In today's fast-paced development environment, developers often need to handle coding issues or work on projects anytime and anywhere. Firebase Studio, launched by Google at the Google Cloud Next conference in 2025, brings a new cloud development solution for developers, with Android Studio Cloud making Android development even more convenient.
What is Firebase Studio and Android Studio Cloud?#
Firebase Studio is a cloud-based full-stack development environment launched by Google, integrating efficient development tools powered by Gemini AI, replacing the previous Project IDX. It supports multiple languages, frameworks, and AI-assisted programming, covering development scenarios for front-end, mobile, and back-end. Android Studio Cloud is a cloud-based development environment provided by Firebase Studio, allowing developers to conveniently open Android Studio projects from anywhere with an internet connection.
Powerful Features of Android Studio Cloud#
Quick Start and No Configuration Needed#
With Android Studio Cloud, developers do not need to go through cumbersome local environment configurations; they can simply start it through a browser and obtain a complete development environment within one or two minutes. This is particularly useful for scenarios where developers need to temporarily address issues without their work computers at hand. With just a browser, they can create projects directly through Clone Repository and quickly get a temporary working environment.
Complete Development Environment#
Android Studio Cloud is not just a simple Web IDE; it is a complete remote virtual machine system that already includes the essential conditions for development. It provides the full functionality of Android Studio and can also support other necessary working environments. For example, the terminal environment has the corresponding node version built-in and, as a complete Linux terminal, can install and run all other required supports.
Performance and Speed Advantages#
When using Android Studio Cloud, device performance and network speed are quite good, especially during project cloning and dependency synchronization. Due to the advantages of the network environment where the Cloud is located, the synchronization and download speeds from scratch are much faster than in a real device environment. This greatly improves development efficiency and reduces waiting time.
Multiple Workspaces and Persistence#
Developers can create multiple workspaces, and after exiting, they can easily re-enter through existing projects when needed. This means developers can return to their previous work state at any time and continue development without reconfiguring the environment or searching for code.
Use Cases and Advantages#
Temporary Development Needs#
For developers, there may be times when they need to quickly address some coding issues or perform simple development work on non-work devices. Android Studio Cloud provides a perfect solution, requiring no installation of any local software, and offering a complete development environment through a browser.
Team Collaboration and Remote Development#
In team collaboration projects, Android Studio Cloud allows team members to develop simultaneously from different locations without worrying about inconsistent environment configurations. Additionally, it supports remote development, enabling developers to work from anywhere with internet access, enhancing flexibility and efficiency.
Learning and Experimentation#
For beginners or those wanting to try new projects, Android Studio Cloud offers a development environment that requires no local configuration. They can quickly create projects, experiment, and learn without worrying about the complexities of local environment setups.
Limitations and Drawbacks#
Although Android Studio Cloud offers many powerful features, it also has some limitations. For example, it currently does not support direct USB connections for debugging real devices; to debug real devices, developers can only use Firebase's Android Device Streaming to run on remote real devices. Additionally, there are only three free workspaces by default; after entering the developer program, developers can get 10 workspaces for free, while more workspaces require payment.
Getting Creative#
I believe everyone, like me, wants to take advantage of some server resources, and Google has certainly implemented some countermeasures, such as prohibiting SSH and Docker services.
As you can see, the configuration is quite good, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.
Running the Android emulator is also not a problem, so I wondered if I could run Ubuntu inside it and use Cloudflared for internal network penetration. Cloudflared can indeed start, and I successfully installed 1panel on this machine.
However, after the page was closed for half an hour, the instance was destroyed...
Trying VirtualBox#
It may not be so simple to run; further exploration is needed.
This thing is quite convenient, but I wonder if it will still be free in the future, as money doesn't come easily.