Using Firebase

April 5, 2017

Lately I've been messing around with Google Firebase as a backend database. Although it was a bit daunting at first, but as I continue to work with it, I find it easier to use.

Over the past spring break, I began working on a iOS chat app, Embell, where users can create group chat rooms and can send an alert to everyone by pressing on a bell shaped image. When I started this project, I knew I had to use some backend service to store all the data, and since I've heard about Firebase, I figured I would check out the Firebase API. It took some time to understand the API, but I was able to quickly pick it up while experimenting with it on swift.

Last weekend, my friend and I attended the TribeHacks Hackathon down at the college of William and Mary. My friend came up with an idea where I was able to implement Google Firebase in an android app that we were creating. Compared to using Firebase with swift, it took me a bit more time to understand how to use it with java. I found the swift version to me clearer and much more intuitive than with java.

Despite only working with this database for a few weeks, I definitely like using Google Firebase as a mobile backend service and I continue to learn more as I further develop with it.