Crashlytics vs Fabric vs Firebase Crash Reporting — I'm lost

Question

Could someone clarify on these terms? I'm completely lost!

What do Google calls “Crashlytics”, who is Fabric and why it's still not Firebase?
Should I setup crash reporting somewhere in Firebase Console or should I register at Fabric and somehow link accounts?

On iOS what should I use for my very new swift project?

pod 'Firebase/Crash'

or

pod 'Fabric'

or

pod 'Crashlytics'

Eunuchize

I think now Fabric and Crashlytics both not required, just use this pod 'Firebase/Crashlytics' So no confusion for developers.... firebase.google.com/docs/crashlytics/… – Clausewitz

Answer 1

OK. So after contacting support I did it!
The problem was that in initial setup (Quality → Crashlytics) when you've being asked “Is this app new to Crashlytics”, you have to choose “My app doesn't have any version of the SDK”.
Even though your app already has latest Crashlytics SDK installed!

Question probably should be “Do this app already use Fabric? —Yes, —No”.
This seems just like a UX error that should be fixed.

As for the terms and history:

• In 2011 there was Crashlytics.
• Also in 2011 there was Firebase.
• In 2013 Twitter acquired Crashlytics
• In 2014 Crashlytics/Twitter announced Fabric – a modular SDK which contains Crashlytics
• In 2014 Google acquired Firebase.
• In 2016 Google introduced Firebase Crash Reporting.
• In 2017 Google acquired Fabric with Crashlytics, deprecate previous Firebase Crash Reporting and now calls its crash analytics service “Crashlytics”.
• In 2020 Fabric is deprecated and “Firebase Crashlytics” is the remaining service. Integrated using pod 'Firebase/Crashlytics'.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Eunuchize

Answer 2

firebaser here

Sorry about any confusion this may be causing.

Crashlytics is a part of Fabric, and is becoming a part of Firebase. Firebase Crash Reporting is the previous crash reporter in Firebase, but has been deprecated and removed.

At this point you should be able to do everything from the Firebase console, following the instructions here: https://firebase.google.com/docs/crashlytics/

At the moment that means you need these two pods:

# Pods for PodTest
pod 'Fabric', '~> 1.7.11'
pod 'Crashlytics', '~> 3.10.7'

The Crashlytics SDK is currently compatible in both Fabric and Firebase, but requires the Fabric SDK as a result. In early 2019, we plan on shipping a new Crashlytics SDK that is optimized for Firebase and will have the Fabric dependency removed. When updating to that version of the SDK, then you'll be able to remove pod 'Fabric' and everything will be simpler.

Christan

So… implement something that you're going to need to change near year? (Or am I missing something?) – Collbaith

Not sure what you mean by "something". The code snippet I copied from the doc shows how to implement Crashlytics, which is not going away. – Christan

So you'll never have to add "pod 'Firebase/Core'" and add a "GoogleService-Info.plist" file, etc.? (I thought that this going to be necessary by mid-2019, but perhaps I've just misread the docs.) – Collbaith

Right now if I go to developer console, tap Crashlytics and follow the onboarding, the last step is “Head over to Fabric and link your app to Firebase” which redirects me to fabric.io, which is retired! Should I create an account in Fabric? Still confused… – Eunuchize

Hey Pavel, it sounds like you used Crashlytics or Fabric before. If you've used it before, you should link from Fabric to Firebase (not the other way around) via this URL: fabric.io/firebase_migration The big question for where to go is where did you start using Crashlytics? If in Fabric, migrate from the Fabric site. If you're new to using Crashlytics, start in Firebase. – Firedog

It is now 2019 in the UX is still confusing. Firebase Crashlytics wants me to connect my Fabric account, but I can't even remember if I ever used one. And there is no option to use/switch to Firebase. – Atli

I think now Fabric and Crashlytics both not required, just use this pod 'Firebase/Crashlytics .... firebase.google.com/docs/crashlytics/… – Clausewitz

Answer 3

Crashlytics used to be a product of Fabric. Two years ago Google bought them and started integrating their services in Firebase. Fabric will run as a separate product until mid 2019 as stated in their blog. Therefore you are better off registering with Firebase and following the instructions from their site as otherwise you will soon need to migrate anyway.

Firebase Crash Reporting used to be the the crash reporting solution of Firebase before Fabric was bought. Now it is deprecated in favour of Crashlytics as stated here.

Linen