title: Is it more efficient to have the server send data or the mobile device get data from the server?
body: <p>I'm fairly new to server/device communications so I apologize in advance if this question is trivial to some of you.</p>
  
  <p>I am writing a native application for iOS which either gets or receives data from a server.  The data is refreshed on the server every minute.  Is it more efficient to send the data to the mobile device? or is it better to have the device pull the data from the server?  </p>
  
  <p>By data I mean 6 temperature values and 1 energy reading.
  The data is simple enough that I currently have it as just a text file (.txt) on the server.</p>
  
  <p>I am thinking it would be more efficient for the mobile device to get the data from the server as needed since the device only needs the data while the app is in the foreground.</p>
  
  <p>If you have a suggested method that would be great.
  I have looked through questions and have not seen this question asked or answered.</p>