Want to build an app? Learn how we optimized Firebase Flutter Integration for our real-time app. From costly mistakes to smart fixes, get tips from our journey.

When we built our app, Tropical Cafe & Restro, our goal wasn’t just to make a convenient food delivery app. We wanted it to feel instant but perfect in all ways, possibly. But building a fast, real-time experience using Firebase Flutter Integration is not as simple as writing down all the client-focused requirements. Every firebase reads and writes and also syncs everything, has its own price to pay, not just dollars, but also every millisecond we spend is accountable.

In this article, let us talk about all the real lessons we learned from optimizing Firebase reads and writes. From architecture we built to API tweaks, I will tell you everything that helped us to meet the balance line between cost efficiency, app speed, and customer satisfaction. In this blog, we shall cover,

Content Overview:

• Why Firebase Flutter Integration Is Ideal for Real-Time Apps

• Building a Real-Time flutter app based on fire base: Our food app development story

• Initial challenges we faced to reduce firestore read operations

• How We Firebase Flutter Integration into Our Flutter App

• Optimization Techniques That Worked

• Key Tools and Packages We Used

• Firebase vs Supabase: Performance Comparison

• Cutting Costs and Boosting App Responsiveness

• Tips and Lessons from Our Development Journey

• Conclusion

Why Firebase Flutter Integration Is Ideal for Real-Time Apps

When we set out to build the Tropical Cafe & Restro app, one of our biggest priorities was delivering a real-time, seamless user experience. Food ordering apps get advanced on instant updates — customers want to see their orders confirmed immediately, track delivery status in real time, and get timely notifications. For us, this meant choosing a technology stack that could handle real-time data synchronization smoothly across Android and iOS.

That’s why Firebase Flutter integration became our go-to choice. A Flutter app based on Firebase gave us the power to build a beautiful, cross-platform app with a single codebase. While Firebase offered scalable backend services like authentication, cloud messaging, and, most importantly, Firestore read operations, cloud databases were designed for real-time syncing.

With the development of a Firebase Flutter app, we got the best of both worlds:

• Rapid development with Flutter’s hot reload and expressive UI components 
• Reliable real-time data sync thanks to Firestore’s snapshot listeners 
• Built-in authentication and push notifications through Firebase services 
• Scalability and ease of integration with other third-party APIs 

In a fast-paced app environment like ours — where orders, menus, and delivery statuses change by the minute — Firebase Flutter integration proved to be a robust foundation.\

How Firebase Flutter Integration powered our real-time food app

Our journey started with a clear vision: a simple, intuitive app where customers can browse menu items, customize orders, pay seamlessly, and track their deliveries — all in real-time.

We chose Flutter for its cross-platform capabilities and Firebase as the backend because of its real-time database and suite of cloud services, and developed a Firebase Flutter app.

Initially, we focused on the core user features:

• Browsing the menu with categorized items – Easily explore food items sorted by categories for quicker selection. 
• Adding items to the cart with customizations – Choose your dish and customize it just the way you like before adding it to the cart. 
• Applying promo codes for discounts – Enter promo codes to get instant savings on your order. 
• Secure payment integration using Razorpay – Make safe and fast payments through the trusted Razorpay gateway. 
• Real-time order tracking with Google Maps API – Track your order live on the map from kitchen to doorstep.

Behind the scenes, Firebase Authentication ensured secure sign-ins, while Firebase Cloud Messaging kept users updated with push notifications about their orders.

But building this was not without challenges. Real-time updates meant frequent reads and writes to Firestore. Without careful optimization, these operations could quickly become expensive and affect app performance. Managing delivery partners and keeping inventory in sync added complexity.

Still, through collaboration and iterative development, our team steadily built the Tropical Cafe & Restro app into a smooth real-time experience loved by both users and admins.

The initial challenges we faced in reducing firestore read operations

One of the first hurdles we hit was related to Firestore read operations. Since Firestore charges based on reads and writes, a real-time app that constantly fetches order status, menu updates, and notifications risks incurring high costs.

We observed several pain points:

• Frequent polling for order status updates caused excessive reads. 
• Users rapidly switching between screens triggered multiple data fetches. 
• Inventory and menu changes pushed a lot of unnecessary data traffic to clients. 
• Complex queries for delivery partner assignment and route optimization led to slow responses. 

These issues impacted not just costs but also app responsiveness, as too many reads slowed down user experience.

We realized we had to rethink our data flow and caching strategies to optimize Firestore usage without sacrificing the real-time nature that was core to the app.

