Saving Data on Android

Real/me Database
Many apps need a way to store and share data from the server. When building your 
own backend, there are a few things that you need to manage, such as setting up and 
maintaining the database, real-time data synchronization and offline support. This 
can be tedious and time-consuming.
Firebase 
Realtime Database
 does it all for you, including storing and syncing data 
in real time. This allows users to access the data from any device.
Data is stored on the cloud, and whenever data is updated, all relevant devices get 
notified simultaneously within milliseconds.
Realtime Database is also optimized for offline use. It uses a local cache to store 
changes when the user loses network connection and when it comes back online 
local data gets automatically synchronized.
Realtime Database also takes care of security. You can use security rules to specify 
who has access to various pieces of data. Security rules are securely stored on the 
server.
Cloud Firestore
Cloud Firestore, like Realtime Database, is also used for saving the data to the cloud. 
It comes with the same feature set as Realtime Database, letting you store data in 
the cloud and sync data among different devices or share it with other users.
Cloud Firestore comes with client libraries, full offline mode support, a 
comprehensive set of security rules that help manage access to the data and a data 
browsing tool. It allows you to structure your data in a way that makes sense to you. 
It also automatically fetches changes from the server as they happen, or if you prefer, 
you can fetch them manually.
Saving Data on Android
Chapter 11: Firebase Overview
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Cloud Firestore also integrates with other Firebase products like Authentication. 
You’ll learn the differences between Realtime Database and Cloud Firestore as you 
progress through this book.
Cloud Storage
When it comes to storing and sharing pictures and similar files, Cloud Storage is 
crucial. Cloud Storage lets you upload user files to the cloud so they can be shared 
with others. If you want to share those files with specific users, you can leverage 
Firebase Authentication for that.
All network transfers are performed through a secure connection. If the connection 
breaks during network transfer, the transfer is paused and resumed once the network 
connection comes back online. This makes Cloud Storage ideal for large files or slow 
and unreliable network connections.
Other products
Firebase also offers other products for developing your app that aren’t covered in 
this book. These include ML Kit, Cloud Functions and Hosting. You can learn more 
about them by reading the official Firebase page at 
https://firebase.google.com/
products/
.