Imagine this, you have an idea that could be the next big thing.

You're so excited to get working on it.

Immediately, you shoot out a text to a few of your developer

buddies trying to spur some excitement amongst them and get them to help you out.

Before you know it,

you guys are hacking away on the app prototype in your basement.

Sleep is replaced by seemingly gallons of coffee and energy drinks, and

you all lose track of time.

You've got the interface looking perfect, animations are smooth.

And you've even stirred up some excitement on social media.

This is it, we're gonna be huge, you think to yourself.

Just one minor issue, nobody has set up the back-end yet.

How are we going to authenticate our users?

What about storage for their awesome cat pictures?

[SOUND] How about user communication?

How are you going to grow user engagement with your app?

How will you even know how many people are using the app?

What about crashes?

We're all highly competent developers, but maybe a bug sneaks through our QA process.

Early on that's bound to happen, right?

There are about a million different Android phones we need to test this on to

make sure we don't frustrate any of our user base.

How are we going to get our hands on all of those devices for testing?

I know, I know, perhaps that's something you should have planned for

before you got hacking.

But hey, we're all guilty of poor planning at some point in our lives.

Just roll with me here in this hypothetical example.

These are all questions that should come up when putting together the next hot app.

Luckily, one of your developers begins to vaguely recall a presentation about

something called Firebase.

Immediately the Google foo intensifies, and your team begins realizing that

Firebase is the perfect solution to all of the issues you currently face.

Firebase's motto is Develop, Grow and Earn.

And after all, isn't that everyone's goal?

The realtime Database, cloud messaging, authentication, cloud Storage, and

hosting all provide you with the tools to focus on development and

let them handle the back-end specifics.

With analytics, remote configuration capabilities,

push notifications, Google app indexing, dynamic links,

and app invites, you can grow your application beyond your wildest dreams.

After you've developed your app and tweaked it to perfection,

Firebase's integration with AdMob will help the cash start flowing in.

Okay, so that works great if you're trying to be the next big startup.

But what if you're a project manager for an established organization trying to

make a decision on how to add a particular feature to your team's application?

Is Firebase a good fit for you?

The answer is, without a doubt, absolutely.

Due to the modular nature of Firebase you can use whichever of its features that

suit your use case.

Imagine there was an app used by billions that let you read 159 characters of

someone's thoughts at a time?

Revolutionary, I know.

What if their team wanted to test how user behavior would change if they wanted to

allow a specific demographic of their users to post 200 characters at a time

instead?

Firebase remote config would easily allow them to select a demographic

to allow such a thing.

How about an app that allows you to give strangers rides to try to replace taxis?

What if they wanted to send push notifications whenever their drivers were

close to picking up their passengers?

Firebase push notifications would work perfectly for that.

Firebase offers features for every use case.

I hope I've begun to shed some light on how it can benefit you and your team.

Another thing that makes Firebase so user friendly is it's scaling capabilities.

Let's check out some information on Firebase's pricing model.

Feel free to follow along with the link in the teacher's notes.

Included free without limits are analytics, Google app indexing,

authentication, cloud messaging, crash reporting,

dynamic links, app invites, push notifications and remote config.

Just imagine all the time you would save by not having to create that functionality

in your app from scratch.

All the other features, including the realtime database, storage, hosting, and

test lab, include generous free quotas that you would more than likely never have

to worry about for hobby projects and proof-of-concept projects.

The free tier for the realtime database comes with the ability for

a hundred users to connect simultaneously, use 1 GB of storage, and

allow users to download 10 GB per month.

There is also a monthly payment plan with higher limits.

And if neither the free tiered nor

the monthly paid plans suit your needs, there's a pay as you go plan.

I know it's always nice to get free stuff.

But as my grandpa used to say, if you're not paying taxes, you're not making money.

So rather than being sad that you have to pay money if you cross a certain

threshold, take that as a sign of success that your app has made it and

you're in the big times now.

I hope these two videos have helped convince you that Firebase is a valuable

tool for your development life cycle.

Continue on to our platform-specific workshops in the teacher's notes to learn

how to start using Firebase today.