This question already has answers here:
UIDevice uniqueIdentifier deprecated - What to do now?
(32 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
Our iOS application is for specific users. So, we used device unique identifier for user identification. This approach works fine till iOS 6, because we are getting same value every time.
NSString *strUniqueIdentifier = [[UIDevice currentDevice] uniqueIdentifier];
In iOS 7, above method is retuning different values and we are getting issues in user identification. iOS 7 apis provide following alternate.
NSUUID *oNSUUID = [[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor];
[strApplicationUUID setString:[oNSUUID UUIDString]];
I replaced "uniqueIdentifier" with "identifierForVendor", and created Ad hoc build. Installed build on both iOS 7 and iOS 6 devices. In iOS 7, so far, i am getting same value every time, but iOS 6 gives different values every time, when we delete and reinstall app.
Currently application is not available on App store. So i am not sure how this api works for App store build.
Questions:
1) For appstore app, is "identifierForVendor" return same value for iOS 7 every time? or it may change when user delete and reinstall app in future?
2) Is any other alternative available for "unique identifier" in iOS 7 apis, which return same values for both iOS 6 and 7?
3) Any other suggestions...
As you can see in the documentation here:
The value of this property is the same for apps that come from the
same vendor running on the same device. A different value is returned
for apps on the same device that come from different vendors, and for
apps on different devices regardless of vendor.
The value of this property may be nil if the app is running in the
background, before the user has unlocked the device the first time
after the device has been restarted. If the value is nil, wait and get
the value again later.
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.
In short, the identifier for a particular vendor will remain the same if at least one app by that vendor remains on the device. Once there are no more apps left (or in the case of a single app, it is reinstalled), the identifier can and will change. As far as I know, there should not be a difference on iOS 6 vs iOS 7, so any difference you are seeing is coincidental.
3) Any other suggestions...
You should consider strategies for identifying and authorizing the user instead of the device. Depending on a device-specific identifier prevents authorized users from switching devices without some sort of administrator interaction, and allows non-authorized users access if they happen to find/steal/borrow an authorized device. You can avoid these problems by relying on user credentials instead of device identifiers.
Related
I have two apps for iOS, one made with Swift and another with Ionic3, I need an unique and equal identifier for both of them. The Ionic app has user authentification but the other one doesn't have anything, just sends data to an API with the UDID (code below), so in the API if both identifiers are the same the data is saved. It's weird, I know, but this is a legacy code that I can't refactor.
In the native one I have this UDID:
NSString* udid = [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
In Ionic3 I have #ionic-native/unique-device-id and #ionic-native/device but the UDID returned are always different. When user logs in the Ionic app it updates the UDID field in the database.
They need to send the same identifier even after reinstall them. How can I achieve that with minimal changes or without touching the native app.
Maybe it's possible to get anothers app UDID from Ionic3? Or from some kind of common storage between the two apps. Since the Ionic app needs to check if the other app is installed I'm also using URI Scheme.
This question already has answers here:
UIDevice uniqueIdentifier deprecated - What to do now?
(32 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
In my app, I am trying to get all information of the device and to be displayed in app screen.
I got some of the informations, but not getting code to obtain UDID, Serial number and model identifier of a device, what we can able to see in iTunes.
I can able to get UUID, but my request is to get UDID of the device. I got some apps in which they are getting device info like this.
I will be very helpful if I get any solution in this.
Thanks in advance.
You can't as of iOS 6.
Link #1
Money quote:
As reported by 9to5Mac (and confirmed by Macworld), Apple alerted
developers of a cut-off date for new apps or app updates that access
an iOS device’s UDID (Universal Device ID), an area of security and
privacy concern.
Link #2
Extended money quote:
With iOS 6 Apple has also completely eliminated its controversial
Universal Device IDs (UDID) and replaced it with a more
privacy-friendly way for application vendors and advertisers to
identify specific devices, Hall said,
Apple’s UDIDs are basically a set of alphanumeric characters that are
used to uniquely identify an iPhone or iPad. The numbers are designed
to let application developers track how many users have downloaded
their application and to gather other information for data analytics.
From the same article, the way to go now is:
With the new iOS 6 the company has gone one step further by
eliminating UDIDs completely and replace with a set of three new devie
identifiers. One is a vendor specific identifier that can be used by
application vendors to recognize specific devices, another is designed
for use by online advertisers and the third is an application-specific
ID. Unlike UDID’s, the new identifiers are not persistent and can be
cleared, though the device has to be completely reset to get rid of
the advertiser identities, Hall said.
