Looking for your help
I am facing a problem while getting Device Identifier. Actually I am using a UIDevice+IdentifierAddition.h, NSString+MD5Addition.h classes to get Identifier, but its return same identifier for all my devices i.e. iPhone 4s (iOS 7.1) & iPhone 5 (iOS 7.1.1).
Can any one have any solution for this problem. because I want a something unique for device specific. its my app requirement.
Important: I want to submit this app on app store, So please, answer must be as per the guidelines
Since iOS 7 it is no longer possible to get any unique device identifiers.
Your options are:
create your own unique ID and save it in the keychain.
use the vendor ID, which will be reset if all the app by the same vendor are removed from the device.
Now it's possible in iOS 11.0+, Apple has introduced a new API called DeviceCheck API with which developers can uniquely identify a device.
As mentioned in the documentation:
Using the DeviceCheck APIs, in combination with server-to-server APIs,
you can set and query two bits of data per device, while maintaining
user privacy. You might use this data to identify devices that have
already taken advantage of a promotional offer that you provide, or to
flag a device that you have determined to be fraudulent. The
DeviceCheck APIs also let you verify that the token you receive comes
from an authentic Apple device that includes your app.
Also, check out the following WWDC17 video starting at 24 min:
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/702/
EDIT:
A thoroughly detailed tutorial on this Device Check topic can be found here.
In Objective c
NSString *uniqueIdentifier = [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
In Swift
var uniqueId=UIDevice.currentDevice().identifierForVendor.UUIDString as String
println("Your device identifires =>\(uniqueId)")
Unfortunately identifierForVendor changes when you uninstall your application so to guarantee that the it will not change save it in the keychain
I used pod 'SSKeychain' Homepage: https://github.com/soffes/sskeychain
Here is the code
+ (NSString *)getDeviceId {
NSString *appName=[[[NSBundle mainBundle] infoDictionary] objectForKey:(NSString*)kCFBundleNameKey];
NSString *strApplicationUUID = [SSKeychain passwordForService:appName account:#"MY_KEY"];
if (strApplicationUUID == nil) {
strApplicationUUID = [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
[SSKeychain setPassword:strApplicationUUID forService:appName account:#"MY_KEY"];
}
return strApplicationUUID;
}
[UIDevice uniqueIdentifier]; is deprecated in ios 5 and above.
You can get identifier for vendor using this
NSString *udid = [[UIDevice currentDevice] uniqueIdentifier];
and store this in keychain and use later on.
Also you can check for
1) NSUUID
2)CFUUID
you will get detail description here Unique device identification in ios
If you're trying to identify a device only once i.e., to estimating the number of unique users then I suggest using "advertisingIdentifier" of ASIdentifierManager.
Apple Doc
Related
is this possible to get the user's apple id which is currently login to device? Actually I implemented inapp purchases and I get a device id and Apple id of the user when it purchase the app.
No, it's not possible.
Instead of AppleId, you can use [[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor].
No, you can't. It's a privacy element like the UDID.
You can read more about this here : Privacy issue
But, if you want, you can use the identifierForVendor provided by Apple using this method :
[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor]
It's not possible. You can only retrieve the device's UDID. it's a privacy issue, just like their phone number. But you can get the certificate (Acknowledgement) for every purchase from apple server for a particular user.
No you can't get Apple Id. Instead of that you could use identifierForVendor.
Objective-c:
[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor]
Swift 3+:
UIDevice.current.identifierForVendor?.uuidString
If you want to read more about collecting user data check this out Apple Policy!
or you can use this (Swift 3):
UIDevice.current.identifierForVendor!.uuidString
For older versions:
UIDevice.currentDevice().identifierForVendor
or if you want a string:
UIDevice.currentDevice().identifierForVendor!.UUIDString
I'm not sure about apple id but you can grab device id programmatically. If you using hybrid app, you can using push phonegap plugin.
https://github.com/phonegap-build/PushPlugin
http://blog.revivalx.com/2014/08/29/implement-push-notifications-for-android-and-ios-phonegap-part-2/
For native
http://www.raywenderlich.com/32960/apple-push-notification-services-in-ios-6-tutorial-part-1
BTW, device id and UDID is a different thing.
