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I am using Google Analytics for years for my iOS apps and was truly satisfied with it. For my regret Google is sunsetting Google Analytics later this year so I am switching to Firebase API so I can keep tracking my apps. I already done most of the integration work and can see the events appearing in Firebase console. However, I can't see custom parameter values but only event count.

For example, sending event named add_book and adding parameter named isbn with value of 1234, I will be able to see in the console only the number of times that add_book arrived and also that it contains an isbn parameter. However, it seems there is no way to view the value (i.e. 1234) of the isbn parameter. I registered the isbn parameter for the add_book event as required. Am I missing something?

Does having the full functionality of the sunsetting Google Analytics (including advanced filtering + regex filters, etc.), means I should use both Firebase Analytics and BigQuery together?

By the way, I linked Firebase Analytics with BigQuery and exported the data as suggested by Firebase Analytics, but I can't see any Analytics tables yet in BigQuery. Do I need to allow several hours before I can view the exported data?

Mishovski
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Joshua
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2 Answers2

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As of March 2019, Firebase Analytics is not so easy to use or test when setting it up (in comparison to Google Analytics). The main steps for setting up event parameters are:

  1. Send your events with their event parameters. Send at least 80-90 events of one type, otherwise the parameters will appear as zero or "not set", until you reach 80 individual events.
  2. The events will not display in the website until after one day. So wait for 24 hours.
  3. When the events appear on the website, you must register their event parameters, with the '3 dots' menu -> "Edit Parameter Reporting" - Like this:

Firebase Analytics - Edit Parameter Reporting

Then:

Firebase Analytics - Register Event Parameters

(Image credit: Firebase Analytics custom events params and Firebase Analytics. Can not add custom parameter to event )

  1. After registering the event parameters, you must wait another 24 hours to see the parameters displayed on the website.

More info:

Mr-IDE
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In your event overview from Firebase Console you can enable parameter reporting for individual events. The option is found in the 3 dot overflow menu. You can do that for up to 10 unique text parameters and 40 unique numeric parameters.

Beyond those limits or for more control BigQuery is the way to go. And yes you need to wait for your first data in BigQuery. They populate a new table with one days data every day once.

kphil
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  • Thanks for the info. I already enabled parameter reporting but this only displays a parameter card with this name inside the event, without any value but only "Count" and "Users" values. – Joshua Mar 08 '19 at 17:31
  • Parameter reporting is also lazy, might take up to 24h until data starts to appear. Then your card should have the parameter key as title and a row for each parameter value with total count and user count to it. – kphil Mar 08 '19 at 18:53
  • I checked it out today and everything looks perfect. Both BigQuery and Firebase show all data as suggested. Thanks for your help! – Joshua Mar 09 '19 at 13:28