September 2020 Summaries

Firebase has open-sourced its App Distribution iOS SDK, which provides in-app alerts to notify internal testers when new pre-release builds are available and lets them install updates directly from the test app. The SDK aims to reduce reliance on easily missed email notifications, helping teams avoid feedback and bug reports from outdated builds, while allowing developers to customize the update experience. Twitter integrated the SDK into its nightly employee-app builds to simplify updates and replace a previously forced immediate-update prompt with an option for users to install updates when closing the app. According to a Twitter iOS engineer, this approach reduced the time required for the latest version to reach most users by nearly 20 percent, supporting the goal of catching issues before they reach the public app.

Integrating Firebase Crashlytics with Google Analytics can improve app stability monitoring by connecting crash reports with session, user, and behavioral data. Automatically collected events such as session starts and app exceptions support crash-free user metrics and help teams identify changes in crash rates, while Analytics breadcrumbs and custom events reveal the screens and actions preceding individual crashes. The Latest Release feature helps compare crash behavior across recent and popular app versions, making it easier to isolate newly introduced issues. Exporting data from both services to BigQuery and visualizing it in Data Studio enables more detailed reporting, such as identifying crashes associated with user churn, particular in-app milestones, or affected user demographics.

Firebase announced its virtual Firebase Summit for October 27–28 at 9:30 a.m. PST, replacing the prior year’s in-person gathering in Madrid and expanding access for developers worldwide. The event will feature an opening keynote on Firebase tools for building and operating mobile and web applications, live #AskFirebase questions with the product team, and 11 technical sessions covering release monitoring, user engagement, revenue optimization, and related topics. Sessions will be livestreamed with chat functionality and later available on demand. The summit will also offer hands-on learning through a live Flutter and Firebase app-building demonstration, new demos, video-guided codelabs, and multi-step learning tracks, while attendees can register for updates and follow Firebase through its website, YouTube channel, and Twitter.

Pomelo Games, a leading Uruguay-based studio, sought to increase monetization for its free-to-play title Once Upon a Tower without undermining the game’s affordability, quality, or player experience. Using Firebase Remote Config and A/B Testing, supported by Google Analytics for revenue monitoring and Firebase Crashlytics for stability tracking, the team tested interstitial advertisements across its player base. Despite initial concerns about player reaction, the change produced an average 25% increase in AdMob revenue and a 35% rise in in-app purchases, while having almost no negative effect on retention or game stability.