Couchbase is the enterprise grade, cloud to edge developer data platform leading the market in multi-purpose capabilities for building high-scale, AI-powered apps. Mobile is a core strength and strategic focus at Couchbase, far outpacing edge support offered by other databases.
Couchbase Mobile now delivers major advancements in data synchronization, developer productivity, and deployment resilience, making this an era of incredible mobile innovation for Couchbase.
New features include JavaScript support, peer-to-peer sync advancements, XDCR support, and more. Read on for details!
Why do you need a mobile database designed for the edge?
As enterprises race to create AI-powered applications to better engage and serve their customers, partners, and employees, they face an extremely important consideration. In order to guarantee success, they must meet users where they spend the majority of their time, which is overwhelmingly on mobile devices.
To reach their intended audience it is incumbent on these organizations to produce apps specifically for mobile. And because users carry their devices everywhere, going in and out of network coverage, the apps must be resilient enough to work even in internet dead-zones. The only way to do this effectively is with a database platform like Couchbase Mobile, which is designed for developing and deploying AI-powered mobile apps at the edge.
Simplify developing for the edge
A distributed AI and data processing architecture brings huge benefits in speed, resilience, and security for mobile and IoT applications, but building for the edge can be daunting. Considerations have to be made regarding data sync, privacy, latency and availability. You have to consider edge devices and infrastructure and their computing capabilities. And for AI, you have to consider integration with models, will your tech stack support them? And how can you leverage RAG and semantic search techniques at the edge without internet dependencies?
Developers creating AI-powered mobile and IoT apps need the right tools for the task. Tools need to be automated and easy to work with, and support the languages, frameworks, and devices being used. Developers need a database platform that follows modern idiomatic design patterns, that can integrate seamlessly with AI and sync data from cloud to edge to device to web. That database is Couchbase Mobile.
Choose a database that can sync anywhere and adjust on-the-fly
Mobile, IoT, and edge architectures are multi-layered and unpredictable, you need to know that your apps will be fast, available and secure even in the most complex deployments.
Distributed edge computing topologies can be vast and span many regions and locales all over the world, networks can be unreliable, and there can be any number of client devices. The benefits of edge computing are increased speed, higher availability, better privacy, and more efficient bandwidth use, all of which are all critical for AI-powered apps. By distributing the load you lessen the impact of failure should it occur anywhere within the architecture. However, consistent data processing is required from region to region as well as from cloud to edge to device. You must make sure that your data sync can react intelligently to interruptions and switch to alternatives automatically without impacting user experience.
When networks slow down or become unavailable, or when infrastructure fails, Couchbase Mobile ensures the apps continue to function at peak speed and no data is lost.
Any failure to recognize and plan for network switching and connectivity issues will jeopardize the success and effectiveness of applications at the edge.
The Couchbase AI-ready database for every deployment
Unlike other mobile databases that lack a comprehensive backend data platform, Couchbase’s mobile and edge support is a core competency and key differentiation within the broader enterprise capabilities of the Couchbase database platform.
The Couchbase database platform has the following capabilities:
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- Operational services leverage our in-memory KV store for lightning speed and distributed JSON document data store for immense scale and superior development flexibility.
- Mobile Edge services are designed to power mobile and IoT apps that work all the time, anywhere, even without the internet.
- Real-Time Analytics services provide zero-ETL operational analytics against multiple sources, and writeback capabilities to feed analytic results to operational sources for AI.
- AI Services help developers build, deploy, and trace agentic apps. Capabilities include vector embedding data and indexing at a massive billion scale, preprocessing unstructured sources, co-hosting NVIDIA LLMs and other models with your data, and even recording and tracing agent drift and hallucinations.
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Couchbase’s core capabilities natively support JSON document data storage, which is ideally suited for AI due to its ability to handle massive volumes of data in a wide variety of formats. Couchbase also supports SQL, so relational developers can adopt Couchbase without having to learn new query languages and paradigms.
