embedded systems, or commodity hardware, ObjectBox and MongoDB ensure optimal performance everywhere. From remote areas to bad networks, our joint solution keeps data flowing reliably between the edge and the MongoDB backend, even when connectivity or nodes are lost.