Top Benefits of Using Firebase for App Development

Firebase is a widely used CSP for crafting mobile and web applications on the fly.

It simplifies and speeds up the development process through its real-time synchronization, user-friendly interface, remote configurations, and quick scalability.

According to a survey by Stack Overflow, Firebase secured the 5th position with 13.9% votes amongst the most used cloud platforms.

Similarly, StackShare communicates that around 3131 companies employ Firebase for various tech stacks. This high demand for Firebase is only because of its out-of-the-box benefits and features. Therefore, we are set to explore the top benefits of Firebase in detail. 

The Top Benefits of Firebase

Let’s delve into the key advantages of using Google Firebase.

1. Accelerated App Development

Firebase offers a varied collection of built-in functionalities to drastically reduce development time. Indeed, this Google-backed platform provides backend infrastructure and tools to accelerate development. 

You can register on Firebase using your Google account. After choosing a project name, you can build backends for any of your iOS, Android, C++, or JS projects.

Dev teams can adopt the relevant Firebase SDK to proceed further. The instant support for SQL and NoSQL databases also authorizes the developers to backlog, query, and connect the data spontaneously. 

Similarly, readymade and full-fledged authentication lets the developers emphasize the core competencies and UX.

Yes, Firebase comes with several UI libraries to verify app users securely. This trait saves dev time that you usually invest in authenticating app users. 

High-speed hosting is another valuable factor that streamlines the development process. Firebase hosting enables you to deploy static sites through distributed CDN.

In this instance, you can manage your domain and get a free SSL certificate and live previews. 

Contrarily, if you need hosting for full-stack applications, ‘app hosting’ is the product that you should pick.

This feature permits you to connect your GitHub account with Firebase and deploy the script within moments.

Zero configuration, app optimization, and server-side rendering make this functionality more efficient for developers.

Furthermore, the recent but critical Firebase products that expedite the development phase are Generative AI and Genkit.

Firstly, if we talk about Generative AI, it helps you smartly craft, examine, and deploy apps with AI capabilities.

Secondly, Genkit helps minimize the complications of merging AI elements with your data, plugins, and templates.  

2. Real-Time Data Synchronization

Real-time data synchronization is pivotal to running advanced applications. It guarantees that data is automatically mirrored across various systems.

Fortunately, Firebase offers this functionality through its two major database products: Cloud Firestore and Realtime Database. Let’s discuss them in detail:

Realtime Database

Realtime Database is Firebase’s primary JSON database. It was launched in 2012 as an API to gather and sync data.

By eliminating the demand for servers, it queries and delivers app data across different devices in the meantime. 

Here, Realtime DB is not only helpful for online use but also remarkable for its offline support. Yes, it backlogs and serves the modifications locally, even if a user is offline.

Later, it integrates this information when users get the internet again.  

Streaming platform STAGE employed Realtime Database to reduce its time-to-market and accelerate content delivery.

After using this NoSQL DB, along with other features of Firebase, STAGE found two times quicker app release cycles. Furthermore, this streaming app witnessed a 50% rise in developer efficiency. 

Cloud Firestore 

This NoSQL database allows programmers to save, align, and search data for highly scalable iOS, web, and Android applications.

In this regard, Firestore arranges the data in groups and documents. This hierarchy lets the developers easily backlog and query the data in the meantime. 

In addition, you don’t have to set up your server to approach DBs with Firestore. Yes, this modern DBMS provides a serverless environment in which to deploy applications. Thus, companies find Firestore a true real-time DB with all these functionalities. 

Acintyo adopted Firestore to accelerate the development of its Galarm app. After using this DB offering, the company noticed a 25% increase in development and a 60% decrease in operational costs.

By the same token, the French newspaper Le Figaro utilized this Realtime DB successor alongside Cloud Functions to enhance paid subscribers. 

Resultantly, there were three times more paid subscriptions. It also shortened the dev duration by 86%. These case studies show how spontaneous data synchronization, offline support, and other traits help apps work efficiently. 

