February 2017 Summaries

Firebase announced at the Game Developers Conference that its official Unity and C++ SDKs have reached general availability, making them primary platforms with ongoing support commitments. The SDKs provide game developers access to services including AdMob advertising, unlimited real-time Analytics, Realtime Database synchronization, Dynamic Links, third-party and password-based Authentication, Cloud Messaging, Remote Config experimentation, and Cloud Storage for user-created media. Firebase also released a game developer getting-started guide and Cocos2D-x samples demonstrating integration of the C++ SDKs.

Firebase Authentication introduced email verification to ensure that users who register with email and password actually control the address they provide, addressing the lack of validation in its original release. After account creation, Firebase can send a verification email containing a confirmation link, and applications can check the verified status at sign-in to restrict access or enable features accordingly. Developers can customize verification email templates, action links, and reply addresses through the Firebase console, which also supports user management such as password changes and account removal. On Android, verification is initiated through the FirebaseUser.sendEmailVerification() method and its asynchronous task result, while FirebaseUser.isEmailVerified() reports the confirmation state after the user follows the link. Because user data is cached during an app session, developers should reload the current user before relying on an updated verification status.

Google Cloud Next 17, scheduled three weeks away, highlights several sessions for Firebase and mobile developers, ranging from introductory mobile development considerations to advanced backend and analytics capabilities. Recommended talks include Laurence Moroney’s overview of challenges such as connectivity, offline use, access control, and battery life; a live cross-platform Firebase and Google Cloud Platform coding demonstration for iOS and Android; and a session on extending Firebase services with Google Cloud Functions for serverless development. Developers interested in understanding app usage can also attend a presentation on combining Firebase Analytics, BigQuery, and Data Studio for deeper analysis and visualization. The event additionally offers keynotes, bootcamps, and more than 200 breakout sessions.

Developers can add Firebase Analytics to an app already using Google Analytics without abandoning established reporting workflows, while gaining Firebase features such as Audiences, Notifications, Remote Config targeting, and flexible event parameters. Because Google Analytics typically records separate hierarchical events and Firebase Analytics favors single events with multiple key-value parameters, game metrics such as scores, enemies defeated, and rounds survived can be consolidated into one Firebase event, with BigQuery useful for analyzing custom parameters. Correct setup requires importing the existing Google Analytics project into Firebase and replacing the prior configuration file with a combined Firebase-enabled version. Three migration strategies are presented: run both SDKs simultaneously for the least disruptive implementation but with duplicated code and minor network overhead; send Firebase events through Google Tag Manager to forward selected data to Google Analytics and other providers, though ecommerce support is limited and configuration is required; or replace client-side Google Analytics entirely and merge historical Google Analytics and new Firebase data in BigQuery, an approach mainly suited to Analytics 360 users.

FirebaseUI Auth is an open-source interface layer for Firebase Authentication that simplifies sign-in and sign-up flows in Android applications, supporting providers such as Google and email/password while incorporating identity-management patterns developed to improve conversion. Developers can download the FirebaseUI Android project and sample app from GitHub, connect the app to a Firebase project through Android Studio, add the required Authentication libraries, and enable desired providers in the Firebase console. The sample demonstrates features such as account hints, Google Smart Lock integration, account selection, and standardized handling of users with zero, one, or multiple saved accounts. Its implementation relies on FirebaseAuth to detect existing sessions and AuthUI’s sign-in intent builder to configure providers, themes, logos, terms-of-service links, and Smart Lock, with results returned to the app for success or failure handling and user metadata display. FirebaseUI’s provided screens can be customized through Android styles and branding resources, reducing the need to implement complex authentication flows manually; related FirebaseUI offerings are also available for iOS and JavaScript.

Firebase Analytics offers built-in reports for metrics such as retention, active users, demographics, event counts, and events per session, but it does not directly display custom event parameter values outside of BigQuery. Developers can work around this limitation by assigning a numeric value parameter to an event, allowing Firebase to report its average and total value over time. For example, a fitness app can attach workout duration as the value of a workout-complete event to calculate total exercise time and average workout length from standard event reports. The value parameter can be used differently across events, such as measuring workout duration, friends invited, or calories consumed, although more detailed comparisons across custom categories, such as workout types, still require BigQuery analysis.

Firebase’s Pirate Metrics series concludes with revenue, outlining tools for tracking and improving monetization through in-app purchases, e-commerce transactions, and advertising. Linking a Google Play Store account enables automatic tracking of in-app purchases, while e-commerce revenue can be recorded through a dedicated event, allowing teams to analyze total revenue and build audiences based on specific purchases. Separating paying from non-paying users helps identify behavioral patterns, understand conversion drivers, and refine experiences to increase the share of customers who pay. Firebase’s AdMob SDK integration also supports advertising formats including banners, interstitials, and native ads, with ad revenue visible in Firebase Analytics to help teams identify regional growth trends and adjust ad mediation strategies. The integrated analytics platform is presented as a way to make growth decisions and then assess whether those actions produced the desired results.

Firebase introduced new Admin SDK capabilities to strengthen backend support for developers who occasionally need server-side functionality alongside client-focused web and mobile apps. The Node.js Admin SDK now includes a Firebase Cloud Messaging API that can send notifications to individual devices, device groups, topics, and conditional topic audiences without additional authentication setup, while also supporting options such as high priority and message time-to-live. The Java Admin SDK now provides a credential interface that replaces the former service-account-only initialization approach with the setCredential method. It also supports Google Application Default Credentials, enabling automatic discovery of service account credentials on services such as Google App Engine and Compute Engine, which can reduce credential management and allow consistent code across local, staging, and production environments.

Firebase Auth provides application authentication through email/password credentials and federated identity providers such as Google, while the open-source FirebaseUI library simplifies the complex user experiences surrounding sign-in, account selection, account creation, password recovery, and redirects. The walkthrough explains how to create a Firebase project, enable Email/Password and Google sign-in methods in the Firebase Console, configure authorized OAuth redirect domains, and add the project’s Firebase initialization settings to a web application. A two-page example uses FirebaseUI to render a sign-in widget with Google and email options, automatically handling different scenarios including returning users, multiple accounts, and new account registration. After authentication, a separate page listens for Firebase’s authentication-state changes and uses the signed-in user’s metadata, such as display name and email, to update the interface.