Windsurf
realtime
User Presence Showing Wrong Online/Offline Status in Windsurf App
The user presence system in your Windsurf-generated app shows incorrect online/offline status. Users who closed the app hours ago still appear as online, users who are actively using the app show as offline, or presence status flickers between online and offline rapidly.
Presence tracking is crucial for chat apps, collaborative tools, and social features. When it's unreliable, users send messages to people who aren't there, miss that collaborators are available, or lose trust in the application's real-time features.
The issue often manifests differently across browsers and devices — a user may appear online in their own browser but offline to everyone else, or vice versa. Mobile users are particularly affected because their connections are frequently interrupted.
Error Messages You Might See
User shows online but is unreachable
Presence flickers between online and offline
last_seen: 3 hours ago but status: online
Offline event received after new online event
Multiple presence entries for same user
Common Causes
- No heartbeat mechanism — Presence is set to online on connect and offline on disconnect, but disconnection events are unreliable and can be missed
- Stale presence data — The presence status is stored in the database but never expires, so users who disconnect abnormally stay online forever
- Tab/window handling — Opening multiple tabs creates multiple connections, and closing one tab sets the user offline even though other tabs are open
- Network interruption not detected — Mobile connections drop frequently but the server doesn't detect the disconnection for minutes due to TCP keepalive delays
- Race conditions on connect/disconnect — When a user reconnects quickly, the offline event from the old connection arrives after the online event from the new connection
How to Fix It
- Implement heartbeat-based presence — Send a heartbeat from the client every 15-30 seconds. On the server, mark users as offline if no heartbeat is received for 2x the interval
- Use Redis with TTL for presence — Store presence in Redis with a 60-second TTL. Each heartbeat refreshes the TTL. When the TTL expires, the user is automatically offline
- Handle multiple tabs/windows — Track connection count per user. Only set offline when the count reaches zero. Increment on connect, decrement on disconnect
- Add last_seen timestamp — Instead of binary online/offline, store a last_seen timestamp and consider users online if seen within the last 60 seconds
- Debounce status changes — When a user goes offline, wait 5-10 seconds before broadcasting the offline status. If they reconnect in that window, cancel the offline broadcast
- Broadcast presence updates efficiently — Use Socket.io rooms or pub/sub to only notify users who are viewing the presence indicator, not all connected users
Real developers can help you.
Milan Surelia
Milan Surelia is a Mobile App Developer with 5+ years of experience crafting scalable, cross-platform apps at 7Span and Meticha. At 7Span, he engineers feature-rich Flutter apps with smooth performance and modern UI. As the Co-Founder of Meticha, he builds open-source tools and developer-focused products that solve real-world problems.
Expertise:
💡 Developing cross-platform apps using Flutter, Dart, and Jetpack Compose for Android, iOS, and Web.
🖋️ Sharing insights through technical writing, blogging, and open-source contributions.
🤝 Collaborating closely with designers, PMs, and developers to build seamless mobile experiences.
Notable Achievements:
🎯 Revamped the Vepaar app into Vepaar Store & CRM with a 2x performance boost and smoother UX.
🚀 Launched Compose101 — a Jetpack Compose starter kit to speed up Android development.
🌟 Open source contributions on Github & StackOverflow for Flutter & Dart
🎖️ Worked on improving app performance and user experience with smart solutions.
Milan is always happy to connect, work on new ideas, and explore the latest in technology.
Tejas Chokhawala
Full-stack engineer with 5 years experience building production web apps using React, Next.js and TypeScript.
Focused on performance, clean architecture and shipping fast.
Experienced with Supabase/Postgres backends, Stripe billing, and building AI-assisted developer tools.
Jared Hasson
Full time lead founding dev at a cyber security saas startup, with 10 yoe and a bachelor's in CS. Building & debugging software products is what I've spent my time on for forever
Pratik
SWE with 15+ years of experience building and maintaining web apps and extensive BE infrastructure
Omar Faruk
As a Product Engineer at Klasio, I contributed to end-to-end product development, focusing on scalability, performance, and user experience.
My work spanned building and refining core features, developing dynamic website templates, integrating secure and reliable payment gateways, and optimizing the overall system architecture.
I played a key role in creating a scalable and maintainable platform to support educators and learners globally.
I'm enthusiastic about embracing new challenges and making meaningful contributions.
Luca Liberati
I work on monoliths and microservices, backends and frontends, manage K8s clusters and love to design apps architecture
Prakash Prajapati
I’m a Senior Python Developer specializing in building secure, scalable, and highly available systems. I work primarily with Python, Django, FastAPI, Docker, PostgreSQL, and modern AI tooling such as PydanticAI, focusing on clean architecture, strong design principles, and reliable DevOps practices. I enjoy solving complex engineering problems and designing systems that are maintainable, resilient, and built to scale.
Richard McSorley
Full-Stack Software Engineer with 8+ years building high-performance applications for enterprise clients. Shipped production systems at Walmart (4,000+ stores), Cigna (20M+ users), and Arkansas Blue Cross. 5 patents in retail/supply chain tech. Currently focused on AI integrations, automation tools, and TypeScript-first architectures.
Basel Issmail
’m a Senior Full-Stack Developer and Tech Lead with experience designing and building scalable web platforms. I work across the full development lifecycle, from translating business requirements into technical architecture to delivering reliable production systems.
My work focuses on modern web technologies, including TypeScript, Angular, Node.js, and cloud-based architectures. I enjoy solving complex technical problems and helping teams turn product ideas and prototypes into working platforms that can grow and scale.
In addition to development, I often collaborate closely with product managers, business analysts, designers, and QA teams to ensure that solutions align with both technical and business goals.
I enjoy working with startups and product teams where I can contribute both as a hands-on engineer and as a technical partner in designing and delivering impactful software.
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Get HelpFrequently Asked Questions
How often should presence heartbeats be sent?
Every 15-30 seconds is typical. Shorter intervals detect disconnections faster but increase server load. Set the offline threshold to 2x the heartbeat interval (e.g., heartbeat every 20s, offline after 40s of no heartbeat).
Should I store presence in the database or Redis?
Use Redis. Presence data changes constantly and needs TTL-based expiration. Storing it in your main database creates unnecessary write load. Redis keys with TTL naturally expire, handling abnormal disconnections automatically.