Is `firebase-core` required for Firebase on Android?

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As far as I know, individual Firebase libraries like firebase-auth didn't used to require me to include firebase-core .

However, I recently started a new Android project, and when I tried to build without firebase-core , I got the following Java compiler warning:

Warning: The app gradle file must have a dependency on com.google.firebase:firebase-core for Firebase services to work as intended.

UPDATE : AUGUST 2019


   
    
     
      The docs now show whether a specific product SDK
      
       requires
      
      
       firebase-analytics
      
      , if
      
       firebase-analytics
      
      is
      
       recommended
      
     
     , or if it is not needed at all.
    
   
   
    
     firebase-core
    
    is no longer listed as a required dependency in the Android getting started guide and was removed from the
    
     list of available libraries
    
    .
   
   
    Now adding
    
     firebase-analytics
    
    to your app is
    
     optional in the getting started guide
    
    . Products that do require
    
     firebase-core
    
    ,
    
     such as In-App Messaging
    
    , list the
    
     firebase-core
    
    dependency in their setup guides.
   
   
    ORIGINAL ANSWER:
   
   
    This is a recent change as of May 23, 2018. Per the
    
     release notes
    
    :
   
   
    Your app gradle file now has to explicitly list
    
     com.google.firebase:firebase-core
    
    as a dependency for Firebase services to work as expected.
   
   
    This requirement is reflected in the "Set up {X} for Android" guides (
    
     example
    
    ) in the step "Install the Firebase SDK". That step links to
    
     this page
    
    , which includes the requirement to add
    
     firebase-core
    
    .
   
   
    
     edit 9/26/18:
    
    A summary of features that rely on Google Analytics for Firebase (and therefore
    
     firebase-core
    
    ) can be found
    
     here
    
    .
   
   
    I'm not a fan of this answer. Yes google says we should put it in, but if it's actually mandatory, why didn't google make it a required dependency in the maven POM file? Why make everyone explicitly reference it for no reason? This is doubly suspicous, because firebase-core is actually just google analytics for firebase; personally I want NOTHING to do with google analytics and it's privacy invading user-tracking, but can I really opt-out here? We use firebase-messaging as it's required to send push notifications to android
   
   –
   
    Orion Edwards
   
   
    
     Jul 9, 2018 at 2:27
    
   
   
    Firebaser here. That's a good comment! Where we have a hard dependency, we do add it as a POM dep. However, there are a bunch of services that have soft dependencies (FCM, Remote Config, Predictions, A/B Testing, Crashlytics etc.) where Analytics adds a lot of value. You can disable analytics tracking (
    
     firebase.google.com/support/guides/disable-analytics
    
    ), which will mean you get enable it only if you have consent etc.
   
   –
   
    Ian Barber
   
   
    
     Jul 10, 2018 at 16:03
    
   
   
    @IanBarber Thanks for explaining, but will keeping out
    
     firebase-core
    
    /
    
     firebase-analytics
    
    do any harm to the things that have soft dependencies?
   
   –
   
    Rolf ツ
   
   
    
     Aug 29, 2018 at 13:24
    
   
   
    @IanBarber I'm asking this because you are basically saying:  "Analytics is useful so you must add the dependency, if you don't like it you can disable it".  Why not leave it out in the first place then?
   
   –
   
    Rolf ツ
   
   
    
     Aug 29, 2018 at 13:28
    
   
   
    You can ignore the warning with FCM, but it will stop some reporting of messaging open stats etc. in some cases.
   
   –
   
    Ian Barber
   
   
    
     Sep 1, 2018 at 1:18
    
   
   
    I'm pretty sure he/she is saying that they don't want to add the core dependency as they aren't even using it, so why would adding it be a solution?
   
   –
   
    behelit
   
   
    
     Jan 8, 2019 at 2:54
    
   
   
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