The multi-purpose services of Couchbase represent data access patterns that customers no longer have to bolt together from a bunch of different vendor technologies. Instead, customers can get it all from one platform. Couchbase also offers flexible deployment. Customers can choose a self-managed solution where they install and maintain the database themselves, or they can leverage the fully hosted Couchbase Capella DBaaS and leave management and maintenance to us. Both options are available on AWS, Azure and GCP.
Couchbase Mobile
Couchbase Mobile solves challenges of connectivity issues for customers with a comprehensive unified end-to-end mobile database and sync platform built for offline-first edge and mobile app development. It includes:
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- A cloud-native database: Use Couchbase Capella, our hosted Database-as-a-Service, or install and manage Couchbase Server on-prem, or on your own public or private cloud.
- An embedded database: Couchbase Lite is the embeddable version of Couchbase for mobile and IoT apps that stores data locally and supports vector search on the device.
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Data sync from cloud to edge: A secure data sync gateway that synchronizes between client and server tiers. Choose hosted data sync with Capella App Services, or install and manage Couchbase Sync Gateway yourself.
New features in Couchbase Mobile
Couchbase Lite for JavaScript
This long anticipated major new capability – built from the ground up as a completely new SDK – allows developers to embed the Couchbase Lite database in browser-based web apps to eliminate internet dependencies. Local data processing makes web apps run faster, work when offline, operate more securely and less prone to data loss, and creates a unified app experience using App Services to synchronize web apps with Capella and other Couchbase Lite mobile applications.
Although browser applications are often built with an online-first mindset, local storage plays an important role in modern web development, and can provide many benefits including:
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- Reduced server load: Storing data locally on the client-side can offload some of the data processing and storage tasks from the server. This can help reduce the server load.
- Data loss prevention: In case of accidental browser refreshes, app crashes, or other disruptions, using local storage to save intermediate data can prevent data loss and provide a better user experience.
- Mobile browser apps: The benefits of offline-first storage that apply to native mobile apps also apply in limited form to apps that are accessed via mobile browser. If a mobile device goes offline, users can still interact with the browser app.
- Unified web/mobile experience: Most enterprise apps have both a mobile version and a web version. Organizations can now deliver a unified UX and authentication model that uses the same queries, and same data infrastructure, making for a better overall experience through streamlined development.
Couchbase Lite for JavaScript is ideally suited for development of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), where the goal is to provide a native app experience in the browser. Data persistence will play a key role in delivering a consistent, speedy and resilient app experience.
Use cases for Couchbase Lite JavaScript include:
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- Field service apps: Workers can use a web app to access customer data and update job status on-site without the internet. The data is synced back to the server once back online.
- Real time displays: Solutions that continuously update data, such as live dashboards or flight arrival boards that require low-latency and instant synchronization.
- Content and note-taking apps: Note-taking tools and collaborative editors use an embedded database to edit and save locally, then sync to the server when connectivity is restored.
- Multi-device apps: Provide a unified UX for apps where users can switch from web to mobile and back, with data automatically replicated between the devices.
- Learn more about Couchbase Lite for JavaScript.
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Couchbase Lite peer-to-peer sync advancements
Couchbase Lite peer-to-peer data sync allows teams to collaborate in real-time by sharing data between devices in local proximity without the need for internet connectivity. Couchbase Lite embedded clients leverage IP-based transport such as local wifi to share data between local peers using a websockets-based protocol. Couchbase Lite peer-to-peer data sync is ideal for pop-up event apps, mobile health clinic apps, and multi-player mobile games.
This longstanding Couchbase Mobile feature now includes out-of-the-box device auto-discovery, mesh support that adjusts as users enter or leave the network, and coming soon, Bluetooth support and network auto-switching capabilities for uninterrupted synchronization.
These powerful new peer-to-peer sync capabilities put Couchbase Mobile well ahead of any competitive mobile data sync offering, especially when combined with the broader capabilities of the Couchbase data platform.
Use cases for Couchbase Lite peer-to-peer sync include:
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- Oil & Gas: Field teams can sync data directly between devices, without the internet, for better collaboration and faster awareness in emergencies.
