Three states

Every view that loads data renders exactly one of four states: loading, empty, error, or its content. The first three are designed, never left to chance: a surface that shows nothing while it waits, or shows nothing when it failed, has left the person to guess which of four things is true.

• Empty and error are different facts. "There is nothing yet" and "we could not load it" never share a message or a look; a failed load that renders as empty tells the person their data is gone.
• The failure stays where it happened. A widget, card or row that fails shows its own error state; the page around it keeps working.
• Loading appears fast and holds its shape. Within 100ms, at the loaded size, so nothing jumps when the content arrives.
• Each platform handles all three on every data view: web useQuery renders isLoading, empty and isError explicitly; iOS and Android view models expose the same four cases.

Skeleton / Loading

• Loading state uses skeleton that matches the loaded shape (same height, same column layout)
• Animate with shimmer/pulse — never a spinner alone for full-screen loads
• Appear within 100ms of initiating the load

Web: animate-pulse Tailwind + matching div shapes iOS: .redacted(reason: .placeholder) + .shimmering(active: isLoading) Android: ShimmerEffect modifier / Placeholder composable