#Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
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Common Challenges in Mobile App Development Services and How to Overcome Them
In today’s digital-first world, mobile applications are central to how we interact with brands, services, and technology. As businesses race to meet consumer demand, the need for professional Mobile App Development Services has never been greater. However, developing a successful mobile app is a complex process with multiple challenges. From platform fragmentation to security and scalability, this blog outlines the common issues developers face and how to tackle them with modern solutions.
1. Platform Fragmentation: iOS, Android, and Beyond
One of the foremost challenges in Mobile App Development Services is the wide array of platforms and devices. iOS and Android dominate the market, but they have vastly different ecosystems, design standards, and user expectations.
The Problem: Developers must ensure that an app performs consistently across all devices and operating system versions. Maintaining separate codebases for each platform can also increase development time and costs.
The Solution: Embracing cross-platform development frameworks like Flutter, React Native, or Kotlin Multiplatform allows teams to write code once and deploy across multiple platforms with minimal friction. These tools offer native-like performance and reduce time-to-market significantly.
2. Choosing the Right Tech Stack
Selecting the wrong technology stack is a common pitfall that can lead to poor app performance and increased technical debt.
The Problem: A mismatch between the chosen technologies and the app’s requirements can make scaling difficult or result in a sluggish user experience.
The Solution: A professional Mobile App Development Services team conducts a thorough needs analysis before choosing technologies. The right tech stack should include scalable backend (Node.js, Django, or Firebase), high-performance databases (MongoDB, PostgreSQL), and cloud services (AWS, Azure, GCP) that align with the app’s goals.
3. Security and Data Privacy Concerns
With rising cyber threats and increasing regulations, app security is more critical than ever.
The Problem: Mobile apps often handle sensitive user data, making them targets for data breaches. Non-compliance with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA can result in legal penalties.
The Solution: Implement end-to-end encryption, use token-based authentication (OAuth2), and perform regular security audits. Secure APIs and trusted SDKs should be used. Partnering with experienced Mobile App Development Services ensures your app is compliant and secure from the ground up.
4. Performance Optimization
User expectations are high—if your app lags or crashes, users will uninstall it in seconds.
The Problem: Common issues include slow load times, high memory consumption, and frequent crashes—especially on low-end devices.
The Solution: Optimize images and assets, implement caching mechanisms, and minimize unnecessary background processes. Use tools like Firebase Performance Monitoring, AppDynamics, or New Relic to track real-time performance and fix bottlenecks before users notice them.
5. Scalability for Growth
Your app might perform well with a small user base, but what happens when it grows?
The Problem: Poorly designed apps often struggle to handle increased traffic or new features, leading to performance issues and downtime.
The Solution: Adopt a modular architecture and scalable backend services like AWS Lambda, Kubernetes, or Google Cloud Run. Microservices allow parts of your app to scale independently, ensuring seamless performance as user numbers grow.
6. Third-Party Integrations
Most apps require integration with payment gateways, analytics platforms, social media APIs, and more.
The Problem: These integrations can break due to API changes, SDK incompatibility, or lack of proper documentation, leading to unexpected app behavior.
The Solution: Use well-documented, stable SDKs and ensure version control. Conduct integration testing separately to isolate potential issues before deployment.
7. User Experience (UX) and UI Design
Great functionality is useless without an intuitive interface.
The Problem: Poor UX/UI can confuse users, resulting in high abandonment rates and negative reviews.
The Solution: Start with user research and create detailed user personas. Design wireframes and clickable prototypes using tools like Figma or Adobe XD. Follow platform-specific design systems such as Material Design (Android) and Apple Human Interface Guidelines (iOS) to ensure consistency and familiarity.
8. Continuous Testing and Maintenance
Launching the app is only the beginning.
The Problem: Many businesses underestimate the need for regular updates, bug fixes, and new feature rollouts. This can lead to outdated, vulnerable apps.
The Solution: Implement CI/CD pipelines using tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or Bitrise for automated testing and deployment. Set up crash reporting tools like Sentry or Crashlytics to monitor post-launch performance and ensure ongoing maintenance through a structured support plan.
Conclusion
Mobile app development is a journey fraught with challenges—from choosing the right tools to maintaining high security and ensuring a flawless user experience. However, these obstacles are manageable with the right strategies and technical expertise. Businesses that invest in reliable Mobile App Development Services position themselves for long-term success in the competitive app marketplace.
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Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking “Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps. Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes
Text
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
Choosing Between Firebase and Google Analytics SDKs for App Tracking
“Should we be using Firebase or Google Analytics?” – we get this question a lot regarding tracking behavior in mobile apps.
Even though the older Google Analytics mobile SDKs have officially been deprecated by Google and the analytics reports in Firebase have been rebranded to “Google Analytics for Firebase,” there is still a lot of confusion out there as to which analytics tool is the right one for the job.
The Google Analytics mobile SDKs are technically still supported, and offer traditional reporting methods you’re more likely to be familiar with – but Google Analytics for Firebase has a lot to offer as well, and is considered to be the future of mobile app tracking.
This post aims to help clarify the important differences between the two and provide some suggestions around using each platform.
Primary Differences
Let’s start out with some big-picture differences between the two, in no particular order.
1. Mobile Dev Platform vs Analytics-Specific Tool
The Firebase SDK is actually a mobile development platform, not just a standalone analytics tool. I have brought this up before, but it is important to understand that the analytics reports are just one set of tools in the Firebase platform, designed to integrate with other Firebase tools – such as Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions, Remote Config, etc.
