Building LiveStack: A Real-Time GA4 Dashboard (And Surviving Google Play's OAuth Review)

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can be overwhelming when monitoring multiple properties. To simplify this, I created LiveStack, a native Android dashboard that consolidates real-time active user counts from all selected GA4 properties into one live screen. This was built using Flutter for the frontend, Firebase Auth and Google Sign-In for authentication, and the Google Analytics Data API for data retrieval.

Publishing the app to Google Play was fraught with challenges. The app requires sensitive OAuth access, leading to strict verification by Google Play Reviewers. The main issue was a "Sign in failed" error. The reviewers tested the app on fresh emulators located in different data centers. When the reviewers input the provided test credentials and signed in, Google's Account Security detected the login from an unrecognized emulator and imposed an OTP verification, which the reviewer couldn't fulfill. Consequently, the app was rejected.

To bypass this, I ensured the Play Store App Signing SHA-1 was manually registered in the Google Cloud Console (APIs & Services), not just in Firebase. I also created a YouTube video of the app successfully logging in with test credentials and linked it in the Play Console instructions. Adding a note to reviewers about the potential IP-based blocking seemed to persuade them.

After weeks of rejections and troubleshooting, LiveStack GA was finally approved and launched on the Play Store. This real-time dashboard allows monitoring of live traffic across numerous websites simultaneously and auto-sorts properties based on active users.