- Head-to-head mobile gaming: Players exchange game state updates instantly over local networks. Ideally suited for turn-based games like trivia, Tic Tac Toe, or tactical battles.
- Retail and restaurants: Front counter kiosks, drive-thru stations and POS systems all share data in real time, for fast and reliable operations in multi-device, low-connectivity environments.
- Industrial manufacturing: Enable collaboration between machines, operators, and supervisors. Multiple workers can update information without the need for internet
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The latest features make it easier than ever for developers to implement peer-to-peer sync in iOS and Android applications, reducing lines of peer-to-peer sync implementation code from dozens to around five as compared to previous versions of Couchbase Lite.
XDCR / Couchbase Mobile multi-cluster resilience
Cross Data Center Replication (XDCR) is a hallmark feature of Couchbase Enterprise and Capella, built for replicating data across global datacenters with just a few mouseclicks – something really tough for other cloud databases. Couchbase Mobile now supports XDCR seamlessly, allowing active-active DR configuration for Cappella App Services/Sync Gateway clusters.
This critical new capability brings multi-region resilience, zero-downtime disaster recovery, seamless failover with active standby, and the ability for mobile users to seamlessly migrate between clusters.
Mobile Eventing
Couchbase Eventing is a longstanding Couchbase feature that gives developers the ability to transform data using scripting when something happens within the data, like an update, deletion, or new added field.
Eventing support allows Couchbase Mobile developers to write custom functions for transforming data as it is synced to and from the server, maximizing the flexibility to morph and decorate data based on data events.
Eventing support in Couchbase Mobile can be used to do things like redact private data or trigger notifications, and it can also be used to manipulate data for AI. For example, if a developer wanted to encode data with vectors from a specific model for semantic search on a mobile device – which may not have access to the model – Eventing functions can call the model in the server tier to vector encode the data when it arrives and then sync it to the mobile device where the vectors are indexed for on device semantic search.
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- Learn more about Couchbase Mobile support for Eventing.
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Couchbase Edge Server
Launched earlier this year, Couchbase Edge Server is the lightweight database server designed to power apps in internet-dead zones on resource-constrained hardware too small or under-powered to run a full blown multi-node database server cluster. Edge Servers small footprint and minimal resource requirements make it ideally suited for apps in isolated environments such as planes, restaurants, retail stores and warehouses – where infrastructure and IT staff are minimal. It offers a simple REST API data access model for web apps, and it can natively sync data downstream to Couchbase Lite clients, as well as upstream to Capella in the cloud.
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- Learn more about Couchbase Edge Server.
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Competitive alternatives can’t measure up
Competitive mobile database offerings fall into two categories, neither of which bring anywhere near as comprehensive edge and mobile support as Couchbase Mobile:
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- Cloud-only database vendors: These solutions require reliable internet connectivity for effective operation – a challenge for mobile and edge apps.
- Mobile-only database vendors: These solutions provide an embedded database for offline-apps, but do not offer an enterprise-class cloud server backend, meaning integration with a cloud database is required for distributed mobile apps.
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Choosing one of these alternatives will only require an integration with the other to achieve full cloud-to-edge coverage, leading to development complexity and maintenance headaches. Instead choose a solution that is already unified end-to-end.
Try it yourself
Our development team has created a reference application to showcase the latest Couchbase Mobile features. See for yourself how to sync data between iOS, Android, and web apps using Couchbase Mobile with App Services the cloud. You can get the reference app source code on GitHub.
With the latest capabilities, Couchbase builds on over a decade of mobile database innovations to affirm our place as a market leader in mobile sync and edge AI.
Our ongoing commitment is to help customers meet any speed, scale and availability requirement necessary for their most mission critical applications by offering the most comprehensive mobile and edge support in the industry, running on the most resilient, robust database platform for AI.
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- Watch the launch video
- Register for the launch webcast happening Nov 18
- Read the press release
- Download Couchbase Lite
- Sign up for the Capella App Services free tier
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