Hidden Gems of Firebase for Android Devs

Firebase is a staple of Android development but do you know everything about Firebase and the libraries that belongs to the ecosystem?

This session will take you beyond the basics and show you the hidden gems of the Firebase ecosystem. We'll explore how to use Firebase Performance Monitoring to identify and resolve performance issues, implement robust security measures with App Check, and dynamically tailor your app's behavior with Remote Config and much more!

Learn how these powerful features can help you build faster, more secure, and more engaging Android experiences.

Transcript

1. Hidden Gems of Firebase for Android Devs Julien Salvi - Android GDE | Android @ Aircall DevFest Bucharest 2026 󰐬 @jusalvi.bsky.social
2. Julien Salvi Android @ Aircall Android GDE PAUG, Punk & IPAs! @jusalvi.bsky.social Bonjour !
3. Firebase is a platform that helps build great apps for many years But how many libs can we count for Android devs?
5. Firebase for Android Devs A little bit of context… A little bit of context… Do you know them all? 🤓
6. Firebase for Android Devs Go with… … Build Run Analytics AI Authentication Firebase Database Phone verification App Check Remote Config App Distribution Crashlytics Messaging Performance … AdMob Analytics Latest Release Dashboard
7. But do we really know everything about them? Let’s explore some Firebase gems ! 💻
8. Firebase Gems A little bit of context… A little bit of context… Crashlytics 🐛
9. Firebase Gems Crashlytics • Crashlytics is easy is to use and has been there for a long time… a simple plugin and let’s go! • You can log more than a crash in Crashlytics! • You can log a message or an exception as a non-fatal issue on the Firebase console
11. Firebase Gems Crashlytics on Android Studio • You can connect Firebase with Android Studio to see the crashes and ANR directly in your dev environment • If you have multiple apps or flavor you can pinpoint the app you want and see all the data needed for investigation • Let’s see that in action!
12. Firebase Gems Crashlytics Alerting • Default alerting with Crashlytics is by email… and it’s quite easy to miss an email 😅 • If you work daily with Slack, Crashlytics has a nice integration to get alerts on a dedicated channel so you can be notified in real-time • Customization regarding the alerting: new crash, new ANR, regressions, velocity alerts…
13. Firebase Gems Crashlytics Alerting https://rhymezxcode.medium.com/how- to-get-firebase-crashlytics-bug-reports -directly-on-a-slack-channel-in-real-ti me-ee7a516070f7
14. Firebase Gems Crashlytics search • Default search with Crashlytics isn’t that great: scope is quite limited • To fix that, we can enable the BigQuery integration to export the logs a dedicated dataset where we’ll be able to leverage the power of BigQuery • Let’s open the Firebase console 🤓
15. Firebase Gems A little bit of context… A little bit of context… App Distribution 🚅
16. Firebase Gems App Distribution • Fast and Frictionless Beta Testing Easily distribute pre-release versions of your Android app to trusted testers without the wait times of traditional app store reviews. • Centralized Tester Management Organize testers into logical groups (like QA, Marketing, or Stakeholders) and manage access via the Firebase console or CLI. • Integrated Feedback and Analytics Gain insights into tester engagement and receive crash reports tied specifically to your distribution builds to fix bugs before the official launch.
17. Firebase Gems App Distribution Gradle Plugin • Direct Build-to-Distribution Workflow Eliminate the overhead of Ruby/Fastlane by using the native Gradle plugin to build and upload your APK or AAB in a single execution step (./gradlew assembleRelease appDistributionUploadRelease). • Variant-Aware Configuration Define distinct distribution rules (testers, release notes, and artifact types) directly within your build.gradle file for different build types and product flavors, ensuring the right build always reaches the right group.
19. Firebase Gems App Distribution feedbacks • Trigger user feedbacks directly from your app You can enable in-app feedbacks to your users with Firebase App Distribution SDK. • Two options to collect feedbacks ◦ Built-in notification to display a persistent notification to initiate feedback ◦ Custom trigger to initiate feedback using a mechanism of your choice Beta
21. https://firebase.blog/posts/2023/09/in-app-feedback/
22. Firebase Gems A little bit of context… A little bit of context… Firebase Performance ⚡
23. Firebase Gems Performance • Real-Time Performance Monitoring Automatically tracks key metrics like app startup time, screen rendering speed, and network request latency. • Customizable Traces and Metrics Allows developers to define custom traces and log specific performance data (e.g., feature-specific response times). • Proactive Issue Detection Highlights metrics, anomalies, and performance degradations in real-time.
26. Firebase Gems Performance demo!
27. Firebase Gems A little bit of context… A little bit of context… Remote Config 🌐
28. Firebase Gems Remote Config • Real-time configuration update Establish a persistent HTTP connection to the Firebase backend using addOnConfigUpdateListener. This allows your app to receive and apply new parameters the moment they are published. • Advanced JSON Configurations Move beyond simple strings and booleans by storing complex JSON objects. This allows you to remotely control entire UI schemas, nested feature sets, or localized content structures through a single parameter.
31. Firebase Gems A little bit of context… A little bit of context… App Check 🛡
32. Firebase Gems App Check • Verified App & Device Integrity Uses the Play Integrity API to ensure that only your genuine, unmodified app on a certified Android device can access your backend, effectively blocking bots, scripts, and tampered clones. • Seamless Debugging & CI Includes a dedicated Debug Provider that allows developers to bypass integrity checks on emulators or CI/CD environments using a secure local token. This ensures your security stays tight in production without breaking your development workflow.
35. Firebase for Android Key takeaways • 🚀 Firebase is there to help you build better applications • 🤓 Explore beyond the basics to fully unleash the Firebase capabilities • 💎 There are gems in each library for Android
36. Firebase for Android Understand Firebase for Android https://firebase.google.com/docs/android/learn-more/ Explore the source code https://github.com/firebase/firebase-android-sdk Codelabs for Firebase https://codelabs.developers.google.com/?product=firebase
37. Julien Salvi DevFest Bucharest 2026 󰐬 @jusalvi.bsky.social Thanks ! Have fun with Firebase!