FAQ | Documentation | Esri Developer

General

This guide is for ArcGIS OnlineArcGIS Online is a GIS mapping, analytics, data hosting, and content management software as a service (SaaS) product. It includes applications, tools, APIs, and location services for users and developers. It is subscription-based and requires an ArcGIS Online account.Learn more and ArcGIS EnterpriseArcGIS Enterprise is a GIS mapping, analytics, data hosting, and content management product that can be hosted on-premise or in a cloud infrastructure. It includes software, applications, tools, APIs, and services for users and developers.Learn more developers who want to build offline applications using ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native AppsArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps, previously known as ArcGIS Runtime SDKs, are developer products for building mapping and spatial analysis applications for native devices.Learn more and ArcGIS services. If you have an ArcGIS Location Platform accountAn ArcGIS Location Platform account, formerly known as an ArcGIS Developer account, is an identity associated with an ArcGIS Location Platform subscription.Learn more and would like to build offline applications, please contact Esri.

	ArcGIS Location Platform account	ArcGIS Online account	ArcGIS Enterprise account
Partially offline apps	¹
Fully offline apps	¹

Full supportPartial supportNo support

1. Contact Esri.

To build offline applications with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native AppsArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps, previously known as ArcGIS Runtime SDKs, are developer products for building mapping and spatial analysis applications for native devices.Learn more and ArcGIS servicesA service, also known as an ArcGIS service, is software that supports an ArcGIS REST API and provides geospatial functionality or data. A service can be hosted by Esri or in ArcGIS Enterprise.Learn more, you need an ArcGIS OnlineArcGIS Online is a GIS mapping, analytics, data hosting, and content management software as a service (SaaS) product. It includes applications, tools, APIs, and location services for users and developers. It is subscription-based and requires an ArcGIS Online account.Learn more or ArcGIS EnterpriseArcGIS Enterprise is a GIS mapping, analytics, data hosting, and content management product that can be hosted on-premise or in a cloud infrastructure. It includes software, applications, tools, APIs, and services for users and developers.Learn more account.

If you have an ArcGIS Location Platform accountAn ArcGIS Location Platform account, formerly known as an ArcGIS Developer account, is an identity associated with an ArcGIS Location Platform subscription.Learn more and would like to build offline applications, please contact Esri.

Authentication is typically used to use toolsTools, also known as developer tools, are ArcGIS software applications such as portal and ArcGIS Pro that developers can use to prepare content and data for custom applications they are building.Learn more to configure resources such as web maps for offline applications. If applications access services directly, however, you can use different types of authentication.

The following table provides an overview of the functionality available with each type of authentication:

	API key authentication	User authentication	App authentication
ArcGIS Location Services	¹	¹	¹
Data services (Item access)	²
Spatial analysis services	¹		¹
Portal service (General privileges)
Portal service (Admin privileges)

Full supportPartial supportNo support

1. Supported with ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Location Platform.
2. Supported, but not recommended due to security risks.

The cost of using ArcGIS services depends on the type of account you have:

ArcGIS Online: Uses a creditCredits are the currency used by ArcGIS Online Organization accounts to account for data storage and location service consumption. Credits are consumed for specific transactions, such as accessing location services, and types of storage, such as storing features, performing analytics, and using premium content.Learn more consumption model to access services. To learn about the cost per transaction, go to ArcGIS Online > Credits by capability.
ArcGIS Enterprise: There is no cost for accessing ArcGIS Enterprise services in your own infrastructure.

Esri's Terms of Use documents include legal guidelines for the use of Esri products, services, and data.

Some of the key documents you will find are the:

Offline apps

Partially offline apps

A partially offline app is an offline app that has partial network access. It is designed for situations where users can access the network but cannot guarantee constant connectivity. Partially offline apps are commonly used by mobile workers who work in the field without access to network. Users can still perform functionalities with the app both in offline and online states, and synchronize the changes when connectivity is restored. Learn more in Partially offline apps.

A partially offline app has partial network access, while a fully offline app has no network access at all. This lack of access can result from working behind a firewall that prohibits external networks. Partially offline apps need network connectivity to download offline mapsAn offline map is a map area and its data content downloaded from an offline-enabled web map for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more or offline dataOffline data is data that is generated and downloaded from a feature service, vector tile service, or image tile service for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more and synchronize edits. As such, offline maps and offline data are not supported in fully offline apps.

Yes, you can use mobile scene packagesA mobile scene package (MSPK) is a standalone file that contains one or more scene definitions, including the basemap layers, elevation layers, data layers, layer styles, and pop-up styles for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more created in ArcGIS ProArcGIS Pro is a professional desktop GIS application that can explore, visualize, analyze, and manage 2D and 3D data.Learn more or data filesA data file is a stand-alone file containing geographic data that can be sideloaded on to a device. It is typically used in offline applications that never connect to a network.Learn more containing 3D data as a mobile data sourceA mobile data source is a data format used to build offline apps. The formats include offline maps, offline data, mobile packages, and data files.Learn more for your partially offline app.