Nope, you can't get that information. The only thing you can get are information from UIDevice (look it up on the apple doc) or a "fake UDID" (unique key that isn't the UDID) using [[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor], and the IP.
So you can identify your users in a unique way, but not get their information.
I really suggest you go browse the doc about the UIDevice, maybe you'll find something that you need there too
ou can use this (Swift 3):
UIDevice.current.identifierForVendor!.uuidString
For older versions:
UIDevice.currentDevice().identifierForVendor
or if you want a string:
UIDevice.currentDevice().identifierForVendor!.UUIDString
I am trying to uniquely identify the iPhone/iPad mobile devices to save user data.
I found out some, including
[NSString *UUID = [[NSUUID UUID] UUIDString];
[UIDevice currentDevice].identifierForVendor.UUIDString;
or take device token from
- (void)application:(UIApplication *)app didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken:(NSData *)deviceToken
{ ... }
But the problem is that
UUID changes everytime I close and restart the app (I experienced
from debugging)
identiferForVendor changes every time I delete and reinstall the app
(or update the app)
I used device token to uniquely identify device across version
updates, reinstall, but I learnt that it can be changed, and I am
experiencing it from my updates and debugging in xCode.
Since app store rejects using uniqueIdentifer, my question here is:
Is there any way we can uniquely identify devices across any application updates, deletion, reinstallation?
Use SSkeychain to store unique key permanently. Take 4 files from sskeychain folder from this github example into your project
then after use this code to get unique identifier.
-(NSString *)getUniqueDeviceIdentifierAsString
{
NSString *appName=[[[NSBundle mainBundle] infoDictionary] objectForKey:(NSString*)kCFBundleNameKey];
NSString *strApplicationUUID = [SSKeychain passwordForService:appName account:#"incoding"];
if (strApplicationUUID == nil)
{
strApplicationUUID = [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
[SSKeychain setPassword:strApplicationUUID forService:appName account:#"incoding"];
}
return strApplicationUUID;
}
This identifier will not change after deleting and reinstalling app. I have used this and it is working perfect for me.
The closest thing I can think of is generating your own UUID and storing it in the device keychain.
By doing this, it will survive app deletion/reinstall, and if the user has enabled iCloud Keychain, it should also survive a device restore.
To make things easier, you can use a keychain wrapper among the many available as open source (one is here).
There's a great posting about this.
http://www.doubleencore.com/2013/04/unique-identifiers/
One creative method might be the possibility of (ab)using the MAC address of the wifi port.
Is there is a alternative for UDID. My app will not be going to App Store as i'm using enterprise distribution. So is there any replacement. I tied advertising identifier, open udid, UIID and secure UDID. But if the phone is reset then i will get a new UDID. Any help would be appreciated.
For above 6.0 iOS you can use identifierForVendor Or CFUUIDRef.
-(NSString*)uniqID
{
NSString* uniqueIdentifier = nil;
if( [UIDevice instancesRespondToSelector:#selector(identifierForVendor)] ) {
// iOS 6+
uniqueIdentifier = [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
} else {
// before iOS 6, so just generate an identifier and store it
uniqueIdentifier = [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] objectForKey:#"identifierForVendor"];
if( !uniqueIdentifier ) {
CFUUIDRef uuid = CFUUIDCreate(NULL);
uniqueIdentifier = ( NSString*)CFUUIDCreateString(NULL, uuid);
CFRelease(uuid);
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:uniqueIdentifier forKey:#"identifierForVendor"];
}
}
return uniqueIdentifier;
}//
UPDATE
As Leon Lucardie comment he is right
identifierForVendor will change after app uninstall/reinstall. See here The value in this property remains the same while the app (or another app from the same vendor) is installed on the iOS device. The value changes when the user deletes all of that vendor’s apps from the device and subsequently reinstalls one or more of them.
You have to create vendor id then save it using keychain and get it back once you reset your phone using date time
check this link UUID and UDID for iOS7
After trying all possible replacements. Advertising identifier is the best way to go. It remains same even after phone reset when i tested. If the user turn it off in the settings then we get a null value. Except for this hitch, this is the best replacement so far. Will update if i find any other better replacements.
