This article was translated from Japanese by Claude Code.
This article is for those using BaaS services like Firebase who might feel discouraged when needed features aren’t supported, saying “This feature apparently isn’t supported… orz”. This is an article recommending “Try contacting support anyway—it’s worth a shot!”
TL;DR#
If you encounter problems or need features while using a service, try contacting support.
Firebase support is polite in their responses. (Fast response times and frequent follow-ups with updates = generally responsive.)
(For Firebase specifically) You can send feedback or feature requests via Firebase Support.
Many engineers developing applications use Firebase.
Firebase is a tool that provides a set of features to help with mobile app development (including games) and web application development, and to expand existing app business.
Originally, Firebase was developed independently by Firebase, Inc., but Google acquired it in October 2014. (Google I/O 2015, 2016, and 2017 had many Firebase-related sessions.) Also, Twitter announced selling Fabric to Google in January 2017, and migration from Fabric to Firebase Crash Reporting has been recommended since. (I haven’t done it yet..)
About Firebase Support#
With Firebase, when using the console or developing features, I’ve had moments where I wondered “Is this feature not provided? Isn’t it supported?” A couple of times, I searched and went through FAQs but couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I sent emails to support. The tone was like “Do you have plans to provide feature XX?” or “It would be great if we could do XX…”
The person in charge responded with something like “Thanks for reaching out! I’ll check with the engineering team and get back to you, so please wait a moment.”
The response email came back the same day, leaving the impression that feedback was very fast. In my case, I was able to learn whether the support is already scheduled, whether it’s planned but implementation timing is undetermined, or whether it’s not currently planned. While the features I requested aren’t necessarily always supported, sharing this kind of timeline information with developers is very appreciated.
So, (not just for Firebase,) if you’re using BaaS services like Firebase and have something bothering you, I recommend casually reaching out to support first.
That’s all!
In Closing#
Lots of explanation and presentation videos about Firebase are uploaded to Firebase’s YouTube channel.
SDKs are provided for each platform, and using these SDKs allows you to easily incorporate features into your application that would normally take significant time and money to develop from scratch.
For a list and details of provided features, see the documentation below:
The applications we develop and maintain at work use Realtime Database, Authentication, and Cloud Messaging.
※I’m really promoting Firebase, but I’m not a Firebase representative.