Given how hefty images are, a full database doesn't seem too bad for the purpose of an "app" that would benefit from it, especially when compression can being the size down even lower.

We are past the stage where every piece of JS has to be loaded upfront and delay the first meaningful paint. Modern JS frameworks and module are chunked and can be eager/lazy loaded. Unless you make the sqlite DB integral part for your first meaningful page load, preloading those 1.3MB in the background/upon user request is easy.