In conclusion, the correct way is to either (a) use UUID or (b) ask your user for the device's UDID.
You can use this (Swift 3):
UIDevice.current.identifierForVendor!.uuidString
I'm experimenting a little with the identifierForVendor API.
As per the doc
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.
In Debug or Release with Ad Hoc, I cannot replicate this behavior. The identifier still remains the same even if I remove all the applications I have installed for the same vendor (the reversed domain name I'm using, e.g. com.test).
Is this can be observed only for App Store distribution? Am I missing something?
I'm running on a iOS 8.3.
Related question: iOS7 - Device unique identifier.
This question already has answers here:
How to get IMEI on iPhone?
(7 answers)
Closed 2 years ago.
I need to find a way to get the IMEI number of an iPhone device. This question is not a duplicate.
I have gone through several forums including SO, and had no luck finding an answer.
Some say Apple doesn't allow developers to see the IMEI number (SO post), and some say to use UDID instead (SO post). Some say that UDID is deprecated (in iOS 7).
I need to know the following:
1.) Does Apple permit developers to retrieve the IMEI number of the device?
2.) How can i programatically do it?
3.) In case if Apple doesn't allow developers to gather the IMEI number, do they provide any other unique number for the device?
4.) Some suggest to use Telephony framework. If i do so, will apple reject my application?
Apple does not allow you to identify a device any more.
UDID, MAC address and all other device identifiers are no longer accessible or allowed by Apple.
Apple suggest that you use either UUID (which you will need to store your self or), identifierForVendor or advertisingIdentifier.
Apple is now also rejecting app that use the advertisingIdentifier and not showing any advertisements apps.
Any means to get the IMEI number are using private methods, which is also not allowed by Apple anymore. And your mobile app might/will get rejected because of this.
Unfortunately, there is no way to get a unique identifier for a device which will always remain the same. Apple no longer allows you to access the UDID. And in iOS 7, all devices' MAC addresses return the same value, so that is no longer useful either.
However, iOS does now give access to two types of identifiers which can be used to identify a device. They are:
Vendor ID - [UIDevice identifierForVendor]. This is a unique identifier which is the same for all apps from the same vendor or company. It will remain the same, so long as the user has at least one app from the vendor installed on their device. So if you have 3 apps, the vendor ID will remain the same unless the user uninstalls all three apps, and then reinstalls. This is not so useful if you only have one app - if the user deletes it and then reinstalls it, it will change.
Advertiser ID - [UIDevice advertisingIdentifier]. This is a unique identifier meant for advertising purposes. But if you use it for non-advertising purposes they, for the most part, won't care. Under most circumstances, the advertising identifier will not change, even if the user deletes and reinstalls the app. However, there is an option in the iOS settings to reset the advertising identifier, which will change it. This is meant to that users can choose to disassociate themselves from any advertising information which has been collected about them. But this is a very advanced setting and I doubt that many users would do this frequently enough that it would be a problem for you.
You can obtain IMEI using private frameworks -See this Question but probably your app will be rejected from app store then.
If you want to obtain some device identifier to use in your application you must use uniqueIdentifier property defined in UIDevice class
(Available in iOS 6.0 and later):
NSString *UDID = [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
You can save UUID in keychain and user it as unique number. It won't change until user will reset iOS.
If you want to obtain the IMEI there is no way (on a non-jailbroken device). If you wish to identify the user take a look at this answer. Please pay attention to all documentation/answers written before iOS7 since things have changed.
I have one product that has two different applications. and both the applications it gives me different Identifiers for the same device (you would assume that apple would associate this to maybe your developer account so that you can reuse the information across your applications), but I was wondering is their anything that would give me the same identifier for a device on both the applications?
identifierForVendor is really what you want. UDID is a big NO on the AppStore. A user can opt out to advertisingIdentifier. Other ways (by MAC address, like ODIN1, and solutions that rely on UIPasteboard, as OpenUDID) will break on the future (hint: 7).
According to the docs, you should have the same identifier if both apps are from the same developer:
The value of this property is the same for apps that come from the same vendor running on the same device. A different value is returned for apps on the same device that come from different vendors, and for apps on different devices regardless of vendor.
The value of this property may be nil if the app is running in the background, before the user has unlocked the device the first time after the device has been restarted. If the value is nil, wait and get the value again later.
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.
OpenUDID is the best solution until now, even if it also may be changed if the device is reset.