Google is killing Fabric in mid-2019, pushes developers to Firebase | Industry

On Apple's iPhone day this week, Google announced it is killing Inbox by Gmail. But that wasn't the only service the company confirmed it is shutting down: The mobile app development tool Fabric is also going away. firebase, Google's mobile and web application development platform, is swallowing Fabric and all its features.

Incidentally, both Fabric and Firebase were once separate companies: Google acquired Fabric from Twitter in January 2017 and bought Firebase in October 2014. Now the company is merging the former into the latter, ending support for Fabric in mid-2019 (a Google spokesperson declined to give a more specific timeframe).

Migrating from Fabric to Firebase

Google was originally planning on making this announcement last month, along with the latest Firebase updates. The migration plan wasn't ready then. Fabric's functionality (including Crashlytics) has now been integrated into the Firebase console, and Google has released a migration roadmap.

Here's the timeline Google hopes Fabric developers will follow:

• Today: Begin the move to Firebase. Start using Crashlytics in Firebase (no SDK changes required and you can still view all of your Crashlytics data in Fabric) and keep using Crashlytics Beta in Fabric (Google is still working on the next generation of Crashlytics Beta in Firebase). Get GA for Firebase to get realtime information about your latest release, build custom audiences, predict user behavior, and so on. Integrate Firebase Crashlytics with Cloud Functions for Firebase to trigger workflows and route critical crashes directly to your engineers. You can also export raw data for deeper analysis by connecting Firebase Crashlytics with BigQuery.
• Early 2019: All systems go. Complete your transition to Firebase by installing the new Crashlytics SDK. Get feedback on pre-release Android and iOS apps by using Firebase App Distribution, the new version of Crashlytics Beta, to distribute beta builds to your team. Make sure all of your integrations (like Slack and Jira) are set-up and running in Firebase.
• Mid 2019: Bid Farewell to Fabric. Now that you're settled in Firebase, which includes Fabric's tools, Google will sunset Fabric so you can develop and grow your app from one place.

For a while now, Google has been bringing the Fabric and Firebase platforms together so that developers have one central place to build, improve, and grow their apps. But now the message has changed for Fabric developers: Start migrating to Firebase, and do it sooner rather than later.

To start the migration process, go to your Fabric dashboard and click on the Firebase icon in the left-hand navigation. Then link your apps to Firebase, check out Crashlytics in Firebase, and install the core Firebase SDK.