On the other hand, Firebase recently introduced Data Connect to craft and deploy PostgreSQL apps. This means businesses and dev teams can now get support for their PostgreSQL datasets with Firebase.

Powered by Cloud SQL, Data Connect permits you to clarify the schema functionalities using GraphQL interfaces, which is valuable for handling queries.  

3. Simplified User Authentication

A user authentication system has become a principal requirement for successfully building applications through BaaS vendors. Thankfully, Firebase provides its users with a reliable and simple user authentication system. 

Yes, it is seamless to identify an app user with a Google-endorsed authentication approach while using Firebase.

Within ten lines of script, you can verify users for your various iOS, Android, Java, Flutter, C++, Node.js, web, and Unity projects. 

This Backend as a Service (BaaS) provider confers built-in UI libraries and SDKs to validate the end users of your application.

Hereof, you can employ FirebaseUI to design highly tailored registration and sign-in pages. Similarly, Firebase SDK Authentication comes into action to provide the following options:

• Email & password-oriented identity verification – This means you can set up an app account with an email and password. 

• Authentication by linking with federated identity providers – It signifies accessing apps using different accounts, including Twitter, Google, GitHub, etc. 

• Phone number authentication – You must validate your app account using the code sent to your phone.

• Custom auth system integration – This approach involves integrating Firebase services and DBs with your app’s current auth system.

• Anonymous auth – It refers to setting up temporary access for users. Developers can upgrade and terminate this account at any time. 

By the same token, Firebase authentication is considered highly secure because of the powerful backing of Google and GCP.

Chrome Password Manager and Google Smart Lock are paramount for encrypted access. Besides, you can employ multi-factor authentication to enhance the protection of app users. 

Therefore, app platforms with millions of users choose Firebase Authentication. Galarm, with 3 million users, and STAGE, with 1.8 million DAUs, utilize this auth service for quick account validations. 

4. Scalability and Flexibility

High scalability and flexibility are also appealing benefits of Firebase that let you build and release applications successfully.

Firstly, it is effortless to scale your database instances. Likewise, Realtime DB enables you to extend concurrent connections up to 200k and writes/second to 1k within one data source. 

Correspondingly, Cloud Firestore follows an automated scaling approach when expanding DB resources.

In addition, expanding further backend resources when your app traffic spikes with Firebase is seamless. These server-side services could include roles, hosting space, bandwidth, cloud functions, and much more.

Subsequently, most businesses and developers pick Firebase because of its flexible nature and offerings.

Indeed, Google Firebase is considered one of the easiest-to-use CSPs, and you can begin using it if you have a Gmail account. You can open a Firebase account within seconds by using your Gmail account. 

After giving your project a reasonable name, you can approach its dashboard and begin the development process.

Fortunately, you can proceed without inserting your credit card details. Yes, we have witnessed Firebase rivals like AWS ask for credit card credentials even before using its free tier plan. 

If we talk about the pricing structure of Firebase, it is equally adaptable for novice developers and seasoned software engineers. Let’s delve into the critical plans of this CSP:

Spark Plan

Spark is a no-cost offering with flexible limits. This plan permits you to authenticate 50k MAUs and conducts 10 and 5 tests daily for virtual and physical devices.

It also costs nothing for 5GB data storage, 30GB data transfer, and 2100k upload and download operations. 

On the same note, it comes with 600k writes and deletes, 150k reads, 10GB data transfer, and 1GB storage under Firestore and RTDB. 10GB hosting and 1k/month Firebase ML calls are also complementary to the Spark plan. 

Blaze Plan

Pay-as-you-go or Blaze is the premium plan applicable for large-scale applications. Yes, if the Spark plan doesn’t meet your app requirements, you can go with the Blaze Plan.

This plan only costs you for consumed instances, which is also an advantage of using Firebase.

In this regard, you can utilize ‘Blaze Calculator’ to evaluate your project’s cost.  

5. Robust Analytics with Google Analytics Integration

Building and executing an app is not everything. You ought to analyze the insights to make it productive. Firebase grants Google Analytics to meet this requirement.

