Critical Startup ANRs during FirebaseApp.initializeApp on Android #2754

• Android device: oppo,xiaomi,Transsion,vivo
• Android OS version: 13,14,15,16
• Google Play Services version: Unable to determine the GMS version on the user's phone
• Firebase/Play Services SDK version: com.google.firebase:firebase-bom:33.9.0

Step 2: Describe the problem:

We are experiencing a high volume of startup ANRs (Application Not Responding) on our production Android app, specifically during the Firebase initialization process.
History of Attempts to Fix:

1. Initial State: We used the default automatic initialization via FirebaseInitProvider . This resulted in significant startup ANRs as reported by Google Play Console and Firebase Crashlytics.
2. Current Implementation: To optimize startup performance, we disabled the automatic initialization in AndroidManifest.xml and moved the initialization to a manual call within the Application.onCreate() method.
3. Outcome: Unfortunately, the ANR rate has not improved. The main thread still gets blocked during the manual call to FirebaseApp.initializeApp

Steps to reproduce:

Clicking the icon to launch the application may reproduce this issue on low- to mid-range devices. The screen remains black and unresponsive upon launch.The ANR tracker consistently shows that the main thread is stuck at FirebaseApp.initializeApp. It appears that internal components (such as Analytics or Crashlytics) are performing time-consuming synchronous I/O or lock contention during initialization.

Relevant Code:

// In Application.kt
override fun onCreate() {
super.onCreate()
// Manual initialization to avoid ContentProvider blocking
FirebaseUtil.initFirebase(this)
}

fun initFirebase(context: Application) {
runCatching {
val option = FirebaseOptions.Builder().apply {
setApplicationId(AppConstants.APP_ID_RESOURCE_NAME)
setApiKey(AppConstants.API_KEY_RESOURCE_NAME)
setProjectId(AppConstants.PROJECT_ID_RESOURCE_NAME)
setGcmSenderId(AppConstants.GCM_SENDER_ID_RESOURCE_NAME)
setStorageBucket(AppConstants.STORAGE_BUCKET_RESOURCE_NAME)
}.build()

    // This call is identified as the main thread blocker in ANR traces
    firebaseApp = FirebaseApp.initializeApp(context, option)?.apply {
        setAutomaticResourceManagementEnabled(true)
    }
}

}

In AndroidManfiest.xml

ANR traces::
main (runnable):tid=1 systid=5624
at com.google.firebase.crashlytics.internal.common.CrashlyticsReportDataCapture.(CrashlyticsReportDataCapture.java:14)
at com.google.firebase.crashlytics.internal.common.SessionReportingCoordinator.create(SessionReportingCoordinator.java:75)
at com.google.firebase.crashlytics.internal.common.CrashlyticsCore.onPreExecute(CrashlyticsCore.java:163)
at com.google.firebase.crashlytics.FirebaseCrashlytics.init(FirebaseCrashlytics.java:168)
at com.google.firebase.crashlytics.CrashlyticsRegistrar.buildCrashlytics(CrashlyticsRegistrar.java:79)
at com.google.firebase.tracing.ComponentMonitor.lambda$processRegistrar$0(ComponentMonitor.java:38)
at com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRuntime.lambda$discoverComponents$0(ComponentRuntime.java:160)
at com.google.firebase.components.Lazy.get(Lazy.java:53)
at com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRuntime.doInitializeEagerComponents(ComponentRuntime.java:322)
at com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRuntime.initializeEagerComponents(ComponentRuntime.java:312)
at com.google.firebase.FirebaseApp.initializeAllApis(FirebaseApp.java:607)
at com.google.firebase.FirebaseApp.initializeApp(FirebaseApp.java:300)
at com.google.firebase.FirebaseApp.initializeApp(FirebaseApp.java:264)
at com.xxx.xxx.FirebaseUtil.initFirebase(FirebaseUtil.java:63)
at com.xxx.xxx.Application.onCreate(Application.kt:138)
at android.app.Instrumentation.callApplicationOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1386)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:7648)
at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleBindApplication(unavailable)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2477)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:107)
at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:232)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:317)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8886)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native method)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:681)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:915)