The simpler and more comprehensive, the more effective: that’s the premise of Firebase. Experienced developers employ this platform to design, enhance, and solidify their mobile applications and websites. Its benefits are also available to you, dear publisher, if you want to manage, optimize, or design new applications with fluidity, reliability, and efficiency.
These possibilities stem from the integration of indispensable functionalities for developing an application from scratch. This is crucial in a competitive, rapidly expanding environment: there are nearly 5 million mobile applications on the Google Play Store alone. The competition is fierce, and you can’t afford to waste time with your development.
Once you familiarize yourself with Firebase, what it offers, and how it can assist your development team, you’ll see opportunities where there were once difficulties, expenses, and delays.
Firebase and its path to becoming an all-in-one integration
When this platform was born 13 years ago, it functioned as a real-time database solution aimed at mobile applications and websites. This was its operation until 2014 when Google acquired the company founded by Andrew Lee and James Tamplin.
Following its acquisition by the California-based technology company, Firebase expanded by adding new developer-focused features such as building, launching, monitoring, and engaging with the app. Thus, it solidifies itself as an all-in-one integration to facilitate the design of applications of various scopes.
All-in-one integration for backend development
The functionalities integrated into Firebase make it a Backend as a Service (BaaS) platform with everything necessary to build the technological structure of an application. With this tool, you can solve your development, growth, monetization, and analytics needs easily.
Thus, you can focus more tranquilly on the frontend development of your app, the face you present to your potential users. Behind that pleasant interface seen in thousands of applications lies the proper integration of programming languages, frameworks, databases, and security components without major delays or complications.
By simplifying processes, Firebase not only saves you time but also provides tested mechanisms to ensure that your application will operate at its fullest capacity and meet the needs of your users. This is crucial if you use your application to monetize via programmatic advertising.
Firebase Functionalities: What’s the Hook that Attracts Great Developers
In 13 years of continuous growth, this platform expanded its reach by incorporating tools aimed at facilitating the development of application infrastructure, getting them up and running, analyzing their behavior, and optimizing their performance. Several of these functionalities are also supported by other Google resources.
Thus, Firebase offers you products for building, monitoring, launching, and engaging, a reflection of this platform’s comprehensive view of your challenges as a developer.
#1 Start your development without managing servers and with high scalability possibilities
If you lack the resources to maintain servers, you can forget about that problem thanks to Cloud Functions. With this serverless framework, you configure the backend of your application, work with codes like Python, and host your development on Google Cloud.
This platform also facilitates the maintenance of your application, as it frees you from tasks such as server setup or dismantling; it protects the privacy of your app’s logic and facilitates the programming and execution of new functions. Do you want to test a functionality before putting it online? You have a local emulator to conduct your evaluations.
These technical conveniences support one of Firebase’s main attractions, which is scalability. As your development becomes more complex and grows in users, it operates without technical difficulties imposed by a physical server.
In addition to these advantages, you will have the possibility to access NoSQL databases, choose different data retrieval methods, and synchronize data across different devices with or without connection. For that, you will have access to tools like Realtime Database, App Check, authentication solutions, and hosting.
Do you think you’ll only enjoy these advantages if you start your development from scratch? Not at all: your development can migrate to Firebase. That’s what Hawkin Dynamics, a company dedicated to software and hardware development in biomechanics, did when transitioning from Firebase Realtime Database to Cloud Firestore. In two weeks, they were able to develop new applications with 2,500 fewer lines of code.
#2 Launch, Monitor, and Optimize Your Applications from an Integrated Platform
Launching an application online is like competing to qualify for the Olympics: you have to overcome tests that push our capabilities to the limit, break records, and be ready for more challenges. For that reason, Firebase integrates products designed to evaluate and monitor your app to the highest industry standards. Checking how your development operates is crucial for the growth of your user community and your foray into programmatic advertising.
Before launch, you can use Test Lab, useful for detecting operational errors from devices that emulate real environments. Do you also want the opinion of trusted verifiers? Connect with them through App Distribution, which organizes lists for beta version distribution and generates statistics of interest to measure the behavior of your development before its launch.
Once the application’s operability is confirmed, you must focus on its performance. At this point, you can rely on Performance Monitoring, designed to review in real-time the operability of your development, network performance, and errors affecting user experience (UX).
In building your profile as a publisher, you can also benefit from Google Analytics. It offers free reports of at least 500 events of interest. User behavior, smartphone platform performance, segmentation, optimization, and campaign evaluation are tasks that you can fulfill with this product.
When it comes to improving your app’s performance, you can rely on Crashlytics, which detects stability issues in real-time, and Remote Config, ideal for incorporating new functions securely.