Yes, it is entirely free to integrate Google Analytics with any of your iOS, Android, web, C++, and Unity apps on Firebase. 

Google Analytics confers all-inclusive research on over 500 multiple events using SDKs. Moreover, it provides meaningful data regarding user engagement and retention ratio with demographics. Thus, you can smartly make various marketing decisions. 

Similarly, this tool authorizes businesses to craft customized reports based on user behavior and device data to target particular audiences.

In this regard, dev teams also employ Remote Config, A/B testing, and BigQuery functionalities to get optimized results. 

Contrarily, if you run ads through AdMob on your application and want to enhance your earnings, Google Analytics is, again, beneficial.

You can simply connect your AdMob account with Analytics and get in-depth insights to improve your ad strategy. 

Pomelo Games used Analytics, A/B testing, and remote configuration to increase AdMob revenue without decreasing user retention.

After two weeks, Pomelo staff spotted a 25% increment in ad earnings and a 35% spike in in-app purchases. This happened with zero decline in the user retention ratio. 

With 10 million customers, KCB Group is another featured Firebase customer that upgraded its CPA and ROI with this tool.

KCB Group is an Africa-based financial group that employed Google Analytics to amplify awareness of its iOS and Android downloads.

The company witnessed a 24% decrease in CPI (cost per installment) with Analytics and 85,000 downloads through AdWords. A 14% growth in conversation rate is a further advantage of using this Google product. 

6. Enhanced User Engagement with Cloud Messaging

Do you want a free-of-cost service to send notifications and messages across different platforms? If yes, you must consider FCM or Firebase Cloud Messaging, which is free under both Spark and Blaze plans.

It establishes a power-saving network between devices and servers. Later, this connection enables you to transfer and receive messages on the fly.

With advanced message targeting and tailored notifications, FCM offers these facilities to dev teams:

• FCM authorizes you to distribute messages and notifications for a single or group of devices.

• You have the ability to send notifications and alerts to relevant devices only that have been subscribed to particular topics.

• It lets developers customize the messages using predetermined sections, demographics, and user behavior. 

• Developers can set the time to deliver notifications. Likewise, you can deliver messages instantly or go with a scheduled timeline. 

• You can tailor the message content from the user interface to notification sound to enhance user engagement. 

Moreover, dev teams don’t have to script a single line of code to employ this functionality. Indeed, you can get this readymade feature after syncing your app with Google Analytics while using Firebase.

Now, you have all user responses and further insights related to your push notifications and messages on a unified dashboard.  

In the same manner, you can utilize the Firebase A/B testing tool to determine which of your notification variants works best.

Thus, you can employ that specific message version with remote config to provide more personalized notifications. In addition, to attain and retain more users, you can also take advantage of Google Optimize. 

7. App Quality Assurance with Crash Reporting and Testing Tools

App quality assurance has great significance in the programming world. Yes, apps with poor quality don’t exist anymore in the market.

Therefore, Firebase grants a wide range of testing tools and features to examine app quality. These tools ensure app performance, security, market readiness, and user satisfaction. 

Let’s explore these tools one by one:

Crashlytics

Crashlytics is a powerful tool that fixes Flutter, iOS, Android, and Unity app crashes quickly. Endorsed by AI crash knowledge, this service emphasizes crashes that should be resolved initially.

Furthermore, Crashlytics is compatible with different IDEs, including Android Studio and other platforms like Jira, Slack, and BigQuery.

So, dev teams can investigate and fix the technical glitches within the same IDE window. This tool also displays the complete details regarding a crash’s time and primary factors. So, dev teams swiftly identify and fix these bugs. 

If we discuss its customers, Gameloft is on top. Gameloft is a renowned video game company that uses Crashlytics to deal with crashes.

This crash reporting tool enabled the Gameloft team to accelerate user sessions and reduce the crash ratio by 16%.  

Test Lab

Testing your app directly through end users is not a good idea. That is why Firebase provides a cloud-based app testing environment. The main agenda of Test Lab is to review applications on multiple virtual and physical devices.

