How to Connect Firebase to Google Analytics

Viewing your mobile app’s raw event data inside a Firebase project is useful, but connecting it to Google Analytics unlocks a far more powerful way to analyze user behavior. This integration lets you visualize your app data, compare it to your website traffic, and build sophisticated remarketing audiences all in one place. This article will guide you through the exact steps to link your Firebase project to Google Analytics 4.

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Why Bother Connecting Firebase to Google Analytics?

On their own, Firebase and Google Analytics are powerful tools. Firebase specializes in providing the backend infrastructure for your app - handling everything from authentication and databases to crash reporting. Google Analytics, on the other hand, is built for measuring and analyzing user traffic and engagement. When you connect them, you get the best of both worlds.

The link creates a seamless data stream where all the valuable events you track in your app via the Firebase SDK are automatically sent to Google Analytics 4. Here’s why that’s a game-changer:

• Unified Cross-Platform Reporting: If you have both a website and a mobile app, GA4 can combine data from both into a single property. This gives you a holistic view of your customer journey, allowing you to see how users interact with your brand across different platforms.
• Advanced Analysis Tools: GA4’s Analysis Hub is miles ahead of basic Firebase analytics. Once your app data is flowing in, you can use advanced tools like Funnel exploration, Path exploration, and Segment overlap to understand user drop-off points, common navigation paths, and how different user groups behave.
• Smarter Audience Building: You can create highly specific audiences in GA4 based on your app event data (e.g., users who made a purchase, users who completed level 5, users who abandoned their cart). These audiences can be shared directly with your Google Ads account to run targeted remarketing campaigns.
• Better Attribution: Linking the two gives you access to GA4’s attribution modeling, helping you understand which marketing channels and campaigns are most effective at driving both app installs and valuable in-app actions.

Prerequisites Before You Get Started

Before diving into the steps, let’s quickly confirm you have everything you need in place. This process is straightforward, but it requires having the right accounts and permissions set up first.

Make sure you have:

• An active Firebase project. You should already have a project created in the Firebase console with the Firebase SDK installed in your mobile application.
• An existing Google Analytics 4 property. If you don't have one, don't worry - Firebase gives you the option to create one during the linking process. However, if you want to combine app data with an existing website's data, you'll need the GA4 property ready.
• The right permissions. To create the link, you'll need to have an Owner role in your Firebase project and at least an Editor role on the Google Analytics account where your property resides. This ensures you have the authority to modify settings and connect services on both ends.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Linking Firebase and GA4

Ready to make the connection? The entire process takes place within your Firebase console and typically takes less than five minutes. Follow these steps carefully.

Step 1: Go to Your Firebase Project Settings

First, log in to the Firebase console and select the project you want to connect to Google Analytics. Once you're on your project's dashboard, look for the gear icon ⚙️ next to Project Overview in the top-left navigation menu. Click it, then select Project settings from the dropdown menu.

Step 2: Navigate to the "Integrations" Tab

Inside the Project settings area, you will see several tabs at the top of the screen (General, Cloud Messaging, Integrations, etc.). Click on the Integrations tab to view a list of all available services you can connect to your Firebase project.

Step 3: Locate and Activate the Google Analytics Integration

On the Integrations page, you'll see a card for Google Analytics. It should be one of the first options. Find the card and click the Enable or Link button. If it says "Manage," it means your project is already linked to a GA4 property.

Once you click, a dialog box will appear, kicking off the linking process.

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Step 4: Choose Your Google Analytics Account

Here, Firebase will ask you to connect to a Google Analytics account. You have two primary options:

Option A: Create a New Google Analytics Account (or Property)

If you're starting fresh and don’t have a GA4 property for your app yet, this is the easiest route. Firebase can create a new property for you within a specified Google Analytics account. This new property will be automatically configured for Firebase and linked instantly.

Option B: Link to an Existing Google Analytics Account

This is the most common path, especially if you want to add your app's data to an existing GA4 property that already tracks your website. Select the "Choose an existing account" option. You’ll be presented with a dropdown list of all the Google Analytics accounts your Google login has access to. Select the correct GA account and then the specific GA4 property from the second dropdown list.

Pro Tip: Make sure you select a Google Analytics 4 property. A warning will appear if you accidentally choose an old Universal Analytics property, as the integration only works with GA4.

Step 5: Confirm the Link

Double-check that you’ve selected the correct Firebase project and the correct Google Analytics property. Once everything looks right, click the final Enable Google Analytics or Link to Analytics button.

And that’s it! You’ll see a success message confirming the connection. Firebase will now begin sending your app's event data over to your chosen GA4 property.

What Happens After You Link the Accounts?

The magic starts as soon as the link is active. Firebase’s event data, including automatically collected events (like first_open and in_app_purchase) and any custom events you’ve configured, will start appearing in GA4. Here’s what to look for and what to do next.

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Where to Find Your App Data in GA4

Keep in mind that it can take up to 24 hours for data to fully populate in standard GA4 reports. If you're eager to see if it's working, the Realtime report in GA4 should show app events within minutes.

After a day, you can navigate to the standard reports to see your app data:

• Go to Reports > Engagement > Events. Here, you will see a combined list of events from your website and mobile app streams. You can filter by data stream (e.g., iOS App, Android App, Web) to isolate app-specific event data.
• Check out Reports > Tech > Tech details. This report is fantastic for seeing your app data broken down by platform (iOS/Android), app version, device model, and OS version.

Turning Key App Events into Conversions

One of the most valuable next steps is telling GA4 which of your app events are most important to your business. By marking an event as a "conversion," you can track it more closely, use it in attribution reports, and import it into Google Ads for campaign optimization.

To do this:

1. In GA4, navigate to Admin (the gear icon ⚙️ in the bottom-left).
2. Under the Property column, click on Events.
3. You'll see a list of all event names flowing in from your Firebase project. Find a key event you want to track (e.g., sign_up, purchase, start_trial).
4. On the right side of that event row, simply flip the toggle under the Mark as conversion column.

Now, any time that event is recorded, GA4 will count it as a conversion. It's that easy.

Final Thoughts

Connecting Firebase to Google Analytics 4 is a critical step for seriously measuring your app's performance. It transforms your raw event data into actionable insights by unlocking powerful analysis tools, unified reporting for both web and app activities, and sharper audience targeting for your marketing campaigns.

Even with powerful integrations like this, marketing and sales data often lives in scattered silos - Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, Shopify, your CRM, and more. Pulling it all together for a clear picture of performance can feel like a full-time job. To solve this, we built Graphed to act as your AI data analyst. We connect to your data sources in one click and let you use simple natural language to build real-time dashboards and reports in seconds, turning hours of manual work into a simple conversation.