#3 Interact with Your Community and Continuously Improve UX
Strengthening an app in use is possible with Firebase, which is also a platform aimed at maximizing the engagement of user communities. Along with Remote Config and Google Analytics, you will also have tools available to leverage the interaction of those who immerse themselves in your app. How your development is used is an engine for your growth as a publisher.
Firebase incorporates A/B Testing, a product designed to test adjustments in your app and see their impact on metrics, and In-App Messaging, to send segmented, effective, and personalized messages so that users complete specific actions.
This service is used by companies like the Swiss media company Tamedia, which increased the number of subscribers to premium news services with personalized messages. To produce and send them, they took into account user behavior in the BZ application, where subscriptions increased by 29%, and 24Heures, where an 8% increase was reported.
In addition to customizing app elements, the platform incorporates products to configure secure authentication systems, quickly implement, and tailor them to the user. Among them is FirebaseUI Auth, which offers recommendations for websites and mobile devices.
If you require advanced resources for user protection, you have Google Cloud Identity Platform. This tool implements user lockout and authentication functions with multiple factors.
Firebase includes extensions for other segmentation and customization tasks for the experience in your app, such as syncing with Mailchimp, a comprehensive tool for email marketing.
How Major Brands Use Firebase in Their Developments
The all-in-one features of this platform are tested daily by thousands of companies. Educational, informational, entertainment, health, tourism, among others, grow their user communities with the continuous optimization resources offered by Firebase.
#1 Crazylabs: Games Tested for Optimal Performance
Discovering and testing games that are potential hits is the goal of this company, with over 100 million active users per month. With that community, Crazylabs tested up to 15 games at the same time to discover their potential, minimize them, and implement mechanisms such as in-app purchases. This implies precise segmentation work.
To carry out these tasks, they used internal solutions and third-party tools that did not respond as quickly as desired. For that reason, they decided to develop their tests with Firebase Remote Config and export the test results with BigQuery, another Firebase extension.
The result? They doubled the number of games they test at the same time and reduced the period to identify the best configurations for each one to one week.
#2 Le Figaro Increased Subscriptions to Boost Its Business Model with Firebase
The consumption of journalistic content is changing radically: media must go after their audience. That’s what the French newspaper Le Figaro understood, which set out to implement a retention plan for 22 million users in 11 mobile applications and websites, as well as 120,000 subscribers to paid services.
With the goal of increasing revenue, the newspaper used Firebase Cloud Messaging to boost tracking of journalists and topics developed by the media. To determine the ideal subscription payment margin, they used Firebase A/B Testing, and to know which journalistic product provided the best performance, they used Cloud Firestore.
These strategies allowed them to discover the potential of infographics to triple and maintain paid subscriptions to Le Figaro.
#3 Gameloft: Better Experience for Players with Firebase Crashlytics
Having 80 million users per month requires Gameloft’s platform to correct any failures immediately. However, the reports their development teams received were incomplete, making it difficult to trace the origin of these problems and fix them.
Thus, they chose to use Firebase Crashlytics to receive more complete reports, to prioritize elements to optimize and continue providing adequate UX, launching new features, and securing the stability of each game. The result? The duration of player sessions increased by 16%.
What Else Does Firebase Offer for Developing Your Application?
In addition to the building, launching, monitoring, and interaction products, Firebase incorporates extensions to other applications for managing team work. Also, it integrates with various web and mobile application development tools.
#1 Operates in Different Application Development Environments
Through its SDK, it is possible to use Firebase for the development of applications that work on iOS and Android, the main operating systems of mobile devices. It can also integrate with Unity, one of the most widely used flexible environments for developing video games, and it is compatible with the C++ language.
#2 Integrates Tools to Boost Developer Team Productivity
Keep your workflow organized by incorporating Slack, BigQuery, and Data Studio. If you want to monetize your app, incorporate Google Ads, AdMob, and Google Marketing Platform. And if you want to add tools to improve the stability of your development, add Android Studio.
#3 Learn More with the User Community and Firebase Documentation
You can exchange knowledge with other developers, resolve doubts, and contribute experiences to promote best practices on this platform. Likewise, access guides, codelabs, reference documentation, and quick start guides.
Ready to Boost Your App with Firebase? Grow Your Development and Get Ready to Monetize More with Wortise
Using platforms like Firebase is key to advancing in the competitive world of mobile applications. Having a robust and attractive development makes a difference in programmatic advertising. Any failure takes you out of the race as a publisher. While you optimize your app, we help you maximize your earnings.
We connect you with over 100 Ad Networks, offer the highest eCPM on the market, and provide personalized support to address any doubts related to in-app monetization tasks.
