ARTICLE AD BOX
While developing a Flutter app with Google Sign-In and Firebase Auth,
I hit a breaking point after migrating from google_sign_in v6 to v7.
Like most migrations, I assumed the good parts were preserved and the
weak parts improved. Instead, I ran into a new bug: every time the app
was closed — either by the system killing it or the user closing it —
the Google session was lost and the user had to sign in again.
I spent significant time trying to fix it. Among other attempts:
- attemptLightweightAuthentication() — documented as a silent
re-auth option, but it always shows UI. Not silent at all.
- authenticationEvents stream (the "official v7 pattern") — caused
regressions: lost the "continue as" account hint, increased
double-login cases.
- Manual token caching with SharedPreferences — no API in v7
to use a cached email as a sign-in hint.
After researching, I found that this is not a bug but a deliberate
decision by Google. The currently supported Android SDK simply does
not provide silent re-authentication. The Flutter team confirmed this
and closed the related issues as NOT PLANNED (#172066, #174736).
Is there an architectural approach that solves session persistence
without depending on Google Sign-In v7's silent re-auth?
