Why is device sync being deprecated?

[dlorddd]

Hi there,
I recently implemented realm and device sync in one of our products and find it to be working quite well. Seeing the deprecation mail a week after successful migration, I was a bit shocked. I started looking for alternatives and noted that there kind of are none. I am using Unity and synchronise data for multiple users in a local first fashion. Do you have - after deprecating this product - any advice on what to use instead? Should I opt out of MongoDB altogether?

[bdach]

The deprecation notice in README.md is in itself confusing, no doubt moreso due to the layers of branding involved.

We announced the deprecation of Atlas Device Sync + Realm SDKs in September 2024.
For a version of realm-dotnet without sync features, install version 20 or see the "community" branch.

From https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/device-sdks/deprecation/:

The Atlas Device SDKs are made up of two parts: the on-device database and Atlas Device Sync. The on-device database will continue to exist as an open source project.

So... if our project is using the offline parts of realm only and not sync, then is that what will "continue to exist"? Are there any maintainers lined up for the open source project or is it a giant unknown if realm will continue to be maintained going forward?

[papafe]

You are correct, it the "old Realm SDK" that will continue to be open source here on GitHub, but there is no plan to actively maintain it.

[bdach]

Disappointing news, but thanks for letting us know at least.

[peppy]

@papafe does this also apply to realm-core development? for instance, right now the latest realm version is unusable on android devices as it causes a hard crash.

[charlesroddie]

A bit more info from another thread:

realm/realm-dart#1804 (comment)
We're addressing production-impacting bugs reported via the support portal... Bugs reported on Github or ones that have workarounds will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis during our sync up meetings, but we expect not to work on the majority of those and instead rely on the community to resolve them.

Do you think that, for offline-only use, it's ok to update to 20.0.0 now? I assume that any community updates would continue the 20.0.0 line of releases? Don't want to get into a dead-end where I end up with unupdatable .realm files.

[papafe]

Hi @dlorddd,

You can take a look at this page about alternative to solution to Device Sync.