The Firebase faithful were rewarded yesterday with news of new authentication tools for iOS, Android, and Web environments, new integration with Google?EU?s hosting services, more simultaneous user connections, additional support for Android game developers, and new real-time analytics to allow developers to view events as they appear in their apps.
The most significant development for Firebase stems from its recent acquisition of Fabric, a mobile app development platform from Twitter. The deal, which was announced in January, brought Fiber and its Crashlytics tool into Firebase, and developers have been eager to see what Google would do with its new toys.
Although it's still early days for the integration between the two platforms, the Firebase team announced that it had already relaunched Fabric?EU?s popular Digits tool. Now rebranded as Firebase Auth, the new feature became available yesterday for both iOS and Web apps, with Android support rolling out over the next few weeks.
Firebase Auth is a smartphone authentication function that allows developers to include the ability to authenticate a user?EU?s identity by using the individual's phone number with a single click. Firebase Auth verifies that the phone number submitted by a user is registered with the app, then texts a one-time authentication code to that phone.
Google said that Firebase Auth includes all of the benefits that Digits provided, while bringing new advantages to the table, such as greater stability, thanks to the addition of Google?EU?s own telephony and login technology. The company is also providing a headless API for the tool, allowing developers to fully customize the interface to fit with the needs of their...