Greg Baker and Joe Baker-Malone join to discuss exciting new Android Studio features made possible by Firebase integration. Topics include physical device streaming, going from crash reports to code, and app quality insights with Firebase Crashlytics.
Android Studio now allows physical device streaming for remote testing and development.
Version control integration in Android Studio enables accurate crash analysis by providing the code state when a crash occurred.
Deep dives
Overview of Crashlytics and PlayVitals integration
The podcast episode discusses the integration of Crashlytics and PlayVitals into Android Studio. Crashlytics was integrated into Android Studio a year and a half ago, allowing developers to see and navigate crashes reported by their app. Similarly, PlayVitals also collects crash information, which can be seen directly in Android Studio. The key difference is that PlayVitals collects crash data regardless of whether Crashlytics is integrated into the app. The episode also mentions the future potential for app quality insights beyond just crashes.
Version control integration
The podcast highlights the new version control integration in Android Studio. This feature allows Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) to save information about the current version of the code being built, specifically the commit that is being used. This information flows through the crash reporting mechanism and returns to Android Studio's App Quality Insights (AQI). With this integration, developers can view the code state as it was when a crash occurred, even if there have been subsequent code changes. The feature provides accurate line numbers and ensures that developers can debug and analyze crashes effectively.
Device streaming through Firebase Test Lab
The podcast introduces the concept of device streaming, which allows users to remotely access and interact with physical devices in the Google internal lab called OmniLab. Device streaming is a new feature aimed at enhancing the testing and development process. It provides the ability to interact with devices as if they were connected locally, without the need to purchase and have physical access to the devices. The performance and debugging experience have been optimized to minimize latency and provide a seamless testing environment. While currently limited to select Pixel devices, the goal is to expand device availability and support for other form factors in the future.
Updates on Firebase Test Lab
The podcast mentions some updates and initiatives related to Firebase Test Lab. One notable update is the support for iOS testing, allowing developers to leverage Firebase Test Lab for testing their iOS apps. The addition of Robo testing, an app crawler framework, enables the discovery of crashes and accessibility issues in apps. The podcast also mentions the possibility of running Robo tests locally in addition to running them through Firebase Test Lab. Overall, these updates and initiatives aim to improve testing capabilities and provide developers with valuable insights into their app's performance and quality across different platforms.
In this episode, Tor and Romain chat with Greg Baker and Joe Baker-Malone about exciting new Android Studio features made possible by Firebase integration. Physical device streaming allows you to connect remotely to physical devices hosted in Google’s secure data centers and use them for all your development needs. We also explore other time saving features like the ability to go from a crash report directly to the correct line of code, even across git branches.