Introduction to Firebase

In this article, we will explore one of these choices that go by the name of Firebase 🔥, and all the tools and services that it provides.

What is Firebase?

Firebase is a powerful platform for your mobile and web application. Firebase can power your app’s backend, including data storage, user authentication, static hosting, and more. With Firebase, you can easily build mobile and web apps that scale from one user to one million.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO HERE

A Brief History

Back in 2011, before Firebase was Firebase, it was a startup called Envolve. As Envolve, it provided developers with an API that enabled the integration of online chat functionality into their website.

What’s interesting is that people used Envolve to pass application data that was more than just chat messages. Developers were using Envolve to sync application data such as a game state in real time across their users.

This led the founders of Envolve, James Tamplin and Andrew Lee, to separate the chat system and the real-time architecture. In April 2012, Firebase was created as a separate company that provided Backend-as-a-Service with real-time functionality.

After it was acquired by Google in 2014, Firebase rapidly evolved into the multifunctional behemoth of a mobile and web platform that it is today.

Firebase Services

Firebase helps mobile app teams succeed. With Firebase you can:

1. Build better apps
2. Improve app quality
3. Grow your business

Build better apps

Firebase lets you build more powerful, secure and scalable apps, using world-class infrastructure using:

1. Cloud Firestore: is a flexible, scalable database for mobile, web, and server development from Firebase and Google Cloud Platform. It is a NoSQL document database that lets you easily store, sync, and query data for your mobile and web apps — at a global scale.It's supporting for Android, iOS and Web Platform.
2. ML Kit: is a mobile SDK that brings Google’s machine learning expertise to Android and iOS apps in a powerful yet easy-to-use package. Whether you’re new or experienced in machine learning, you can implement the functionality you need in just a few lines of code. There’s no need to have deep knowledge of neural networks or model optimization to get started. On the other hand, if you are an experienced ML developer, ML Kit provides convenient APIs that help you use your custom TensorFlow Lite models in your mobile apps. It’s supporting for Android and iOS Platform.
3. Cloud Functions: for Firebase lets you automatically run backend code in response to events triggered by Firebase features and HTTPS requests. Your code is stored in Google’s cloud and runs in a managed environment. There’s no need to manage and scale your own servers. It’s supporting for Android, iOS, C++, Unity and Web Platform.
4. Authentication: provides backend services, easy-to-use SDKs, and ready-made UI libraries to authenticate users to your app. It supports authentication using passwords, phone numbers, popular federated identity providers like Google, Facebook and Twitter, and more. It’s supporting for Android, iOS and Web Platform.
5. Hosting: is production-grade web content hosting for developers. With a single command, you can quickly deploy web apps and serve both static and dynamic content to a global CDN (content delivery network). You can also pair Firebase Hosting with Cloud Functions to build and host microservices on Firebase. It’s supporting only Web Platform.
6. Cloud Storages: is for object storage service built for Google scale. The Firebase SDKs for Cloud Storage add Google security to file uploads and downloads for your Firebase apps, regardless of network quality. You can use our SDKs to store images, audio, video, or other user-generated content. On the server, you can use Google Cloud Storage, to access the same files. It’s supporting for Android, iOS, C++, Unity and Web Platform.
7. Real-time Database: is a cloud-hosted NoSQL database that lets you store and sync between your users in real-time. The Real-time Database is really just one big JSON object that the developers can manage in real-time. It’s supporting for Android, iOS, C++, Unity and Web Platform.

Improve app quality

Firebase gives you insights into app performance and stability, so you can channel your resources effectively using:

1. Crashlytics: is a lightweight, real-time crash reporter that helps you track, prioritize, and fix stability issues that erode your app quality. Crashlytics saves you troubleshooting time by intelligently grouping crashes and highlighting the circumstances that lead up to them. It’s supporting for Android and iOS Platform.
2. Performance Monitoring: is a service that helps you to gain insight into the performance characteristics of your iOS and Android apps. You use the Performance Monitoring SDK to collect performance data from your app, and then review and analyze that data in the Firebase console. Performance Monitoring helps you to understand where and when the performance of your app can be improved so that you can use that information to fix performance issues. It’s supporting for Android and iOS Platform.
3. Test Labs: is a cloud-based app-testing infrastructure. It provides a large number of mobile test devices to help you test your apps. It’s supporting for Android and iOS Platform.

Grow your business

Firebase helps you grow to millions of users, simplifying user engagement and retention using:

1. In-App Messaging: helps you engage users who are actively using your app by sending them targeted and contextual messages that nudge them to complete key in-app actions — like beating a game level, buying an item, or subscribing to content. It’s supporting for Android and iOS Platform.
2. Google Analytics: for Firebase is a free app measurement solution that provides insight on app usage and user engagement. At the heart of Firebase is Google Analytics for Firebase, a free and unlimited analytics solution. Analytics integrates across Firebase features and provides you with unlimited reporting for up to 500 distinct events that you can define using the Firebase SDK. Analytics reports help you understand clearly how your users behave, which enables you to make informed decisions regarding app marketing and performance optimizations. It’s supporting for Android, iOS, C++ and Unity Platform.
3. Predictions: applies machine learning to your analytics data to create dynamic user segments based on the predicted behavior of users in your app. These predictions are automatically available for use with Firebase Remote Config, the Notifications composer, Firebase In-App Messaging, and A/B Testing. You can also link your app’s Predictions data to BigQuery so you can get daily exports that you can further analyze or push to third party tools. It’s supporting for Android, iOS, C++ and Unity Platform.
4. A/B Testing: helps you optimize your app experience by making it easy to run, analyze, and scale product and marketing experiments. It gives you the power to test changes to your app’s UI, features, or engagement campaigns to see if they actually move the needle on your key metrics (like revenue and retention) before you roll them out widely. It’s supporting for Android, iOS, C++ and Unity Platform.
5. Cloud Messaging(FCM): provides a reliable and battery-efficient connection between your server and devices that allows you to deliver and receive messages and notifications on iOS, Android, and the web at no cost.
6. Remote Config: essentially allows us to publish updates to our users immediately. Whether we wish to change the color scheme for a screen, the layout for a particular section in our app or show promotional/seasonal options — this is completely doable using the server side parameters without the need to publish a new version. It’s supporting for Android, iOS, C++ and Unity Platform.
7. Dynamic Links: With Dynamic Links, your users get the best available experience for the platform they open your link on. If a user opens a Dynamic Link on iOS or Android, they can be taken directly to the linked content in your native app. If a user opens the same Dynamic Link in a desktop browser, they can be taken to the equivalent content on your website. It’s supporting for Android, iOS, Web, C++ and Unity Platform.
8. App Indexing: gets your app into Google Search. If users have your app installed, they can launch your app and go directly to the content they’re searching for. App Indexing reengages your app users by helping them find both public and personal content right on their device, even offering query autocompletion to help them more quickly find what they need. If users don’t yet have your app, relevant queries trigger an install card for your app in Search results. It’s supporting for Android and iOS Platform.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO HERE

Thanks for reading this article, in future we’ll cover each service with demos. and click the 💚 below. Keep watching this page and follow me.

Thanks

Happy Coding!