Is google-services.json confidential?

Question

Following the guide on setting up Google Analytics in an Android app (https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/android/v4/) I am left wondering if this g

Answer 1

Yes. At least the api_keystuff should be kept confidential.

One way to put google-services.json into your public repository and still keep it confidential is to use BlackBox.

In your app level build.gradle put a copy task in for example defaultConfig like this:

defaultConfig {
    ...
    ...
    copy {
        from "../secret/"
        into "."
        include "*.json"
    }
}

which will copy the file from your secret/ folder to the right spot.

Now, to build your app you'll have to run blackbox_edit_start google-services.json.gpg the first time you check out your repo, and after that you're good.