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Replace Google Analytics for Firebase RAM-only event queue

Replace Google Analytics for Firebase with a RAM-only event queue

Migrate from Google Analytics for Firebase to a RAM-only event queue. Zero bytes written to disk for analytics. Helps developers avoid collecting personal data.

Example Google Analytics for Firebase call (the "before")

kotlin Respectlytics
import com.google.firebase.analytics.ktx.analytics
import com.google.firebase.ktx.Firebase

// GA4 event with user_id and freeform parameters:
Firebase.analytics.logEvent("level_up") {
    param("level", 7L)
    param("character", "Aragorn")
    param("user_id", userId)
}

Most analytics SDKs back the unsent event queue with SQLite or UserDefaults / SharedPreferences — so a phone that's been confiscated, jailbroken, or restored from backup still contains analytics state. Respectlytics's queue is RAM-only, flushed on a 30-second timer; unsent events on force-quit are lost by design, in exchange for zero on-device forensic surface.

Remove Google Analytics for Firebase cleanly

  1. 1

    Remove the Firebase Analytics dependency from your build (CocoaPods / SPM / Gradle / npm / pub)

  2. 2

    Remove the GA4 property's data stream linkage from your Firebase console — the data stops flowing as soon as the SDK is removed, but the property remains until manually deleted

  3. 3

    Replace Analytics.logEvent call sites with Respectlytics.track("event_name")

  4. 4

    Re-audit your Info.plist and AndroidManifest.xml for IDFA / AD_ID surfaces that GA for Firebase contributed

  5. 5

    Confirm play-services-ads-identifier is no longer in the Android runtime classpath

Google Analytics for Firebase vs Respectlytics — ram-only event queue

Google Analytics for FirebaseRespectlytics
Event queue persistenceSQLite / UserDefaults / SharedPreferencesIn-memory ring buffer
Disk usage for analytics0.5–10 MB typical0 bytes
Forensic data on jailbroken / rooted devicesPersistent identifiers + queued eventsNone
Survives force-quit before flushYesNo (events lost — by design)

Frequently asked questions

Doesn't this reduce data quality?

Marginally — typical force-quit-before-flush event loss is 0.5–2% depending on platform. For aggregate metrics (funnel rates, feature adoption, release deltas) this is invisible. For per-event reconciliation it would be a problem, but per-event reconciliation isn't a use case Respectlytics supports.

What's the actual flush cadence?

30 seconds by default, plus a flush on applicationDidEnterBackground (iOS) / onPause (Android). Most events reach the network within seconds of being fired.

Is this safe for crash analytics?

Crash analytics is a separate concern — use Sentry, Crashlytics, or Bugsnag (with their own crash-aware queues). Respectlytics is product analytics; crash data has different recoverability requirements and lives in different tools.

Why is this a privacy feature?

Devices that are jailbroken, rooted, restored from backup, or forensically imaged routinely surface analytics artifacts — distinct_ids, queued events, user properties — that survive uninstall in some cases. RAM-only storage moves the dump-recovery surface to zero.

Related migration guides

Track what matters. Collect nothing you don't.

Five-field event schema, RAM-only event queue, no IDFA, no AAID, no persistent user IDs. Helps developers avoid collecting personal data in the first place.