Linking your Firebase Android App to a Google Play developer account enables the following:
- App Distribution: support for Android App Bundles (AAB)
- When you upload an app bundle to App Distribution, it’s exported to Google Play to generate an APK that's optimized for your tester's device configuration. Learn more.
- Crashlytics: share app and crash data
- Access your app and stability data from Google Play in Crashlytics for a richer view into your app’s health. Your Crashlytics data may also power features in the Play Console. Learn more.
- Google Analytics: share in-app purchase and subscription data
- Access your in-app purchase and subscription data from Google Play in Firebase and Google Analytics. Learn more.
Link to Google Play
Prerequisites
Make sure that your app meets the following requirements:
- The app is registered with your Firebase project and your Google Play developer account. This means that you have both a Firebase Android App and a Google Play app.
- The app in Google Play and the Firebase Android App are both registered using the same package name.
- (Firebase-product integrations) The app in Google Play is setup on the app dashboard, and it has the following status:
- The app is distributed on one of the following Google Play tracks: Internal testing, Closed testing, Open testing, or Production.
- (App Distribution only) The app's review in Google Play is complete and the app is published. Your app is published if the App status column displays one of the following statuses: Internal (not Draft Internal Testing), Closed testing, Open testing, or Production.
- (Google Analytics integration) Your Firebase project is linked to a GA4 property.
How to link
Note that your Google Play developer account can be linked to multiple Firebase Android Apps (even in separate Firebase projects), but each Firebase Android App can only be linked to a single Google Play developer account.
To see which Firebase projects and Firebase Android Apps are linked to your developer account, go to the Linked services section of your account in the Google Play Console.
Here's how to link a Firebase Android App to a Google Play developer account via the Firebase console:
- Sign in to Firebase, then select your project.
- Click
, then select Project Settings.
- On the Project Settings page, click the Integrations tab.
- On the Google Play card, click Link.
If you already have links to Google Play, click Manage instead. - Follow the on-screen instructions to select which product integrations to enable and which Firebase Android Apps to link to Google Play.
Unlink from Google Play
You have three options for unlinking Google Play: unlinking Google Play entirely from all apps in your Firebase project, unlinking all apps for a specific product integration, or unlinking specific apps for a specific product integration.
The following will happen for an app that's unlinked:
- Any data previously exported may remain accessible in the recipient product(s).
- All data exports between Firebase and Google Play through the applicable product integrations will stop.
- If the app was linked via the App Distribution integration, you will no longer be able to upload new app bundles to App Distribution and export them to Google Play via the App Distribution integration.
- If the app was linked via the Google Analytics integration, all exports of in-app-purchase and subscription data between Google Play and Google Analytics through this integration will stop.
Here's how to unlink from Google Play via the Firebase console:
- Sign in to Firebase, then select your project.
- Click
- On the Project Settings page, click the Integrations tab.
- On the Google Play card, click Manage.
- Unlink all apps or specific apps from Google Play:
- Unlink all apps: At the bottom of the page, click Unlink
- Unlink all apps for a specific product integration: Switch off the toggle for the specific product
- Unlink specific app(s): Click open the specific product, then deselect the app(s) that you want to unlink
- Confirm that you want to unlink.
Required permissions and suggested roles
To view or manage links to Google Play, you must have the required level of access.
If you don't have the necessary Firebase access, you can ask a Firebase project Owner to assign you the applicable role via the Firebase console IAM settings. If you have questions about accessing your Firebase project, including finding or assigning an Owner, review the "Permissions and access to Firebase projects" FAQs.
Project-level
The following table applies to the top-level unlinking and viewing of a Firebase project's integrations with Google Play.
| Action in Firebase console | Required IAM permission | IAM roles that include required permission by default | Additional required roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlink all Firebase Android Apps from Google Play |
|
none | |
| View the existing links to Google Play | firebase.playLinks.list |
|
none |
Google Analytics
The following table applies specifically to the Google Analytics integration with Google Play.
| Action in Firebase console | Required IAM permission | IAM roles that include required permission by default | Additional required roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| View the existing links to Google Play | firebase.playLinks.list |
|
none |
| Link a specific Firebase Android App with a Google Play developer account |
|
|
|
| Unlink a specific Firebase Android App from a Google Play developer account | firebase.playLinks.update |
See note below |
Note: To give you more control over your data flow, the access required to unlink is based on where you perform the action:
- To unlink a specific app via the Firebase console, you need the access described in the table above.
- To unlink a specific app via the Google Analytics UI, you need the explicit Administrator or Editor role for the linked Google Analytics property. However, Firebase or Google Play access is not required.
- To unlink a specific app via the Google Play Console, you only need the developer account Admin role. However, Firebase or Google Analytics access is not required.
Firebase products
The following table applies to any of the Firebase products for which you can enable an integration with Google Play (for example, App Distribution or Crashlytics).
| Action in Firebase console | Required IAM permission | IAM roles that include required permission by default | Additional required roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| View the existing links to Google Play | firebase.playLinks.list |
|
none |
| Link a specific Firebase Android App with a Google Play developer account |
|
Google Play: account Admin |
|
| Unlink a specific Firebase Android App from a Google Play developer account | firebase.playLinks.update |
Google Play: account Admin See note below |
Note: To give you more control over your data flow, the access required to unlink is based on where you perform the action:
- To unlink a specific app via the Firebase console, you need the access described in the table above.
- To unlink a specific app via the Google Play Console, you only need the developer account Admin role. Firebase access is not required.