Authenticate with Firebase on Android Using a Custom Authentication System

You can integrate Firebase Authentication with a custom authentication system by modifying your authentication server to produce custom signed tokens when a user successfully signs in. Your app receives this token and uses it to authenticate with Firebase.

Before you begin

  1. If you haven't already, add Firebase to your Android project.
  2. In your module (app-level) Gradle file (usually <project>/<app-module>/build.gradle.kts or <project>/<app-module>/build.gradle), add the dependency for the Firebase Authentication library for Android. We recommend using the Firebase Android BoM to control library versioning. 
    dependencies {
    // Import the BoM for the Firebase platform
    implementation(platform("com.google.firebase:firebase-bom:33.5.1"))

    // Add the dependency for the Firebase Authentication library
    // When using the BoM, you don't specify versions in Firebase library dependencies
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-auth")
}

    By using the Firebase Android BoM, your app will always use compatible versions of Firebase Android libraries.

    (Alternative)  Add Firebase library dependencies without using the BoM

    If you choose not to use the Firebase BoM, you must specify each Firebase library version in its dependency line.

    Note that if you use multiple Firebase libraries in your app, we strongly recommend using the BoM to manage library versions, which ensures that all versions are compatible. 

    dependencies {
    // Add the dependency for the Firebase Authentication library
    // When NOT using the BoM, you must specify versions in Firebase library dependencies
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-auth:23.1.0")
}
    Looking for a Kotlin-specific library module? Starting in October 2023 (Firebase BoM 32.5.0), both Kotlin and Java developers can depend on the main library module (for details, see the FAQ about this initiative).
  3. Get your project's server keys:
    1. Go to the Service Accounts page in your project's settings.
    2. Click Generate New Private Key at the bottom of the Firebase Admin SDK section of the Service Accounts page.
    3. The new service account's public/private key pair is automatically saved on your computer. Copy this file to your authentication server.

Authenticate with Firebase

  1. In your sign-in activity's onCreate method, get the shared instance of the FirebaseAuth object:

    Kotlin+KTX

    private lateinit var auth: FirebaseAuth
// ...
// Initialize Firebase Auth
auth = Firebase.auth
    CustomAuthActivity.kt

    Java

    private FirebaseAuth mAuth;
// ...
// Initialize Firebase Auth
mAuth = FirebaseAuth.getInstance();
    CustomAuthActivity.java
  2. When initializing your Activity, check to see if the user is currently signed in:

    Kotlin+KTX

    public override fun onStart() {
    super.onStart()
    // Check if user is signed in (non-null) and update UI accordingly.
    val currentUser = auth.currentUser
    updateUI(currentUser)
}
    CustomAuthActivity.kt

    Java

    @Override
public void onStart() {
    super.onStart();
    // Check if user is signed in (non-null) and update UI accordingly.
    FirebaseUser currentUser = mAuth.getCurrentUser();
    updateUI(currentUser);
}
    CustomAuthActivity.java
  3. When users sign in to your app, send their sign-in credentials (for example, their username and password) to your authentication server. Your server checks the credentials and returns a custom token if they are valid.
  4. After you receive the custom token from your authentication server, pass it to signInWithCustomToken to sign in the user:

    Kotlin+KTX

    customToken?.let {
    auth.signInWithCustomToken(it)
        .addOnCompleteListener(this) { task ->
            if (task.isSuccessful) {
                // Sign in success, update UI with the signed-in user's information
                Log.d(TAG, "signInWithCustomToken:success")
                val user = auth.currentUser
                updateUI(user)
            } else {
                // If sign in fails, display a message to the user.
                Log.w(TAG, "signInWithCustomToken:failure", task.exception)
                Toast.makeText(
                    baseContext,
                    "Authentication failed.",
                    Toast.LENGTH_SHORT,
                ).show()
                updateUI(null)
            }
        }
}
    CustomAuthActivity.kt

    Java

    mAuth.signInWithCustomToken(mCustomToken)
        .addOnCompleteListener(this, new OnCompleteListener<AuthResult>() {
            @Override
            public void onComplete(@NonNull Task<AuthResult> task) {
                if (task.isSuccessful()) {
                    // Sign in success, update UI with the signed-in user's information
                    Log.d(TAG, "signInWithCustomToken:success");
                    FirebaseUser user = mAuth.getCurrentUser();
                    updateUI(user);
                } else {
                    // If sign in fails, display a message to the user.
                    Log.w(TAG, "signInWithCustomToken:failure", task.getException());
                    Toast.makeText(CustomAuthActivity.this, "Authentication failed.",
                            Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                    updateUI(null);
                }
            }
        });
    CustomAuthActivity.java
    If sign-in succeeds, the AuthStateListener you can use the getCurrentUser method to get the user's account data.

Next steps

After a user signs in for the first time, a new user account is created and linked to the credentials—that is, the user name and password, phone number, or auth provider information—the user signed in with. This new account is stored as part of your Firebase project, and can be used to identify a user across every app in your project, regardless of how the user signs in.

  • In your apps, you can get the user's basic profile information from the FirebaseUser object. See Manage Users.

  • In your Firebase Realtime Database and Cloud Storage Security Rules, you can get the signed-in user's unique user ID from the auth variable, and use it to control what data a user can access.

You can allow users to sign in to your app using multiple authentication providers by linking auth provider credentials to an existing user account.

To sign out a user, call signOut:

Kotlin+KTX

Firebase.auth.signOut()
MainActivity.kt

Java

FirebaseAuth.getInstance().signOut();
MainActivity.java