Web scenesA web scene is a scene stored as a JSON object that defines properties such as the basemap layer, data layers, layer styles, and pop-up styles. Its JSON structure is defined by the web scene specification.Learn more are not supported in partially offline apps.

Offline mapsAn offline map is a map area and its data content downloaded from an offline-enabled web map for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more and offline dataOffline data is data that is generated and downloaded from a feature service, vector tile service, or image tile service for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more are commonly used to build partially offline apps, since they allow data synchronization to edits made offline and online. You can also use mobile packagesA mobile package is a stand-alone Mobile Map Package (MMPK) or Mobile Scene Package (MSPK) file for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more created in ArcGIS ProArcGIS Pro is a professional desktop GIS application that can explore, visualize, analyze, and manage 2D and 3D data.Learn more or data filesA data file is a stand-alone file containing geographic data that can be sideloaded on to a device. It is typically used in offline applications that never connect to a network.Learn more, such as mobile geodatabasesA mobile geodatabase (.geodatabase) is a spatial data storage format in a single file on disk that can store, query, and manage spatial and nonspatial data. In applications built with the ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps, mobile geodatabases can be used in offline workflows when taking maps and features offline from services or in desktop-based scenarios as standalone mobile geodatabases from ArcGIS Pro.Learn more and shapefilesA shapefile is a vector data storage format that contains geometry and attribute data for geographic features. It can also include spatial and non-spatial indexes.Learn more. Learn more in Types of mobile data sources.

You cannot build a partially offline app if your application works behind a firewall. A partially offline appA partially offline app is a type of offline app built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps that is designed to work where network connectivity is unreliable.Learn more needs network access to download offline mapsAn offline map is a map area and its data content downloaded from an offline-enabled web map for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more and offline dataOffline data is data that is generated and downloaded from a feature service, vector tile service, or image tile service for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more when the app first runs. It also needs network access to synchronize changes.

In this case, you can build a fully offline appA fully offline app is a type of offline app built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps that is designed to work where network connectivity is entirely absent.Learn more that uses a mobile packageA mobile package is a stand-alone Mobile Map Package (MMPK) or Mobile Scene Package (MSPK) file for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more or data filesA data file is a stand-alone file containing geographic data that can be sideloaded on to a device. It is typically used in offline applications that never connect to a network.Learn more. These types of mobile data sourcesA mobile data source is a data format used to build offline apps. The formats include offline maps, offline data, mobile packages, and data files.Learn more do not require network access since they can be sideloaded directly onto the device or integrated into the app's project folder.

Fully offline apps

A fully offline app is an offline app that has no network access at all. This is commonly used where network access is restricted for security reasons or when working behind a firewall. Unlike partially offline apps, fully offline apps do not support data synchronization. Learn more in Fully offline apps.

Mobile packagesA mobile package is a stand-alone Mobile Map Package (MMPK) or Mobile Scene Package (MSPK) file for use in offline applications built with ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps.Learn more created in ArcGIS ProArcGIS Pro is a professional desktop GIS application that can explore, visualize, analyze, and manage 2D and 3D data.Learn more and data filesA data file is a stand-alone file containing geographic data that can be sideloaded on to a device. It is typically used in offline applications that never connect to a network.Learn more are ideal for use in fully offline apps because they do not require network connectivity to download. They can be sideloaded directly onto the device or integrated into the app's project folder.

You cannot. Web maps and feature services are not supported in fully offline apps, as they require network connectivity to download. Alternatively, you can duplicate the web map or feature layer in ArcGIS ProArcGIS Pro is a professional desktop GIS application that can explore, visualize, analyze, and manage 2D and 3D data.Learn more and export it as a mobile map package. You can then sideload this package into your fully offline app without requiring network connectivity.

Deployment

Yes, you can deploy an offline app. See Terms of use before deploying and distributing your offline apps.

Before you can use your offline app in production, you are required to apply a production license. There are four license levels available:

Lite
Basic
Standard
Advanced

The Native Maps SDK Lite production license covers most SDK capabilities and is available for free as a license string; many developers find that the Lite license provides everything their application needs. However, it is important to note that some data filesA data file is a stand-alone file containing geographic data that can be sideloaded on to a device. It is typically used in offline applications that never connect to a network.Learn more require higher license levels. Learn about the different license levels and capabilities for ArcGIS Maps SDKArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps, previously known as ArcGIS Runtime SDKs, are developer products for building mapping and spatial analysis applications for native devices.Learn more for .NET, Swift, Kotlin, and Qt.

To obtain a Native Maps SDK Lite license string, go to My Esri and log in with your ArcGIS account. You can retrieve your license string from the "ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Native Apps License Strings" card of your MyEsri dashboard's Overview page.

If you see a message that states "Your active ArcGIS Organizational account username is not enabled for esri.com websites", please contact your ArcGIS org's administrator.

Esri's Terms of Use documents include legal guidelines for the use of Esri products, services, and data. Before you deploy or distribute your applications, it is important to review these documents.

Some of the key documents you will find are the: