[android] Default FirebaseApp is not initialized

We're seeing a few exceptions with the message Default FirebaseApp is not initialized in this process com.example.app. Make sure to call FirebaseApp.initializeApp(Context) first. in our Android app in which we just added Firebase Remote Config.

The stack trace is as follows:

Fatal Exception: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Default FirebaseApp is not initialized in this process com.example.app. Make sure to call FirebaseApp.initializeApp(Context) first.
       at com.google.firebase.FirebaseApp.getInstance(Unknown Source)
       at com.google.firebase.remoteconfig.FirebaseRemoteConfig.getInstance(Unknown Source)
       at com.example.app.fragments.SomeFragment.updateFooter(SourceFile:295)
       at com.example.app.fragments.SomeFragment.onCreateView(SourceFile:205)
       at android.support.v4.app.Fragment.performCreateView(SourceFile:2080)
       at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(SourceFile:1108)
       at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(SourceFile:1290)
       at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.run(SourceFile:801)
       at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.execSingleAction(SourceFile:1638)
       at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.commitNowAllowingStateLoss(SourceFile:679)
       at android.support.v4.app.FragmentPagerAdapter.finishUpdate(SourceFile:143)
       at android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.populate(SourceFile:1240)
       at android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.populate(SourceFile:1088)
       at android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.setAdapter(SourceFile:542)
       at com.example.app.SomeActivity.onSomeAsyncCallback(SourceFile:908)
       at com.example.app.SomeDataRetriever.onAsyncHttpCompleted(SourceFile:72)
       at com.example.app.io.AsyncHttp.onPostExecute(SourceFile:141)
       at com.example.app.io.AsyncHttp.onPostExecute(SourceFile:19)
       at android.os.AsyncTask.finish(AsyncTask.java:679)
       at android.os.AsyncTask.access$500(AsyncTask.java:180)
       at android.os.AsyncTask$InternalHandler.handleMessage(AsyncTask.java:696)
       at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
       at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5665)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:799)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:689)

This is version 9.6.1 and we're also using other Firebase components:

compile 'com.google.firebase:firebase-ads:9.6.1'
compile 'com.google.firebase:firebase-config:9.6.1'
compile 'com.google.firebase:firebase-invites:9.6.1'
compile "com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:9.6.1"

As I can see from the documentation and the Javadoc we shouldn't have to do any manual initialization in our case.

The exception happens on Android 4-6 on a variety of devices.

Edit:

I see this question gets a little bit of attention. I think this explanation can be interesting for some of you: https://firebase.googleblog.com/2016/12/how-does-firebase-initialize-on-android.html

It seems that google-services:4.1.0 has an issue. Either downgrade it to

classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.0.0'

or upgrade it to

classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.2.0'

dependencies {
    classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.3.0-alpha08'
    classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.2.0'
    /*classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.1.0' <-- this was the problem */
}

Hope it helps

By following @Gabriel Lidenor answer, initializing app with context is not work in my case. What if you are trying to create firebase-app without google-service.json ? So before initializing any number of firebase app, first need to initialize as;

FirebaseOptions options = new FirebaseOptions.Builder().setApplicationId("APP_ID")
                    .setGcmSenderId("SENDER_ID").build();
FirebaseApp.initializeApp(context, options, "[DEFAULT]");

Click Tools > Firebase to open the Assistant window.

Click to expand one of the listed features (for example, Analytics), then click the provided tutorial link (for example, Log an Analytics event).

Click the Connect to Firebase button to connect to Firebase and add the necessary code to your app.

https://firebase.google.com/docs/android/setup

In my case, the Google Services gradle plugin wasn't generating the required values.xml file from the google-services.json file. The Firebase library uses this generated values file to initialize itself and it appears that it doesn't throw an error if the values file can't be found. Check that the values file exists at the following location and is populated with the appropriate strings from your google-sevices.json file:

app/build/generated/res/google-services/{build_type}/values/values.xml

and/or

app/build/generated/res/google-services/{flavor}/{build_type}/xml/global_tracker.xml

For more detail see: https://developers.google.com/android/guides/google-services-plugin

My particular case was caused by using a gradle tools version that was too advanced for the version of Android Studio that I was running (ie ensure you run grade tools v3.2.X-YYY with Android Studio v3.2).

Although manually initialize Firebase with FirebaseApp.initializeApp(this); makes the error disappear, it doesn't fix the root cause, some odd issues come together doesn't seem to be solved, such as

• FCM requires com.google.android.c2dm.permission.RECEIVE permission which is only for GCM
• token becomes unregistered after first notification sent
• message not received/ onMessageReceived() never get called,

Use newer Gradle plugin (e.g. Android plugin 2.2.3 and Gradle 2.14.1) fixed everything. (Of course setup has to be correct as per Firebase documentation )

    classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.1.0'

has a problem. instead use:

    classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.2.0'

I'm guessing there are compatibility problems with the version of google-services and firebase versions.

I changed in the Project's build.gradle file, the dependency

classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.1.0' to 4.2.0

and then updated the module's build.gradle dependencies to:

implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-database:16.0.6'

implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-core:16.0.7'

Everything works like a charm, no need to type FirebaseApp.initializeApp(this);

You need add Firebase Gradle buildscript dependency in build.gradle (project-level)

classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:3.1.0'

and add Firebase plugin for Gradle in app/build.gradle

apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'

build.gradle will include these new dependencies:
    compile 'com.google.firebase:firebase-database:11.0.4'

Source: Android Studio Assistant

If you're using Xamarin and came here searching for a solution for this problem, here it's from Microsoft:

In some cases, you may see this error message: Java.Lang.IllegalStateException: Default FirebaseApp is not initialized in this process Make sure to call FirebaseApp.initializeApp(Context) first.

This is a known problem that you can work around by cleaning the solution and rebuilding the project (Build > Clean Solution, Build > Rebuild Solution).

I was missing the below line in my app/build.gradle file

apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'

and once clean project and run again. That fixed it for me.

If you recently update your Android Studio to 3.3.1 that have a problem with com.google.gms:google-services (Below 4.2.0) dependencies So please update com.google.gms:google-services to 4.2.0.

dependencies {
    classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.3.1'
    classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.2.0'
    }

I downgrade project gms:google_services to classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.0.1' and it work for me.

Installed Firebase Via Android Studio Tools...Firebase...

I did the installation via the built-in tools from Android Studio (following the latest docs from Firebase). This installed the basic dependencies but when I attempted to connect to the database it always gave me the error that I needed to call initialize first, even though I was:

Default FirebaseApp is not initialized in this process . Make sure to call FirebaseApp.initializeApp(Context) first.

I was getting this error no matter what I did.

Finally, after seeing a comment in one of the other answers I changed the following in my gradle from version 4.1.0 to :

classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.0.1'

When I did that I finally saw an error that helped me:

File google-services.json is missing. The Google Services Plugin cannot function without it. Searched Location: C:\Users\%username%\AndroidStudioProjects\TxtFwd\app\src\nullnull\debug\google-services.json
C:\Users\%username%\AndroidStudioProjects\TxtFwd\app\src\debug\nullnull\google-services.json
C:\Users\%username%\AndroidStudioProjects\TxtFwd\app\src\nullnull\google-services.json
C:\Users\%username%\AndroidStudioProjects\TxtFwd\app\src\debug\google-services.json
C:\Users\%username%\AndroidStudioProjects\TxtFwd\app\src\nullnullDebug\google-services.json
C:\Users\%username%\AndroidStudioProjects\TxtFwd\app\google-services.json

That's the problem. It seems that the 4.1.0 version doesn't give that build error for some reason -- doesn't mention that you have a missing google-services.json file. I don't have the google-services.json file in my app so I went out and added it.

But since this was an upgrade which used an existing realtime firsbase database I had never had to generate that file in the past. I went to firebase and generated it and added it and it fixed the problem.

Changed Back to 4.1.0

Once I discovered all of this then I changed the classpath variable back (to 4.1.0) and rebuilt and it crashed again with the error that it hasn't been initalized.

Root Issues

• Building with 4.1.0 doesn't provide you with a valid error upon precompile so you may not know what is going on.
• Running against 4.1.0 causes the initialization error.

Make sure to add to your root-level build.gradle

buildscript {
    // ...
    dependencies {
        // ...
        classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.3.2'
    }
}

Then, in your module level Gradle file (usually the app/build.gradle), add the 'apply plugin' line at the bottom of the file to enable the Gradle plugin:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
  // ...
}

dependencies {
  // ...
  implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-core:9.6.1'
  // Getting a "Could not find" error? Make sure you have
  // the latest Google Repository in the Android SDK manager
}

// ADD THIS AT THE BOTTOM
apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'

As said in documentation. I had exception as in a question above when forgot to add this in my gradle files.

As mentioned by @PSIXO in a comment, this might be the problem with the dependency version of google-services. For me changing,

buildscript {
    // ...
    dependencies {
        // ...
        classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.1.0'
    }
}

to

buildscript {
    // ...
    dependencies {
        // ...
        classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.0.1'
    }
}

worked.There might be some problem with 4.1.0 version. Because I wasted many hours on this, I thought to write this as an answer.

We will have to initialize Firebase in onCreate function of Application Class.

 package com.rocks.music.videoplayer;

 import android.app.Application;
 import android.content.Context;

 import com.google.firebase.FirebaseApp;


/**
* Created by ashish123 on 22/8/15.
  */
 public class MyApplication extends Application {

private static MyApplication mInstance;

@Override
public void onCreate() {
    super.onCreate();
    mInstance = this;
    try {
        FirebaseApp.initializeApp(this);
    }
    catch (Exception e) {
    }
}

public static Context getInstance() {
    return mInstance;
}

}

Code in manifest file:-

  <application
    android:name="com.rocks.music.videoplayer.MyApplication"
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@drawable/app_icon"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:supportsRtl="true"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

First thing you need to add com.google.gms:google-services:x.x.x at root level build.gradle

buildscript {
repositories {
    jcenter()
}
dependencies {
    classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.1'
    classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:3.0.0'

    // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
    // in the individual module build.gradle files
}

}

After that you need to apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services' at app/build.gradle

dependencies {
compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {
    exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'
})
compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.3.1'
compile 'com.android.support:design:25.3.1'
compile 'com.android.support:cardview-v7:25.3.1'

compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-gcm:9.8.0'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:9.8.0'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-location:9.8.0'
compile 'com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:9.8.0'
testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
}


apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'

and if still you are getting problem then you need to add

FirebaseApp.initializeApp(this);

just before you are calling

FirebaseInstanceId.getInstance().getToken();

Another possible solution - try different Android Studio if you are using some betas. Helped for me. New Android Studio simply didn't add Firebase properly. In my case 3.3preview

After some more investigation I found the problem was that new Android studio starts project with newer Google Services version and it looks it was the original problem. As @Ammar Bukhari suggested this change helped:

classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.1.0' -> classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.0.0'

One of the reason of this happening could be to forgetting adding android.permission.INTERNET permissions in AndroidManifest.xml

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

changing

classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.1.0'

to

classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.0.1'

Works for me

to me it was upgrading dependencies of com.google.gms:google-services inside build.gradle to

buildscript {
repositories {
    jcenter()
    mavenCentral()
    maven {
        url 'https://maven.google.com/'
        name 'Google'
    }
    google()
}
dependencies {
    classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.3.2'
    classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.2.0'

    // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
    // in the individual module build.gradle files
}

My problem was not resolved with this procedure

FirebaseApp.initializeApp(this); 

So I tried something else and now my firebase has been successfully initialized. Try adding following in app module.gradle

BuildScript{
dependencies {..
classpath : "com.google.firebase:firebase-plugins:1.1.5"
    ..}
}

dependencies {...
implementation : "com.google.firebase:firebase-perf:16.1.0"
implementation : "com.google.firebase:firebase-core:16.0.3"
..}

use com.google.gms:google-services:4.0.1' instead of 4.1.0

Reason for happening this is com.google.gms:google-services version.When I was using 4.1.0, I faced the same error. Then I downgrade the version. Before

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.3.0'
classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.1.0'

After

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.3.0'
classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:3.2.0'

Hope, it will solve the error.

After updating various dependencies I got a Crashlytics error in the compile, 'Crashlytics found an invalid API key: null. Check the Crashlytics plugin to make sure that the application has been added successfully! Contact [email protected] for assistance.' The one non-auto response I got from repeated attempts to [email protected] the error directs you to was that Fabric and Crashlytics are separate teams so they couldn't help me. I've avoided implementing the extra Fabric layer to Crashlytics, and was unable to get a new key from the Fabric site, or even get the site to recognize me. On attempting to work around this by just removing Crashlytics from my code, I got the 'Default FirebaseApp is not initialized in this process com.example.app. Make sure to call FirebaseApp.initializeApp(Context) first' crash in the run.

I've never had to add the initialization line of 'FirebaseApp.initializeApp(this)', and in fact had it commented out. The documentation even mentions not needing this if only using Firebase for one activity. Adding it made no difference, still got the run killing error.

Turns out what was causing the new obscure errors was the updated google-services dependency. For now, I don't have time to spend more days trying to fix the shotgun errors the new dependency is causing, so until someone comes up with solutions I'll stick to the old version. Besides the odd initialization crash, the new version may be forcing Fabric on Crashlytics users. Users are being forced back to the old dependency version for this too: Crashlytics found an invalid API key: null. after updated com.google.gms:google-services:4.1.0

com.google.gms:google-services:4.1.0//BAD
com.google.gms:google-services:4.0.1//GOOD

EDIT 10/17/18: After updating the following dependencies again

implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-ads:17.0.0'
implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-auth:16.0.4'
implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-database:16.0.3'
implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-core:16.0.4

I got an immediate crash on the install attempt with 'xxx has unexpectedly closed', like when I attempted the google-services dependency update. Digging into the log I found a link directing me to add this to the manifest

<meta-data
        android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.APPLICATION_ID"
        android:value="ca-app-pub-xxxxxx~xxxxxx"/>

This is new, and is not mentioned in the setup and interstitial instructions here https://firebase.google.com/docs/android/setup and here https://developers.google.com/admob/android/interstitial.

I used to only have to deal with one ad-related ID for my app, the INTERSTITIAL_UNIT_ID. Now two need to be dealt with. Besides the above addition, documentation directs adding ADMOB_APP_ID here (the same number you tie with ads.APPLICATION_ID in the new manifest code)

MobileAds.initialize(this, ADMOB_APP_ID);

The INTERSTITIAL_UNIT_ID and ADMOB_APP_ID ids can be dug up in your Google AdMob console. My game app stopped serving ads on my first update of the firebase dependencies and still does not serve ads, giving error code 0 in the

public void onAdFailedToLoad(int errorCode){...

Even after all this added clutter, I still can't update the google-services dependency without the initialize error run crash. I expect to be stuck at google-services:4.0.1 for some time.

EDIT 10/24/18: From [email protected] after weeks of correspondence on not getting ad serves after updates:

'Thanks for sharing the device logs. From the logs, it looks like an existing issue and this is on our priority list and our team is working on the fix and this is only happening on Android O and P devices.'

Only O and P devices? That's the last two versions, O came out on September 25, 2017. Yikes.

If you are using FirebaseUI, no need of FirebaseApp.initializeApp(this); in your code according the sample.

Make sure to add to your root-level build.gradle :

buildscript {

    repositories {
        google()
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        ...
        classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:3.1.1'
        ...
    }
}

Then, in your module level Gradle file :

dependencies {

    ...

    // 1 - Required to init Firebase automatically (THE MAGIC LINE)
    implementation "com.google.firebase:firebase-core:11.6.2"

    // 2 - FirebaseUI for Firebase Auth (Or whatever you need...)
    implementation 'com.firebaseui:firebase-ui-auth:3.1.2'
    ...
}

apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'

That's it. No need more.

We do not need to call FirebaseApp.initializeApp(this); anywhere manually. and we should not too.

I just faced same issue about it and got unexpected and strange solution.

From this answer:

I have removed tools:node="replace" and it's working like charm.