diff --git a/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Storage/StorageEngine+SyncRequirement.swift b/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Storage/StorageEngine+SyncRequirement.swift
index 040dfb7f4a..711ad7ab57 100644
--- a/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Storage/StorageEngine+SyncRequirement.swift
+++ b/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Storage/StorageEngine+SyncRequirement.swift
@@ -74,6 +74,12 @@ extension StorageEngine {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Expresses whether the `StorageEngine` syncs from a remote source
+    /// based on whether the `AWSAPIPlugin` is present.
+    var syncsFromRemote: Bool {
+        tryGetAPIPlugin() != nil
+    }
+
     private func tryGetAPIPlugin() -> APICategoryPlugin? {
         do {
             return try Amplify.API.getPlugin(for: validAPIPluginKey)
diff --git a/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Storage/StorageEngineBehavior.swift b/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Storage/StorageEngineBehavior.swift
index d17a12f38c..43c8878703 100644
--- a/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Storage/StorageEngineBehavior.swift
+++ b/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Storage/StorageEngineBehavior.swift
@@ -31,4 +31,7 @@ protocol StorageEngineBehavior: AnyObject, ModelStorageBehavior {
     func startSync() -> Result<SyncEngineInitResult, DataStoreError>
     func stopSync(completion: @escaping DataStoreCallback<Void>)
     func clear(completion: @escaping DataStoreCallback<Void>)
+
+    /// expresses whether the conforming type is syncing from a remote source.
+    var syncsFromRemote: Bool { get }
 }
diff --git a/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Subscribe/DataStoreObserveQueryOperation.swift b/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Subscribe/DataStoreObserveQueryOperation.swift
index dada158b38..775b576da5 100644
--- a/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Subscribe/DataStoreObserveQueryOperation.swift
+++ b/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Sources/AWSDataStorePlugin/Subscribe/DataStoreObserveQueryOperation.swift
@@ -222,12 +222,26 @@ class ObserveQueryTaskRunner<M: Model>: InternalTaskRunner, InternalTaskAsyncThr
     func subscribeToItemChanges() {
         serialQueue.async { [weak self] in
             guard let self = self else { return }
+
             self.batchItemsChangedSink = self.dataStorePublisher.publisher
                 .filter { _ in !self.dispatchedModelSyncedEvent.get() }
                 .filter(self.filterByModelName(mutationEvent:))
                 .filter(self.filterByPredicateMatch(mutationEvent:))
                 .handleEvents(receiveOutput: self.onItemChangeDuringSync(mutationEvent:) )
-                .collect(.byTimeOrCount(self.serialQueue, self.itemsChangedPeriodicPublishTimeInSeconds, self.itemsChangedMaxSize))
+                .collect(
+                    .byTimeOrCount(
+                        // on queue
+                        self.serialQueue,
+                        // collect over this timeframe
+                        self.itemsChangedPeriodicPublishTimeInSeconds,
+                        // If the `storageEngine` does sync from remote, the initial batch should
+                        // collect snapshots based on time / snapshots received.
+                        // If it doesn't, it should publish each snapshot without waiting.
+                        self.storageEngine.syncsFromRemote
+                        ? self.itemsChangedMaxSize
+                        : 1
+                    )
+                )
                 .sink(receiveCompletion: self.onReceiveCompletion(completed:),
                       receiveValue: self.onItemsChangeDuringSync(mutationEvents:))
             
diff --git a/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Tests/AWSDataStorePluginTests/Sync/SubscriptionSync/Support/MockSQLiteStorageEngineAdapter.swift b/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Tests/AWSDataStorePluginTests/Sync/SubscriptionSync/Support/MockSQLiteStorageEngineAdapter.swift
index 8dfed11a58..5b5fb2d46a 100644
--- a/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Tests/AWSDataStorePluginTests/Sync/SubscriptionSync/Support/MockSQLiteStorageEngineAdapter.swift
+++ b/AmplifyPlugins/DataStore/Tests/AWSDataStorePluginTests/Sync/SubscriptionSync/Support/MockSQLiteStorageEngineAdapter.swift
@@ -301,6 +301,8 @@ class MockStorageEngineBehavior: StorageEngineBehavior {
 
     }
 
+    var syncsFromRemote: Bool { true }
+
     var mockSyncEnginePublisher: PassthroughSubject<RemoteSyncEngineEvent, DataStoreError>!
     var mockSyncEngineSubscription: AnyCancellable! {
         willSet {