- In this video, I'm gonna give you a
quick overview Google's new analytics tool
Firebase Analytics,
which is made with mobile apps in mind.
We will take a look at a sample implementation
and I'll walk you through the new interface.
All the more coming up right after this.
Hi there and welcome to another video of Measureschool.com
where we teach you the data driven way of digital marketing.
My name is Julian and on this channel
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Now a little while back, Google introduced Firebase
as its new tool set for mobile app developers
to build, grow, and monetize their mobile apps.
A bit hidden was the announcement of Firebase Analytics
which integrates very well into these new tools and services
that Firebase provides.
And it really caters to this new mobile centric world.
The only confusing part of this whole introduction
was that Google already has a standing analytic suite
with Google Analytics, which also works with
mobile apps.
Adding to all of this, Google Tag manager
got a new form of implementation
which piggy backs actually
on the Firebase SDK.
But let's take a closer look
and how we can integrate Firebase
and use it to measure our mobile apps.
All right today our journey stars at Firebase.Google.com
the official home of the Firebase suite
and we will take a look what Firebase exactly is.
There is a great overview here
because Firebase is actually a suite of different tools
that will help mobile app developers
to develop, grow, and earn more money
with their mobile apps.
All these different tools are available
to the developer to use in their mobile apps.
At the heart of Firebase is
the analytics suite.
As you can imagine, all these different tools
can be used and also tracked with the
analytics component of Firebase.
They integrate very well.
So if you for example use the authentication feature
or the test lab feature of Firebase,
you will be able to later measure the data
in Firebase Analytics as well.
So let's get started on installing Firebase
on a test app.
Let's go over here to get started.
We will go over to our console
which is the Firebase console.
Here you see all your projects
and for a new project we'll simply create one.
Give this a name.
And then choose our preferred method of installing it.
You can install Firebase on iOS devices,
Android devices and also web apps
although the analytics suite is not available
on the normal web app calls.
I don't know if it is gonna be available at some point
but anyways we have Google Analytics
available for measuring web apps correctly.
Now in our case, I have built a little Android app here
so let's install this on an Android device.
We need to have our package name,
which we usually can find throughout our application
when you've installed it.
Give it a nickname.
And optionally you can add your charone key.
This is only necessary if you want to use the
authentication features of Firebase.
Now this will generate a JSON file for you.
This is the Google services file
which needs to be installed in your app folder
of your app.
I have already done this.
And as you can see,
it is then available in my Android studio
and this is configuration file
for Firebase Analytics which we need to include into
our app as well.
Now there are certain steps we need to follow.
First of all, we will need to add dependency
to our build gradle within our Android Studio,
so I've already done this
but just to show you here is the build gradle file.
If I've added the Google services here
and this also needs to be done within the app folder
on the build gradle,
where you need to add the plugin to reference the
Google services.
Additionally to this,
you will need to add the dependency of Firebase.
So any dependency here,
I've added the dependency of the Firebase core file.
Once this is added, you need to sync your gradle files.
Then Firebase ready to use in your app.
Now how can we start measuring data with Firebase Analytics.
There are a few more steps to go through
which all are described pretty well in the documentation of
Firebase.
After we have installed the Firebase SDK,
we need to add the Firebase core files
which we have already done
but then we need to initiate Firebase Analytics.
We need to give it a private variable
and then initialize it within
instant of this Firebase Analytics
in our main activity.
Let's go over to our Android Studio
and kick into the main activity of our app.
And I've already given 5ACA private variable
that we need to initiate,
which I've done on this line as well.
Now if I start my app, and I don't get any errors
this will already be sending data over
to our Firebase Analytics suite.
Now it is a little bit hard to see
what's going on under the hood
but you can enable web host login
for your Android console
so you know when events get sent over or errors occur.
For that you need to execute
some commands described in the documentation as well.
And then you can see in your Android monitor here
what data has been locked.
So for example here, Firebase is initialized successfully
and starting to measure data
and automatically we already collecting when the app
is first opened.
If there are different users
you would have account of all the users
who are using your app
and activity connected to that such as
first open or how many times it has been open
in a timeframe.
This is all send over to Firebase Analytics automatically
and we should be already able to see the
data in Firebase Analytics.
Unfortunately it takes quite a while to populate
the data in our console.
This is due to the nature of how mobile apps work
and how data gets sent over to Firebase
so you need to stay patient.
It can take a few hours to be populated.
Fortunately I have already built a demo account here,
where we can see how many active users are using this app
and their activity.
Now what if you wanted to log any other data,
custom data that is important for your app
that goes beyond the open event for example.
There are certain calls that you can use
to log events within Firebase Analytics.
They are all described again in the documentation here.
What you need to do is open up a new bundle,
fill this bundle with your parameters
and then send over a log event call to
Firebase Analytics.
Now Firebase already has some predefined events
that you can use.
These predefined events are special for eCommerce
and different kind of apps.
But you can also use your custom setup
and send in events by yourself.
To demonstrate that I have built in here a
click listener for our buttons
on our main activity.
And again I'm opening up here a new bundle
and then sending in the parameters for the button ID.
I have different cases here.
Which button gets clicked is transferred into
that button ID field
and then in the end I'm sending over a log event
to Firebase Analytics
which holds the button name.
You can see again what is happening
in our monitor here when we click a button.
We see an event gets send over to Firebase Analytics.
That should again transfer into the app.
This takes a while.
In our demo app here, I have some events logged.
You can see the count
and from here you can also define it
as a conversion which will later help you
analyze the data within Firebase Analytics.
Now what would these reports look like if they are filled?
Well Google actually gives us a Firebase demo project
that you can also get access to
which holds data for a real life app called Flooded.
Let's go into the analytics here.
And have a look at the data.
We see it is quite different from Google Analytics
but we can still choose our data entered here
and get some useful reports about the activity
of the user.
The revenue if you send in any revenue data.
Automatic data that is collected also by
pulling in data from the Google Play services
such as where did your user come from
when he installed your app.
Retention cohorts.
How your user is engaged with your app
and if you sent in custom data,
such as revenue and purchase information
you will also be able to get this report filled.
Of course some data about the technology
that is running, which app version is running,
the devices and data such as the location
and demographics of the user.
Now additionally you can set up filters.
You can define audiences.
If you send in events,
you have certain attribution
that you can also filter down on in terms of networks
that would be if you want to install
for example conversion tracking for AdWords,
you can build funnels
and look at a visualization.
Define cohorts
and if your users have different properties
that you have send in
you can also manage them from here.
There you have a quick overview
on how to install Firebase Analytics
and how it can be used to measure your apps.
There you have it.
This is how you can install Firebase
on your mobile app.
At this stage, I would recommend to use Firebase Analytics
for new mobile apps if you want to track them.
Although it doesn't have quite all the features
that we are used to from a Google Analytics.
That said, it is apparent that Google
heavily invests into Firebase
and wants it to be a success.
I'm not really quite sure about the
standing of Google Analytics for mobile apps
at this point in time.
Are you interested in learning more about Firebase?
Then check out this great Firebase channel
by the folks at Google that is mainly catered
to developers but still has some very good information
about how Firebase works and how you can track things
with Firebase Analytics.
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My name is Julian.
Until next time.