<s>
Firebase	B-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
backend	B-Application
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
services	O
and	O
application	O
development	O
platforms	O
provided	O
by	O
Google	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
It	O
hosts	O
databases	O
,	O
services	O
,	O
authentication	O
,	O
and	O
integration	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
applications	O
,	O
including	O
Android	B-Application
,	O
iOS	B-Application
,	O
JavaScript	B-Language
,	O
Node.js	B-Language
,	O
Java	B-Device
,	O
Unity	B-Application
,	O
PHP	B-Application
,	O
and	O
C++	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Firebase	B-General_Concept
evolved	O
from	O
Envolve	O
,	O
a	O
prior	O
startup	O
founded	O
by	O
James	O
Tamplin	O
and	O
Andrew	O
Lee	O
in	O
2011	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
founded	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
as	O
a	O
separate	O
company	O
in	O
2011	O
and	O
it	O
launched	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
in	O
April	O
2012	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Firebase	B-General_Concept
's	O
first	O
product	O
was	O
the	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
Realtime	O
Database	O
,	O
an	O
API	O
that	O
synchronizes	O
application	O
data	O
across	O
iOS	B-Application
,	O
Android	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Web	O
devices	O
,	O
and	O
stores	O
it	O
on	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
's	O
cloud	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
May	O
2012	O
,	O
a	O
month	O
after	O
the	O
beta	O
launch	O
,	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
raised	O
$1.1	O
million	O
in	O
seed	O
funding	O
from	O
venture	O
capitalists	O
Flybridge	O
Capital	O
Partners	O
,	O
Greylock	O
Partners	O
,	O
Founder	O
Collective	O
,	O
and	O
New	O
Enterprise	O
Associates	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2014	O
,	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
launched	O
two	O
products	O
:	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
Hosting	O
and	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
Authentication	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
positioned	O
the	O
company	O
as	O
a	O
mobile	B-Application
backend	I-Application
as	I-Application
a	I-Application
service	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
October	O
2014	O
,	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
was	O
acquired	O
by	O
Google	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
A	O
year	O
later	O
,	O
in	O
October	O
2015	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
acquired	O
Divshot	B-General_Concept
,	O
an	O
HTML5	B-Application
web-hosting	O
platform	O
,	O
to	O
merge	O
it	O
with	O
the	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
team	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
May	O
2016	O
,	O
at	O
Google	B-Application
I/O	I-Application
,	O
the	O
company	O
's	O
annual	O
developer	O
conference	O
,	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
introduced	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
Analytics	O
and	O
announced	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
expanding	O
its	O
services	O
to	O
become	O
a	O
unified	O
backend-as-a-service	O
(	O
BaaS	O
)	O
platform	O
for	O
mobile	O
developers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Firebase	B-General_Concept
now	O
integrates	O
with	O
various	O
other	O
Google	B-Application
services	O
,	O
including	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Cloud	I-General_Concept
Platform	I-General_Concept
,	O
AdMob	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Google	B-Application
Ads	I-Application
to	O
offer	O
broader	O
products	O
and	O
scale	O
for	O
developers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-Application
Cloud	O
Messaging	O
,	O
the	B-Application
Google	I-Application
service	O
to	O
send	O
push	B-General_Concept
notifications	I-General_Concept
to	O
Android	B-Application
devices	O
,	O
was	O
superseded	O
by	O
a	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
product	O
,	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
Cloud	O
Messaging	O
,	O
which	O
added	O
the	O
functionality	O
to	O
deliver	O
push	B-General_Concept
notifications	I-General_Concept
to	O
both	O
iOS	B-Application
and	O
web	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2016	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
acquiring	O
the	O
mobile	O
developer	O
platform	O
LaunchKit	O
,	O
which	O
specialized	O
in	O
app	O
developer	O
marketing	O
,	O
and	O
would	O
be	O
folding	O
it	O
into	O
the	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
Growth	O
Tools	O
team	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
January	O
2017	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
acquired	O
Fabric	O
and	O
Crashlytics	B-Application
from	O
Twitter	O
to	O
add	O
those	O
services	O
to	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
October	O
2017	O
,	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
launched	O
Cloud	O
Firestore	B-General_Concept
,	O
a	O
real-time	O
document	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
as	O
the	O
successor	O
product	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
Realtime	O
Database	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Firebase	B-General_Concept
has	O
been	O
claimed	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
by	O
Google	B-Application
to	O
track	O
users	O
without	O
their	O
knowledge	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
July	O
14	O
,	O
2020	O
,	O
a	O
lawsuit	O
was	O
filed	O
accusing	O
Google	B-Application
of	O
violating	O
federal	O
wire	O
tap	O
law	O
and	O
California	O
privacy	O
law	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
stated	O
that	O
through	O
Firebase	B-General_Concept
,	O
Google	B-Application
collected	O
and	O
stored	O
user	O
data	O
,	O
logging	O
what	O
the	O
user	O
was	O
looking	O
at	O
in	O
many	O
types	O
of	O
apps	O
,	O
despite	O
the	O
user	O
following	O
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
own	O
instructions	O
to	O
turn	O
off	O
the	O
web	O
and	O
app	O
activity	O
collected	O
by	O
the	O
company	O
.	O
</s>
