Mobile Backend Architecture Best Practice

Introduction

Mobile backends aren’t just scaled-down web backends. They’re fundamentally different beasts that need to handle intermittent connectivity, battery constraints, and millions of devices with varying capabilities hitting your servers simultaneously.

The Invisible Synchronization Problem

Here’s what most articles won’t tell you: Instagram’s feed doesn’t actually load in real-time when you open the app. Their backend pre-computes and stages your feed during idle moments, then the mobile app syncs a compressed payload when you reconnect. This “anticipatory staging” pattern reduces actual API calls by 70% and makes the app feel instantaneous.

The critical insight? Mobile backends must be designed around three realities: unpredictable connectivity, limited device resources, and aggressive OS power management that can kill background processes without warning.