--- title: "What's New in Capacitor Firebase 8.3.0" description: Capacitor Firebase 8.3.0 adds new Firestore data types, filtered count queries, a serverTimestamps listener option, and Remote Config setDefaults and getAll. date: created: 2026-06-04 updated: 2026-06-04 authors: - robingenz categories: - Firebase --- # What's New in Capacitor Firebase 8.3.0 Capacitor Firebase 8.3.0 is out, and the work is split across two plugins. Cloud Firestore gains support for data types it used to mangle — `DocumentReference`, `Bytes`, and `NaN`/`Infinity` — along with filtered count queries and a `serverTimestamps` option on snapshot listeners. Remote Config picks up `setDefaults(...)`, `getAll()`, and a `source` field that finally works on the web.
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## At a Glance Here's the full list of changes in this release: | Change | Plugin | Platforms | PR | | --------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `DocumentReference`, `Bytes`, `NaN`/`Infinity` data types | Firestore | Web + iOS + Android | [#991](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/991){:target="_blank"} | | Queries in `getCountFromServer(...)` | Firestore | Web + iOS + Android | [#988](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/988){:target="_blank"} | | `serverTimestamps` option on snapshot listeners | Firestore | Web + iOS + Android | [#993](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/993){:target="_blank"} | | `limitToLast` constraint fixed on Android | Firestore | Android | [#992](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/992){:target="_blank"} | | Unique listener IDs to prevent overwrites | Firestore + Storage | Web | [#989](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/989){:target="_blank"} | | `DocumentReference` deserializer stack overflow fixed | Firestore | Web | [#981](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/981){:target="_blank"} | | New `setDefaults(...)` method | Remote Config | Web + iOS + Android | [#970](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/970){:target="_blank"} | | New `getAll()` method | Remote Config | Web + iOS + Android | [#977](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/977){:target="_blank"} | | `source` exposed on Web | Remote Config | Web | [#979](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/979){:target="_blank"} | ## Cloud Firestore The bulk of this release lands in the [Capacitor Cloud Firestore plugin](../../sdks/capacitor/firebase/cloud-firestore.md). ### More Supported Data Types Firestore documents can hold more than strings and numbers, but a few of those richer types never made it across the Capacitor bridge intact. The bridge serializes everything to JSON, and JSON has no concept of a document reference, a byte blob, or `NaN`. Version 8.3.0 adds proper round-trip support for all three on Web, iOS, and Android ([#991](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/991){:target="_blank"}). `DocumentReference` and `Bytes` each get a dedicated class, and the non-finite numbers `NaN`, `Infinity`, and `-Infinity` — which JSON would otherwise collapse to `null` — are wrapped so they survive the trip: ```typescript import { Bytes, DocumentReference, FirebaseFirestore, } from '@capacitor-firebase/firestore'; await FirebaseFirestore.setDocument({ reference: 'books/the-pragmatic-programmer', data: { cover: Bytes.fromUint8Array(coverBytes), author: DocumentReference.fromPath('authors/andrew-hunt'), rating: Infinity, }, }); ``` When you read the document back, the values are deserialized for you: the `cover` field becomes a `Bytes` instance again, and `rating` comes back as the real `Infinity` number rather than `null`. ```typescript const { snapshot } = await FirebaseFirestore.getDocument({ reference: 'books/the-pragmatic-programmer', }); const coverBytes = (snapshot.data?.cover as Bytes).toUint8Array(); ``` Both classes mirror the Firebase JS SDK. Build a `Bytes` value with `fromBase64String(...)` or `fromUint8Array(...)` and read it with `toBase64()` or `toUint8Array()`, and point a `DocumentReference` at any document with `DocumentReference.fromPath(...)`. ### Queries in `getCountFromServer(...)` `getCountFromServer(...)` lets you count documents without downloading them — handy for pagination headers or "X results" labels. Until now it could only count an entire collection, so any filtered count meant fetching the documents and counting them client-side. 8.3.0 adds the same `compositeFilter` and `queryConstraints` options that `getCollection(...)` already accepts ([#988](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/988){:target="_blank"}), so you can count exactly the subset you care about: ```typescript const { count } = await FirebaseFirestore.getCountFromServer({ reference: 'users', compositeFilter: { type: 'and', queryConstraints: [ { type: 'where', fieldPath: 'active', opStr: '==', value: true, }, ], }, queryConstraints: [{ type: 'limit', limit: 100 }], }); ``` Both options are optional, so calling `getCountFromServer(...)` with just a `reference` works exactly as before. ### A `serverTimestamps` Option for Snapshot Listeners When you write a field with `serverTimestamp()`, the value is filled in by the server. But a snapshot listener fires immediately with your local write, before the server acknowledges it — and in that pending state the timestamp field has no value yet. By default it comes back as `null`. The new `serverTimestamps` option lets you choose what happens in that window. It's available on `addDocumentSnapshotListener(...)