Easy, Just use this code:
-(NSString *)getUID{
if ([[UIDevice currentDevice] respondsToSelector:#selector(identifierForVendor)]) {
// This is will run if it is iOS6 and above
return [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
} else {
// This is will run before iOS6 and you can use openUDID or other
// method to generate an identifier
return [OpenUDID value];
}
}
As you can understand, if you plan to support iOS 5 then you should use OpenUDID (Apple restrict reading the UDID even on iOS 5). With some answers here you would simply get rejected by Apple (my code has been approved in several apps of mine).
Pay attention that identifierForVendor would change if your user would remove the app (or all vendor apps if there are several) and reinstall.
I use the combination APNS token and vendorId. Both are checked to verify cellphone identity and I update them accordingly in cellphone and server when one of those change.
It´s still possible that both change, when the app is uninstalled and/or reset and stored for a few months, then both values would change.
This will cause that next time the cellphone gets the app installed, it will be identified as a new one.
Additional to this I run a process in server that marks as deleted any device which hadn't connected to the server for two months.
In that case user authentication is required and cellphone is added again to the customer's pool of devices.
I have only one app yet, but once I have the second one I might include advertisingId.
These blog posts by Ole should be helpful:
iOS 5: http://oleb.net/blog/2011/09/how-to-replace-the-udid/
iOS 6+: http://oleb.net/blog/2012/09/udid-apis-in-ios-6/
You can use after ios 6+ with Swift 2.2 version.
var uniqueIdentifier: NSString!
uniqueIdentifier = UIDevice.currentDevice().identifierForVendor?.UUIDString
I want to create UDID for iphone/ipad device which will remain unchanged, so please tell me if any one have idea for that?
I have search around google and stack-overflow, but not got solution.
Also some suggested to use OpenUDID and CFUUID, but CFUUID will be different when users delete and reinstall your app. But i want to use same UDID per application which will generated at first time and should remain unchanged for lifetime per device for each application.
EDIT 2
Because of iOS upgrade and as per new documentation identifierForVendor does not retain value on app re-installs. I have seen answer at this link. This may help in one or other way. Just to note only UDID will retain even if system reset, So probably this answer can become limitation for developers seeking for lifetime UDID even on system reset. Other than this, mentioned answer seems useful.
Also look the summary here.
identifierForVendor is available from UIDevice Class Reference.
The value of this property is the same for apps that come from the
same vendor running on the same device.
[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor].UUIDString
Note: Available in iOS 6.0 and later.
EDIT 1 As per new release of UIDevice Class Reference
The value in this property remains the same while the app (or another
app from the same vendor) is installed on the iOS device. The value
changes when the user deletes all of that vendor’s apps from the
device and subsequently reinstalls one or more of them. Therefore, if
your app stores the value of this property anywhere, you should
gracefully handle situations where the identifier changes.
EDIT
I would like you to see at this popular link
1) MD5 of MAC+CFBundleIdentifier
[[UIDevice currentDevice] uniqueDeviceIdentifier]
This will remain same per app but different for each app. If you delete and reinstall your app it will be same per app.
2) MD5 of the MAC
[[UIDevice currentDevice] uniqueGlobalDeviceIdentifier]
This will remain same for all app from same device. If you delete and reinstall your app it will be same per device.
EDIT 3
Note: This solution in iOS 7 is no longer useful as uniqueIdentifier is no longer available from iOS7.
Its important to note the difference between a UDID and a UUID.
UDID "unique device id" is hardware specific. It never changes for a particular device. For this reason, it has become a privacy concern and Apple is blocking apps that try to use this. As a result, Apple has generated an opt-out-able "device id" hash, particularly for advertisement usage. This new ID hash is called IFA and is available in iOS 6.0+.
UUID "universally unique id" is not hardware specific. It is a hash used to identify a device; but not particularly an absolute value. For example, PhoneGap generates a UUID based on device properties; this is what you get when you do device.uuid. If you delete the app and reinstall, you will get a new id hash. UUID is not being blocked by Apple.
I think the best solution is to use the IFA, with OpenUDID as a backup for iOS < 6.0.
Here is the code we use. If IFA is not available, get OpenUDID. [[You must install OpenUDID, read more about that here, https://github.com/ylechelle/OpenUDID.]]
