--- title: Become a Firebase Taskmaster! (Part 2: Choosing the Best... description: This tutorial digs into the Play Services Task API used by Firebase Android SDKs, comparing the three variants of addOnSuccessListener() (and their... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/become-a-firebase-taskmaster-part-2-choosing-the-best-options--rvo1dw3mi twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Become a Firebase Taskmaster! (Part 2: Choosing the Best Options) | daily.dev og:description: This tutorial digs into the Play Services Task API used by Firebase Android SDKs, comparing the three variants of addOnSuccessListener() (and their... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/become-a-firebase-taskmaster-part-2-choosing-the-best-options--rvo1dw3mi og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Rvo1Dw3Mi.png og:image:alt: Become a Firebase Taskmaster! (Part 2: Choosing the Best Options) og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Become a Firebase Taskmaster! (Part 2: Choosing the Best Options) **[Firebase](https://daily.dev/sources/firebase-blog)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary This tutorial digs into the Play Services Task API used by Firebase Android SDKs, comparing the three variants of addOnSuccessListener() (and their addOnFailureListener/addOnCompleteListener counterparts): the plain listener that runs on the main thread and can leak Activities, the Activity-scoped listener that auto-removes on onStop(), and the Executor-based listener for controlling which thread handles the callback. It explains how Activity leaks happen when a Task holds a strong reference to a listener past onDestroy(), and introduces OnCompleteListener as a single callback for both success and failure via isSuccessful(). ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I avoid an Activity leak when using addOnSuccessListener in Firebase for Android? Pass the Activity as the first argument to addOnSuccessListener(Activity, OnSuccessListener), which scopes the listener to the Activity lifecycle so it is automatically removed when the Activity's onStop() method runs. Without this, an anonymous listener holds a strong implicit reference to the Activity, and if the Task doesn't complete before onDestroy(), the Activity and its Views can't be garbage collected, causing a leak. _Developers wiring up Firebase Task listeners on Android can find implementation nuances like this through daily.dev._ ### What is the difference between OnSuccessListener, OnFailureListener, and OnCompleteListener in the Firebase Task API? OnCompleteListener is a single callback that fires on both success and failure, requiring a call to task.isSuccessful() inside the callback to branch logic, whereas OnSuccessListener and OnFailureListener are separate listeners for each outcome. Functionally, using one OnCompleteListener is equivalent to registering both an OnSuccessListener and an OnFailureListener; the choice is mostly a matter of style preference. _daily.dev helps Android developers compare listener patterns like these when structuring Firebase task handling._ ### How do I run a Firebase Task listener on a background thread instead of the main thread? Pass an Executor as the first argument to addOnSuccessListener(Executor, OnSuccessListener); the Executor determines which thread invokes the listener instead of defaulting to the main thread. This suits blocking work or concurrent handling of multiple Task results, but Executors should be managed as shared singletons or have well-managed lifecycles to avoid leaking their threads. _daily.dev surfaces threading techniques like this for developers tuning Firebase-based Android apps._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Understanding Activity launch modes in Android](https://daily.dev/posts/understanding-activity-launch-modes-in-android-vtpa9ve2h) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Classic Android Lifecycle vs AndroidX Lifecycle \(KTX\) — Under the Hood](https://daily.dev/posts/classic-android-lifecycle-vs-androidx-lifecycle-ktx-under-the-hood-plmveegwq) · droidcon · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The React Native Live Activities Handbook: How to Build iOS Live Activities and Android 16 Live Updates](https://daily.dev/posts/the-react-native-live-activities-handbook-how-to-build-ios-live-activities-and-android-16-live-upda-zpnvakxef) · freeCodeCamp · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to build a resilient activity tracker with Expo — Expo blog](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-build-a-resilient-activity-tracker-with-expo-expo-blog-tscdigjcl) · Expo Blog · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#general-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/general-programming), [#java](https://daily.dev/tags/java), [#android](https://daily.dev/tags/android), [#firebase](https://daily.dev/tags/firebase) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/become-a-firebase-taskmaster-part-2-choosing-the-best-options--rvo1dw3mi) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Become a Firebase Taskmaster! 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