How We Firebase Flutter Integration into Our Flutter App

• Firebase Project Setup: 

We configured the Firebase console with Android and iOS apps, added google-services.json and GoogleService-Info.plist to our Flutter project, and enabled Firestore, Authentication, and Cloud Messaging.

 

• Authentication: 

Using firebase_auth, we implemented OTP-based phone number login, ensuring smooth and secure user access without the friction of passwords.

 

• Firestore Database: 

We structured collections for users, orders, menu items, and delivery partners, using nested documents and subcollections for efficient querying.

 

• Realtime Listeners: 

We leveraged Firestore snapshot listeners to update the UI instantly when orders changed status or menu items were updated, providing that seamless real-time feel.

 

• Cloud Messaging: 

With firebase messaging, we implemented push notifications for order updates, offers, and delivery alerts, improving engagement and communication.

 

• Secure Rules: 

Firestore security rules ensured data access was appropriately restricted based on user roles, protecting sensitive information like payment details and delivery partner locations.

 

This tight integration let us build a robust real-time app where backend updates and frontend UI stayed in sync effortlessly.

Optimization Techniques That Worked for Our Firebase Flutter Integration

Optimizing Firestore read operations and overall app performance was critical. Here’s what worked for us:

• Local Caching: 

We used local persistence and caching to reduce repeated network calls. Flutter’s sqflite and shared_preferences helped store frequently accessed data offline.

 

• Pagination & Infinite Scroll: 

For menu lists and order histories, we implemented pagination to load data incrementally, cutting down unnecessary reads.

 

• Selective Listeners: 

Instead of listening to entire collections, we set listeners on specific documents or query subsets, reducing the scope of real-time updates.

Firestore Read/Write Optimization Summary

Optimization Technique	Impact on Performance	Before vs After Read Ops
Caching Menu Locally	Reduced repeated reads	~30% reduction
Denormalizing Orders Collection	Fewer joins needed	Faster queries
Paginated Data Retrieval	Controlled data load on scroll	50% fewer reads per view
Batched Writes & Transactions	Improved write speed	More atomic operations

 

 

• Debouncing UI Events:

 We throttled user actions that triggered Firestore queries (like rapid scrolling or quick screen switches) to prevent flooding the backend.

 

• Batch Writes:

 Where possible, we batched writes to Firestore to reduce transaction costs and latency.

 

• Optimized Queries:

 We created indexes and simplified queries to speed up response times and reduce Firestore workload.

 

• Data Denormalization: 

Some data was duplicated across collections to avoid complex joins and reduce reads.

 

• Offloading to Backend:

 Heavy operations like delivery partner assignment and route optimization were handled by our NestJS backend instead of Firestore queries, reducing client-side load.

 

Together, these optimization techniques helped us balance cost control, speed, and responsiveness perfectly.

Key Tools and Packages We Used

Our tech stack was carefully chosen to deliver a seamless experience:

Flutter 

• It is used  for cross-platform UI
• Build once, deploy to both Android and iOS.
  
• Rich widget library for fast and expressive UIs.
  
• Hot reload speeds up development.
  
• Supports custom themes and animations.
  
• Easily integrates with native code when needed.

BLoC Pattern 

• It is meant for clean state management (flutter_bloc, bloc, equatable)
• Separates business logic from UI for better scalability.
  
• Enables reactive programming with event-driven architecture.
  
• Improves testability and maintainability of code.
  
• Works well with Flutter DevTools for debugging.
  
• Reduces code repetition with equatable for value comparison.

Firebase Core (firebase_core, firebase_auth, firebase_messaging) 

• In Firebase Auth simplifies login via email, phone, Google, etc. 
• This Firebase Messaging enables push notifications and alerts. 
• Easy integration with other Firebase tools like Firestore, Analytics. 
• Offers robust user management and authentication flows. 
• Scalable infrastructure without server-side setup

Firestore 

•            It is used as a real-time NoSQL database
•            Automatically syncs data between users and devices in real time.
  
•           Supports offline data access and caching.
  
•            Flexible structure for hierarchical or flat data models.
  
•            Real-time listeners for live updates without polling.
  
•            Built-in security rules for data access control.

Razorpay Flutter 

• Meant for payment gateway integration
• Supports multiple payment methods (UPI, cards, wallets).
  
• PCI-DSS compliant for secure transactions.
  
• Simple SDK integration with ready-to-use UI components.
  
• Real-time payment status and callbacks.
  
• Supports order creation, refund initiation, and offers.

Google Maps Flutter

• Required  for delivery tracking and geolocation
• Show the live location of delivery personnel.
  