NSString* uuid = nil;
if ([[UIDevice currentDevice] respondsToSelector:#selector(identifierForVendor)]) {
// IOS 6 new Unique Identifier implementation, IFA
uuid = [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
} else {
// Before iOS6 (or if IFA disabled) you shoud use a custom implementation for uuid
// Here I use OpenUDID (you have to import it into your project)
// https://github.com/ylechelle/OpenUDID
NSString* openUDID = [OpenUDID value];
uuid = [OpenUDID value];
}
Generate an UUID (using the CFUUIDRef API, perhaps) for the first time, and store it in the keychain.
The project I am on is requesting two (or even three) unique identifiers from the iPhone or iPad. I know, I know... the UDID should be enough but we are trying to see if there are any other unique identifiers that we can use.
I can get the IMEI, serial number, MAC Address, etc. from the phone using the IOKit.framework but apparently this is frowned upon by Apple and any app using this framework will be rejected.
Does anyone have any other ideas, or identifiers that I am missing that could be used?
Thanks!
This question is old however a new unique, vendor based, identifier has now been added to replace the deprecated UUID in iOS 6.
The [UIDevice identifierForVendor] should now be used instead of [UIDevice uniqueIdentifier] which is now deprecated as of iOS 5.0
Example usage:
NSUUID *uuid = [[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor];
NSString *uuidString = [uuid UUIDString];
You can get the ICCID and the IMSI (if they exist).
NSString *commcenter = #"/private/var/wireless/Library/Preferences/com.apple.commcenter.plist";
NSDictionary *dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:commcenter];
NSString *ICCID = [dict valueForKey:#"ICCID"];
NSString *IMSI = [dict valueForKey:#"IMSI"];
I think that's as far as you will get. I don't know any other options for getting an universal ID.
UPDATE 2013-03-13:
This has probably changed since I wrote this answer almost two years ago. I don't even remember what was the iOS version at the moment. Also as #joshis correctly pointed out in the comments "You cannot legally do this, since your app would read stuff from outside the application sandbox and therefore, it will be rejected, as specified in AppStore Review Guidelines...".
From Apple:
The value in this property remains the same while the app (or another
app from the same vendor) is installed on the iOS device. The value
changes when the user deletes all of that vendor’s apps from the
device and subsequently reinstalls one or more of them.
So if you use [UIDevice identifierForVendor] and the user delete the app and reinstall it, the id will be different(so no real physical device tracking)
Why don't you use SecureUDID?
NSString *domain = #"com.example.app";
NSString *key = #"mykey";
NSString *udid = [SecureUDID UDIDForDomain:domain usingKey:key];
This way, even if the user delete the app and reinstall it, the UDID will be same. This will give you consistent tracking(or whatever you want to do with the UDID).
Btw, the above is still permitted from Apple.
Have fun.
The method for getting the UDID is being deprecated, you should now use CFUUIDCreate which I think could be used multiple times to get more identifiers if needed
Perhaps you should clarify your question.
requesting two (or even three) unique identifiers from the iPhone or iPad
…is a contradiction in terms. If your purpose is to track a specific physical device, then a single unique identifier, by definition, is enough. That’s what unique means.
Perhaps, what you really want is to track multiple things about each user’s use of your app, as opposed to the device. Say your networked game app allows the user 1, 2, or 3 different personalities. As they user creates a distinct personality, you must track each of that user's personalities amongst all the other user’s personalities.
For this kind of purpose, generating and storing a UUID* is a proper and common solution. iOS includes libraries to generate a UUID value. The only catch is that if the user deletes and re-installs the app, the storage of that UUID may be lost. There are workarounds for this challenge, which you may learn about by googling for discussions of replacing UDID tracking with generated UUID values.
This question is a bit older. So I should mention: In iOS 5, Apple deprecated the use of the UDID. As of 2013-05-01 Apple is rejecting any app that accesses the UDID.
(*) Do not confuse a UUID with a UDID. UUID is a standard 128-bit (32 hex digits) number often used as a virtually unique identifier in many technology scenarios. UDID is Apple's 40 hex digit string burned into every iOS device to uniquely identify each device.
DeviceCheck API in iOS 11 is an interesting solution to get unique Identifier, the advantage it has is - the value will be retained even after the app in uninstalled. So use cases like trial installation and rewards can be effectively controlled by developers.