15MB .tflite files with @react-native-firebase/ml

[MujtabaFR]

Hello,
I'm trying to use Text Recognition (in the cloud) in my app, So I had to install @react-native-firebase/ml .. but I was surprised that the final apk size increased by 15MB from @react-native-firebase/ml alone.

I know that @react-native-firebase/ml is specialized to "Cloud" inferences, while react-native-mlkit is specialized to "On-Device" inferences. So Why all these .tflite files attached to the @react-native-firebase/ml library ?

Is it a bug ? is there anyway I can use cloud Text Recognition without these 15MB .tflite files ?

Thanks

[mikehardy]

It is likely a bug as the on-device ML stuff was removed from react-native-firebase (by me, so likely my oversight)

Something about these:

react-native-firebase/packages/ml/android/build.gradle

Lines 95 to 101 in 83a7382

	implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision:20.1.1'
	implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision-common:19.1.1'
	implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision-face-contour-internal:16.0.3'
	implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision-image-labeling-internal:16.0.5'
	implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision-image-label:18.0.5'
	implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-ml-vision-face-model:20.0.2'
	implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-ml-model-interpreter:22.0.4'

Not sure which one is bringing down the local models but you could experiment by bisecting a removal of them and making a PR of the result after discovering which ones are no longer necessary?

[MujtabaFR]

The .tflite files were removed when removing these two lines

react-native-firebase/packages/ml/android/build.gradle

Line 97 in 83a7382

implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision-face-contour-internal:16.0.3'

react-native-firebase/packages/ml/android/build.gradle

Line 100 in 83a7382

implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-ml-vision-face-model:20.0.2'

After removing both lines, apk size was reduces by 10MB

I created a PR removing them, as face detection is part of ML Kit as on-device model

[mikehardy]

Fantastic @MujtabaFR - your PR is already merged and as soon as CI finishes chewing on it I'll hit the button to publish 10.4.1 with your fix 🏆 😄

[MujtabaFR]

face detection had .tflite models of 10mb size

image labeling has 4mb .so libraries, loaded by these two lines :

react-native-firebase/packages/ml/android/build.gradle

Lines 98 to 99 in 83a7382

	implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision-image-labeling-internal:16.0.5'
	implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision-image-label:18.0.5'

I'm not sure if these two lines are necessary for @react-native-firebase/ml or not

But I'm removing them from my app. And mentioning it here so you have an idea about them @mikehardy 👌

[mikehardy]

I believe those are necessary to handle downloaded ML models and are exactly the point of the Firebase ML component that is still here (and not moved to MLKit) ?

[MujtabaFR]

According to the documentation.. If you want to use image labeling, there are two options :

• Cloud image labeling (Firebase ML)
  To use it you need to add this dependencies : (docs)

  implementation platform('com.google.firebase:firebase-bom:26.2.0')
  implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-ml-vision'
  

• On-device image labeling (ML Kit)
  You have two options to use it : (docs)

  • Either bundling the model in your app :
    implementation 'com.google.mlkit:image-labeling:17.0.1'
  • Or using model within Google Play Service (configure your app to automatically download the model to the device after your app is installed from the Play Store)
    implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-mlkit-image-labeling:16.0.1'

In summery:

@react-native-firebase/ml is specialized in Cloud inferences, so all the processes will be done in the cloud.
(it doesn't need to have any model bundled with the app, or to have any library to handle downloaded models).

So you can remove these two lines and save 4mb for the users 🙌 😁

react-native-firebase/packages/ml/android/build.gradle

Lines 98 to 99 in 83a7382

	implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision-image-labeling-internal:16.0.5'
	implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-vision-image-label:18.0.5'

[mikehardy]

I think you are right about that. In fact we could probably (at least temporarily) get rid of the firebase-ml-model-interpreter one as well as we want to do custom inference here on custom models - that is a firebase API surface area (https://firebase.google.com/docs/ml/android/use-custom-models) but we haven't implemented it yet, so for cloud-ML purposes it is dead weight I think

[mikehardy]

v10.6.4 just shipped with this change, 4MB people don't need, deleted...