Managing Async UX States

Network requests are where your beautiful, synchronous UI dreams go to die. Without planning, your app will flicker like a broken neon sign, show stale data from three requests ago, and display error messages that say “Something went wrong” (thanks, that narrows it down). This guide shows how to handle async operations so users actually trust your app when things get slow or fail.

Plan Your Async States

Every API call goes through a predictable lifecycle. Most developers remember “loading” and “success” and completely forget the other five states until production breaks.

• Map the state lifecycle: For each API call, define what happens when it’s idle (hasn’t started), pending (in progress), successful (completed), empty (no data returned), partial (some data but not all), or failed (error occurred). Yes, all six states matter. No, you can’t skip the ones that “rarely happen.”
• Group or split requests strategically: That massive form that submits everything as one POST request? Break it into smaller calls. When it fails, users want to know which section failed, not just see a generic error and have to re-enter everything.
• Agree on UX principles: Sit down with designers before you code. Decide when to block actions during loading, when to allow background updates, and how retries work. Having this conversation after you’ve already implemented it leads to three rounds of “quick fixes” that make everything worse.

Protect Your UI with Error Boundaries

Prevent one failed API call from nuking your entire page:

• Wrap risky areas: Use Async Boundary components around sections that fetch data. When a data fetch fails, the boundary catches it and shows fallback UI instead of showing users a blank screen and making them wonder if their internet died.
• Add page-level boundaries: Component boundaries are great, but combine them with route-level error pages for serious failures. Because nothing says “we care about UX” like a white screen of death.
• Track boundary triggers: Log every time a boundary activates. If the “user profile” boundary keeps catching errors, that’s not bad luck: that’s your API being flaky and you need to fix it.

Show Clear Loading Feedback

If users don’t see feedback within 100ms, they’ll click the button again. Then you’ll have two requests in flight and a race condition to debug at 2am.

• Match loaders to context: Use Loading State patterns that fit the situation. Small spinners work for buttons; skeleton screens fit content areas; full-page overlays suit critical operations. Using a full-page spinner for inline updates trains users to hate your app.
• Differentiate first load from refresh: Users tolerate skeleton screens on initial page load because they’re waiting anyway. But when they refresh data they’ve already seen? They want a subtle indicator, not the entire UI to disappear and rebuild itself. Optimistic updates work great here: show the new data immediately and fix it if the server disagrees.

Update UI Immediately with Optimistic Updates

Nothing makes an app feel sluggish like waiting for the server to confirm every action. Assume success and deal with failure if it happens.

• Show changes immediately: Use Optimistic Updates to reflect user actions in the UI right away, before the server confirms. Save the previous state so you can revert if the server says “actually, no.” Users get instant feedback, and you look like a performance wizard.
• Prevent conflicts: While waiting for confirmation, either disable conflicting actions or clearly mark items as “saving.” Otherwise users will click “delete” three more times and wonder why it’s “not working”. Spoiler: it’s working, just slowly, and now you have three delete requests racing to the server.

Handle Failures Gracefully

Network requests fail constantly. Mobile networks drop. APIs time out. Corporate firewalls block random endpoints. Plan for it or suffer.

• Implement smart retries: Use Retry strategies with exponential backoff. Wait longer between each retry instead of hammering the failing endpoint like it owes you money. Show users when you’re retrying and how many attempts remain. Silent retries that take 30 seconds make users think the app froze.
• Cancel outdated requests: Use Request Cancellation to abort old API calls when users navigate away or change search filters. Ever seen a search interface show results for three queries ago? That’s because you didn’t cancel the old requests, and the slowest one finished last.
• Log useful failure information: “Network error” doesn’t help you fix anything. Log which endpoint failed, how long it took, the error code, and whether retries succeeded. Future-you at 2am debugging production will thank past-you for being thorough.

Test and Monitor Async Behavior

Async issues love hiding in development and appearing in production when everything’s on fire.

• Test failure scenarios: Write integration tests that simulate slow responses (3G networks exist) and server errors (servers fail). Verify that error boundaries, loading states, and optimistic updates actually work instead of assuming they do. Your local dev environment with instant responses is lying to you.
• Watch pending requests: Monitor how many requests are in-flight in production. Numbers climbing steadily? Either your cancellation logic isn’t working or your backend is drowning. Either way, you’ve got a problem.
• Write clear error messages: “Something went wrong” is useless. “We couldn’t save your changes because the server is overloaded. We’ll retry automatically in a few seconds” is helpful. Work with UX writers to create error messages that build trust instead of confusion.

Remember: Async state management isn’t an edge case; it’s core UX. Well-handled loading, errors, and retries make users trust your app. Poorly-handled ones make them wonder if they should have gone with your competitor.