Firebase

Firebase, Inc.[1] is a set of backend cloud computing services and application development platforms provided by Google. It hosts databases, services, authentication, and integration for a variety of applications, including Android, iOS, JavaScript, Node.js, Java, Unity, PHP, and C++.

This article is about Google's cloud computing and development platform. For Google's other cloud computing offerings, see Google Cloud. For other uses, see Firebase (disambiguation).
Firebase, Inc.
IndustryComputing and development tools
FoundedSeptember 13, 2010
Headquarters
United States Edit this on Wikidata
Products
  • Building
    • Cloud Firestore
    • Firebase ML
    • Cloud Functions
    • Authentication
    • Hosting
    • Cloud Storage
    • Realtime Database
  • Quality
    • Crashlytics
    • Performance Monitoring
    • Test Lab
    • App Distribution
  • Business
    • In-App Messaging
    • Google Analytics
    • Predictions
    • A/B Testing
    • Cloud Messaging
    • Remote Config
    • Dynamic Links
ParentGoogle
Websitefirebase.google.com

History

Firebase evolved from Envolve, a prior startup founded by James Tamplin and Andrew Lee in 2011. Envolve provided developers an API that enables the integration of online chat functionality into their websites. After releasing the chat service, Tamplin and Lee found that it was being used to pass application data that were not chat messages. Developers were using Envolve to sync application data such as game state in real time across their users. Tamplin and Lee decided to separate the chat system and the real-time architecture that powered it.[2] They founded Firebase as a separate company in 2011 and it launched to the public in April 2012.[3]

Firebase's first product was the Firebase Realtime Database, an API that synchronizes application data across iOS, Android, and Web devices, and stores it on Firebase's cloud. The product assists software developers in building real-time, collaborative applications.

In May 2012, a month after the beta launch, Firebase raised $1.1 million in seed funding from venture capitalists Flybridge Capital Partners, Greylock Partners, Founder Collective, and New Enterprise Associates.[4] In June 2013, the company further raised $5.6 million in Series A funding from Union Square Ventures and Flybridge Capital Partners.[5]

In 2014, Firebase launched two products: Firebase Hosting[6] and Firebase Authentication.[7] This positioned the company as a mobile backend as a service.

In October 2014, Firebase was acquired by Google.[8] A year later, in October 2015, Google acquired Divshot, an HTML5 web-hosting platform, to merge it with the Firebase team.[9]

In May 2016, at Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference, Firebase introduced Firebase Analytics and announced that it was expanding its services to become a unified backend-as-a-service (BaaS) platform for mobile developers. Firebase now integrates with various other Google services, including Google Cloud Platform, AdMob, and Google Ads to offer broader products and scale for developers.[10] Google Cloud Messaging, the Google service to send push notifications to Android devices, was superseded by a Firebase product, Firebase Cloud Messaging, which added the functionality to deliver push notifications to Android, iOS and web devices.

In July 2016, Google announced that it was acquiring the mobile developer platform LaunchKit,[11] which specialized in app developer marketing, and would be folding it into the Firebase Growth Tools team. In January 2017, Google acquired Fabric and Crashlytics from Twitter to add those services to Firebase.[12]

In October 2017, Firebase launched Cloud Firestore, a real-time document database as the successor product to the original Firebase Realtime Database.[13][14][15][16]

User privacy controversies

Firebase has been claimed to be used by Google to track users without their knowledge. On July 14, 2020, a lawsuit was filed accusing Google of violating federal wire tap law and California privacy law. It stated that through Firebase, Google collected and stored user data, logging what the user was looking at in many types of apps, despite the user following Google's own instructions to turn off the web and app activity collected by the company.[17] The lawsuit was dismissed in January 2022, with Chief US District Judge Richard Seeborg ruling that a promise to avoid collecting user data did not amount to a contract.[18]

References
  1. "Firebase, Inc". OpenCorporates. September 13, 2010. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
  2. Melendez, Steven (May 27, 2014). "Sometimes You're Just One Hop From Something Huge". fastcompany. Fast Company. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  3. Metz, Cade (April 12, 2012). "Firebase Does for Apps What Dropbox Did for Docs". Wired. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  4. Ha, Anthony (May 22, 2012). "Firebase Raises $1.1M For Real-Time App Infrastructure". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  5. Darrow, Barb (June 6, 2013). "Firebase gets $5.6M to launch its paid product and fire up its base". Gigaom. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  6. Lardonis, Frederic (May 13, 2014). "Firebase Adds Web Hosting To Its Database Platform". Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  7. "Firebase Auth". Firebase, Inc. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  8. Tamplin, James. "Firebase is Joining Google!". Firebase, Inc. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  9. Olanoff, Drew (October 13, 2015). "Google Acquires Divshot To Join Its Firebase Team, Will Shut Down In December". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  10. Tamplin, James (May 18, 2016). "Firebase expands to become a unified app platform". Firebase, Inc. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  11. "Google acquires LaunchKit to make life easier for Android developers". The Next Web. July 27, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  12. Wagner, Kurt; Townsend, Tess (January 18, 2017). "Google has acquired most of Twitter's developer products, including Fabric and Crashlytics". Recode. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  13. "Google launches Cloud Firestore, a new document database for app developers". TechCrunch. October 3, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  14. "Google Announces Firestore, a Document Database". InfoQ. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  15. "Firebase is launching Cloud Firestore, a new document database featuring realtime sync, no-hassle scaling, and offline support". Android Police. October 3, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  16. "Google's Cloud Firestore Lets You Focus On App Development | Androidheadlines.com". AndroidHeadlines.com |. October 5, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  17. "Google faces lawsuit over tracking in apps even when users opted out". Reuters. July 14, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  18. "US federal judge dismisses breach of contract claims in privacy class action against Google". www.jurist.org. January 27, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
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