This is one of the biggest ‘pros’ of Firebase as it allows for very useful integrations with other Firebase products. The new opportunities that these integrations present are essentially why the older Google Analytics SDKs have been deprecated.
2. Unlimited Event Logging Volume vs GA Hit Volume Limits/Costs
Firebase has NO LIMIT to the volume of events you can log. There are limits to the varieties of event names (up to 500 total), but as of now there are no fees for using Firebase for analytics, specifically.
Which leads me to my next point…
3. SLA?
No fees = no support. If an SLA is important to you, you’re out of luck with Google Analytics for Firebase as of now.
4. Reporting and the Data Models
Firebase uses an event-based data model, which results in reporting differences compared to those in traditional Google Analytics. Unlike traditional Google Analytics which has many screenview-oriented reports, in Firebase all reports are user- or event-focused.
In some ways, this can be a good thing – many apps do not really have a concept of a ‘page’ or ‘screen’ and instead revolve around activities the user can complete. It can also be much easier to deal with when doing analysis with BigQuery, for example (yes, there is a BigQuery import available). But for certain businesses, such as publishers for example, this data model might be more challenging to work with or require some getting used to.
There are a lot of differences in the reporting options between these two tools, such as:
No ability to create custom reports or dashboards in the Firebase interface
Limited amount of event parameters (50) can be seen in Firebase reports (plus you have to register them in order to see any, they don’t just appear in your reports)
Limit of 10 conversion events in Firebase (compared to 20 goals per view in legacy Google Analytics for apps)
But – you do get some automated event tracking with Firebase, such as for screenviews! If you’re looking for more differences between the two, you can read my earlier post:
Google Analytics for Firebase: A Reporting Introduction
By: Amanda Schroeder Published: October 12, 2017
Keep Reading >
5. Rolling Up Your Data
If you have both an iOS and an Android version of your app, the two would be tracked separately for Firebase. There is currently no option for rolling up data from various types of apps into one data set for reporting purposes – at least not without BigQuery.
You can link your Firebase data to BigQuery, but you may incur storage and querying costs.
Traditional Google Analytics allows you to collect data in one data set (property) if you’d like. This has been one of the primary cases for continuing to use Google Analytics. I have heard many complaints about this, but I am eager to see how Google might solve for this with future improvements to Firebase (not everyone is able to use BigQuery, unfortunately!). My colleague, Samantha Barnes, wrote a great starter guide for rolling up properties in Google Analytics if you’re unfamiliar.
How to Roll-Up your Data in Google Analytics
By: Samantha Barnes Published: February 3, 2015
Keep Reading >
6. Platform Support
Currently, Google Analytics for Firebase is available for iOS, Android, C++ and Unity, specifically – take a look at the documentation here. This support covers most platforms, but not quite all of them.
Consider OTT or “over the top” apps like Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV, for example. Many of these platforms can be configured for iOS or Android, for example, which Firebase supports. But if you’re working with Roku or Adobe AIR, for example, I’m not sure how much luck you’ll have. Just know that there are platforms out there that Firebase does not yet offer support for – so be sure to talk with your development team about this before getting your heart set on anything.
Firebase also does not offer a measurement protocol.
There are certain Firebase products designed for the web (HTML/JS) as well, but analytics is not currently a part of those offerings – so if you’re dealing with a hybrid app or progressive web app, you’ll probably have to get creative.
Still Not Sure?
If you’re still not sure which is the right tool for you, I suggest that you start by creating a game plan – outline each activity in your app and various user-related properties you may want to track for analysis purposes. Think about the data you will want and what type of reports you will need. The more you can start to plan for the analysis, the better idea you’ll have on what you’ll need out of your app tracking tool.
Some additional considerations:
Make sure you talk with your dev team about your particular apps – make sure there is support for them if you want to try Firebase and find out if any of your apps already have tracking set up with the GA SDK, for example. Switching to the Firebase event logging schema would require some work!
Consider whether you may have a need or interest for other Firebase products, even down the road – take a look at the offerings here (many of them are free). Firebase products are designed to be used together, such as to:
send a user a notification with Cloud Messaging to encourage them to re-engage with your app
customize an experience in the app using Remote Config based on certain events or actions the user takes in the app
perform A/B testing with Remote Config
create dynamic user audience lists based on Predictions and machine learning
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
There are a lot of benefits to each platform, so why not take advantage of both? We often do just that.
By installing the Firebase SDK and the Google Tag Manager SDK, you can start collecting data in both the Google Analytics for Firebase reports as well as in traditional Google Analytics (no GA SDK needed). This can be very helpful for a number of reasons:
Maybe you’re not yet comfortable with the reports in Firebase, so you want to have Google Analytics as your ‘back up’ for reporting purposes while you warm up to the event-based data model in Firebase
Maybe the reports you want (custom ones, for example) are simply not yet available in Firebase
Maybe you want an easy way to roll up your iOS & Android data
A hybrid approach using both platforms may provide additional benefits as well. If you wish to try this approach, check out some of our other blog posts on this topic – Getting Started w/Firebase Analytics & Hybrid App Tracking (instructions included in both!).
To further simplify the options, here is a table of what you need based on where you want to do your reporting:
If you want reports in: You should install: Firebase Firebase SDK Google Analytics GA SDK OR GTM SDK BOTH Firebase & Google Analytics Firebase SDK + GTM SDK
http://ift.tt/2Gu89X4
0 notes