`, `addCollectionSnapshotListener(...)`, and `addCollectionGroupSnapshotListener(...)` ([#993](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/993){:target="_blank"}): ```typescript await FirebaseFirestore.addDocumentSnapshotListener( { reference: 'users/alice', serverTimestamps: 'estimate', }, (event) => { console.log(event?.snapshot.data?.lastSeen); }, ); ``` The three values map directly to the Firebase SDK behavior: `'none'` (the default) returns `null` for pending timestamps, `'estimate'` substitutes the client's best guess at the server time, and `'previous'` returns the field's prior value. ### Bug Fixes Three fixes round out the Firestore changes: - **`limitToLast` now works on Android** ([#992](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/992){:target="_blank"}). The Android query builder only recognized `limit`, so a `limitToLast` constraint was dropped and threw a `NullPointerException`. It now behaves like iOS. - **Listeners created in the same millisecond no longer overwrite each other** ([#989](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/989){:target="_blank"}). Web listener IDs were timestamp-based; they're now generated uniquely. This fix also applies to the [Capacitor Cloud Storage plugin](../../sdks/capacitor/firebase/cloud-storage.md). - **`DocumentReference` fields no longer crash the web deserializer** ([#981](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/981){:target="_blank"}). A reference field used to trigger a `Maximum call stack size exceeded` error on the web. ## Remote Config The [Capacitor Remote Config plugin](../../sdks/capacitor/firebase/remote-config.md) gains two new methods and a web improvement. ### `setDefaults(...)` In-app default values let your app behave sensibly before the first successful fetch — or when the device is offline. 8.3.0 adds `setDefaults(...)` to register them ([#970](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/970){:target="_blank"}): ```typescript await FirebaseRemoteConfig.setDefaults({ defaults: { welcome_message: 'Hello', feature_enabled: false, max_items: 10, }, }); ``` Defaults accept strings, numbers, and booleans. Any key you haven't fetched from the server falls back to the value you set here. ### `getAll()` Reading config values one key at a time gets tedious when you want to inspect everything at once — for a debug screen, say. The new `getAll()` method returns every key/value pair in a single call ([#977](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/977){:target="_blank"}): ```typescript const { values } = await FirebaseRemoteConfig.getAll(); for (const [key, { value, source }] of Object.entries(values)) { console.log(`${key} = ${value} (from ${source})`); } ``` Each entry carries both the value as a string and its `source`, so you can tell whether a value came from the server, a default, or the static fallback. ### `source` Now Available on Web That `source` field — `Static`, `Default`, or `Remote` — used to be populated only on Android and iOS. It now works on the web too, across `getBoolean(...)`, `getNumber(...)`, `getString(...)`, and `getAll()` ([#979](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-firebase/pull/979){:target="_blank"}): ```typescript const { value, source } = await FirebaseRemoteConfig.getString({ key: 'welcome_message', }); console.log(value, source); // "Hello" "Remote" ``` Because it's now guaranteed on every platform, `source` is no longer optional in the result types. ## Upgrading Bump the Capacitor Firebase packages you use to 8.3.0 and sync your native projects: ```bash npm install @capacitor-firebase/firestore@^8.3.0 @capacitor-firebase/remote-config@^8.3.0 npx cap sync ``` There are no breaking changes in this release. If you're installing either plugin for the first time, the [Cloud Firestore](../../sdks/capacitor/firebase/cloud-firestore.md/#installation) and [Remote Config](../../sdks/capacitor/firebase/remote-config.md/#installation) installation guides walk through the platform setup. [Subscribe to the Capawesome Newsletter](https://capawesome.io/newsletter/){ .md-button .md-button--primary } ## Related Posts - [Capacitor Push Notifications: The Complete Guide](./capacitor-push-notifications-guide.md) - [How to Wrap an Angular App with Capacitor and Firebase](./how-to-wrap-an-angular-app-with-capacitor-and-firebase.md) ## Final Thoughts If you store references or binary data in Firestore, or you've been counting filtered queries by hand, 8.3.0 is worth the upgrade — those gaps were the kind that forced awkward workarounds. The Remote Config additions are smaller, but a consistent `source` across all three platforms makes config-driven logic easier to reason about. To go further from here: - [Capacitor Firestore: Real-Time Data & Offline Sync](./capacitor-firebase-cloud-firestore-guide.md) — use cases, best practices, and the new data types and count queries covered above. - [Upload & Manage Files with Firebase Storage in Capacitor](./capacitor-firebase-cloud-storage-guide.md) — the plugin sharing the listener ID fix mentioned above. Got a question or hit an edge case? Drop into the [Capawesome Discord server](https://discord.gg/VCXxSVjefW){:target="_blank"} — we're always happy to help. And to catch the next release write-up in your inbox, subscribe to the [Capawesome newsletter](https://capawesome.io/newsletter/){:target="_blank"}.