On this matter, you simply need to connect your current workflows with Firebase Test Lab. It also doesn’t matter whether you approach it via a web browser or Android Studio.

Consequently, the Robo crawler identifies the bugs and shares them with you through videos, screenshots, etc. 

Test Lab is also considered a cost-efficient solution compared to other testing tools rivals offer. With this service, the American Express mobile app halved its testing cost and conducted 30% more tests in a shorter time frame. 

A/B Testing

A/B Testing aids in maximizing your app performance and obtaining marketing objectives. It simplifies the evaluation, extension, and running of your marketing approaches and application UI.

Besides, you don’t have to configure anything to begin this experimental workflow. Anyone from an organization can run these tests.

Performance Monitoring 

It is challenging to acquaint yourself with app responsiveness without knowledge of user perspectives and behavior toward an app. Firebase has a Performance Monitoring product to deal with this matter.

It tracks network requests, users’ stances, and system dependencies. 

You can easily detect the areas for improvement. With these practicable insights, GameNexa Studios reduced ANRs and crashes by 2x and 5x, respectively. 

App Distribution

This is another exclusive Firebase offering that is part of its beta testing program. App Distribution is a no-cost tool that empowers developers to share pre-release versions of applications with testers. Therefore, businesses can get feedback before launching the applications. 

8. Increased Revenue and Visibility with App Indexing

Firebase comes with Google’s robust backing. That is why it is seamless to attain and retain rankings for your app on search engines and app distribution services, although Firebase App Indexing was the only way to index sites and apps in the beginning.

However, Android App Links and Universal Links are considered the most eligible methods nowadays. First, Android App Links are useful for connecting users with your app through search engines and support within-app searches. 

On the other hand, if you want direct traffic from search engines to your Apple applications, you should employ Universal Links. This functionality also backs in-app inquiries. 

Improved search engine rankings and quick indexing promote the earnings as well. Indeed, you can run ads using AdMob on your applications.

According to a survey by Statista, Google Ad AdMob is the most installed ad SDK that 90% of Android apps utilize. It signifies that applications have more chances to double their revenues with quick Firebase indexing and AdMob. 

9. Customizable Machine Learning with ML Kit

Machine Learning has revolutionized the app development industry in the past few years. However, many CSPs still don’t offer ML capabilities to their users. Fortunately, Firebase offers Machine Learning features under the flag of its beta tools.

Firebase ML builds and deploys tailored data models and utilizes readymade approaches. In this regard, ML Kit confers in-built Cloud Vision APIs to label images and recognize text and landmarks on the fly. These APIs have the backing of GCP’s ML technology. 

By the same token, ML Kit permits you to conduct on-device model deployment and distribution. In this case, you can choose the TensorFlow Lite model or build your model. This approach significantly cuts down the app’s initial footprint. 

AutoML Vision Edge is another engaging ML attribute that helps craft highly customized image labeling models.

After using this Firebase trait, the eBay Motors team noticed considerable upgrades in the user experience of their mobile app.

10. Future-Proof App Development

Firebase is an evolving technology that modernizes its tools over time. It uses Google-backed cloud infrastructure, so developers witness constant improvements in the programming environment.

For that reason, organizations rely on Firebase for building and running startups and large-scale applications. 

Easy integration with Google Cloud and third-party tools is also a prominent advantage of using Firebase.

Yes, you can find Cloud Console and Firebase Console under the same roof to begin programming. It recently added Vertex AI and Generative AI to its ‘build products’ to streamline the app development.  

Conclusion

Firebase is one of the leading cloud computing platforms that grants users a wide range of server-side functionalities.

Unlike other BaaS vendors, it doesn’t come with constrained products. Yes, it provides its users with all services, from real-time DBs, auth, cloud functions, and ML capabilities. 

However, many developers are still confused about Firebase’s benefits for app development. Thus, this article presents one of the major Firebase perks comprehensively.

We have discussed its cost-efficient pricing structure, instant scalability, real-time capabilities, and much more.

Hopefully, this detailed guide will help you explore Google Firebase’s pros from top to bottom.