Is an intermediate server for communication between Cloudant server and mobile device advisable?

Question

I am new to servers and online databases, so please bear with me.

I have a question regarding database server communication on mobile devices as follows:

I am currently developing a game application on iOS. I have set up a non-SQL database on Cloudant and I would like to access that data on my iOS device. I have to update multiple database entries each time I complete a round, and I also need to read multiple entries on my database to refresh the leaderboard. I have tried to access multiple entries on Cloudant individually via device before, but most of them returned as timeout.

Thus, right now I have written several PHP scripts on my application server so that my device only needs to access the script once, and do multiple updates on my database or filter through the data I require from Cloudant. However, this means I need an additional server, meaning higher costs. I feel there should be a better or more elegant solution out there, and thus I would like to ask for help from everybody out here. Is it better to do all the updates directly from the device, or to enlist the help of a 3rd party?

Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

For security reasons alone it is necessary to use a server in front of the cloudant database. I assume you don't want every user of your app to be able to access the whole database. Also, the reasons you gave seem valid to me. It's generally a good idea to reduce the number and size of requests for a mobile application. Also, this might allow you to do some caching in the PHP server, ultimately reducing your costs.