• Enable users to pick their address using map pins.
  
• Display estimated delivery time and route path.
  
• Integrates with geocoding and reverse geocoding APIs.
  
• Customize map UI with themes, markers, and directions.

Dio 

• Needed for HTTP client requests
• Advanced options like request interceptors and response handling.
  
• Handles timeout, retries, and cancellation logic.
  
• Supports form data and file uploads.
  
• Useful for connecting to external APIs and admin panels.
  
• Easy to use with error wrappers for cleaner code. 

Sqflite and shared_preferences

• Sqflite stores structured data locally using SQLite. 
• shared_preferences is ideal for saving simple key-value pairs. 
• Useful for login states, cached responses, and cart data. 
• Reduces API calls by storing frequently used data. 
• Works offline, ensuring a consistent user experience.

Flutter Secure Storage 

• Works for encrypted sensitive data
• Uses platform-specific secure storage (Keystore, Keychain).
• Ideal for storing access tokens, user credentials, and API keys.
• Data is encrypted and protected from unauthorized access.
• Supports iOS and Android out of the box.
• Ensures compliance with security best practices.

 

Additional UI Packages (shimmer, flutter_svg, infinite_scroll_pagination) for Polished UX

• Shimmer adds loading skeletons for better perceived performance.
  
• flutter_svg allows use of crisp vector images and logos.
  
• infinite_scroll_pagination enables dynamic loading in lists and menus.
  
• Combine with animations for a premium app experience.
  
• Helps reduce bounce rates by improving responsiveness and visual appeal.
• These tools combined gave us a stable foundation for rapid development and smooth performance.

Firebase vs Supabase: Performance Comparison

During early planning, we evaluated Firebase against newer alternatives like Supabase. Both offer backend-as-a-service with real-time capabilities, but here’s why Firebase won for us:

• Maturity & Ecosystem: Firebase has been battle-tested with extensive documentation, community support, and integrations. 
• Feature Completeness: It offers a complete suite including Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Messaging, Analytics, and Crashlytics — all under one platform. 
• Real-Time Sync: Firestore’s snapshot listeners provide robust real-time syncing with offline support. 
• Cross-Platform Support: Firebase’s plugins for Flutter are mature and stable, ensuring fewer bugs. 
• Third-Party Integrations: Firebase works well with Google Maps API and Razorpay for payments, critical for our app. 

Supabase is promising and open-source, but at the time of development, it lacked the extensive feature set and stability we needed for a production app. However, we continue to monitor it for future projects.

Cutting Costs and Boosting App Responsiveness

We knew that real-time apps can get expensive and slow if not optimized. So alongside technical optimization, we focused on:

• Monitoring Firestore Usage: Using the Firebase console’s analytics and cost dashboards helped track costly queries and optimize accordingly. 
• Balancing Real-Time & Polling: For some data (like delivery ETA), we used periodic polling rather than continuous listeners to reduce reads without hurting UX. 
• Prioritizing User-Critical Updates: We focused listeners on crucial data like order status, while less important info loaded on demand. 
• Offloading Heavy Logic to Backend: Complex computations were moved to our NestJS backend, reducing client load and Firestore usage. 
• App Responsiveness: Flutter’s native performance, combined with the BLoC pattern, kept UI smooth, while debouncing and caching minimized unnecessary network calls. 

This combination ensured our users enjoyed fast, real-time updates without ballooning backend costs.

Above all, collaboration between frontend and backend teams was key to delivering a polished product.

Conclusion

Our experience with Firebase Flutter Integration for the Tropical Cafe & Restro app proved why this combination is ideal for building real-time, scalable, and cost-efficient apps. From secure authentication to live order tracking and seamless push notifications, Firebase’s cloud services paired with Flutter’s expressive UI toolkit gave us the flexibility and power needed.

Despite initial challenges around Firestore read operations and cost control, strategic optimizations and thoughtful architecture helped us deliver an app that delights users and runs efficiently.

If you’re planning a real-time app and want fast, reliable cross-platform development, Firebase and Flutter remain a winning pair — just remember to plan your data flow and optimize early.

We’re proud of what we built and hope our story inspires your next app journey.

To learn more about Firebase  and Firestore, read, write, do check out: 

https://firebase.google.com/docs/flutter/setup?platform=ios

https://www.jakeprins.com/blog/supabase-vs-firebase-2024

Inspired by our journey? Let’s build yours, too.  Whiter Apps turns your app idea into reality. Our tech team is just one click away — let’s build something great together. Visit www.whiterapps.com or get in touch today!