Develop Reference

Unique Id for my android app

I want to create a unique ID for my android app so that my server can identify from which device the request has come and send messages to the app accordingly. I read that ANDROID_ID is not safe to use as a unique identifier as it can be compromised on a rooted device. And also some manufacturer don't even provide it.
Is UUID safe to use for my porpose ? Is it really the globally unique id for the app ? If yes, I am planning to store it using the keystore so that I can keep it until the app uninstalls. Is it the right approach. Please suggest.

Its actually safe to use UUID, this is a helper function I created to get the UUID myself,keep it in Helper.java , so you will call it :
Helper.getDeviceId(context);
also don forget the change String sharedPrefDbName variable to your sharef db name, also you can store the UUID in DB or local file incase app is uninstalled like you said.
//uuid
static String deviceId;
static String sharedPrefDbName = "MyAPPDB";
/**
* getDeviceId
* #param context
* #return String
*/
public static String getDeviceId(Context context){
//lets get device Id if not available, we create and save it
//means device Id is created once
//if the deviceId is not null, return it
if(deviceId != null){
return deviceId;
}//end
//shared preferences
SharedPreferences sharedPref = context.getSharedPreferences(sharedPrefDbName,context.MODE_PRIVATE);
//lets get the device Id
deviceId = sharedPref.getString("device_id",null);
//if the saved device Id is null, lets create it and save it
if(deviceId == null) {
//generate new device id
deviceId = generateUniqueID();
//Shared Preference editor
SharedPreferences.Editor sharedPrefEditor = sharedPref.edit();
//save the device id
sharedPrefEditor.putString("device_id",deviceId);
//commit it
sharedPrefEditor.commit();
}//end if device id was null
//return
return deviceId;
}//end get device Id
/**
* generateUniqueID - Generate Device Id
* #return
*/
public static String generateUniqueID() {
String id = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
return id;
}//end method

What is the best way to get unique ID in Android?

From this thread, it can say that Settings.Secure#ANDROID_ID can be null sometimes. On the other hand, the telephony-based ID can be null too in tablet devices and can be changed if user change the SIM card or flight mode.
Thinking of getting mac address, from this thread, sometimes the mac address cannot be got too.
Is there any solution that I can get Android unique ID that won't change in any condition?

Rendy, the code I used for that is the above (from emmby answer (with minimal modifications) of question Is there a unique Android device ID?):
public class DeviceUuidFactory {
protected static final String PREFS_FILE = "device_id.xml";
protected static final String PREFS_DEVICE_ID = "device_id";
protected volatile static UUID uuid;
public DeviceUuidFactory(Context context) {
if (uuid == null) {
synchronized (DeviceUuidFactory.class) {
if (uuid == null) {
final SharedPreferences prefs = context.getSharedPreferences(PREFS_FILE, 0);
final String id = prefs.getString(PREFS_DEVICE_ID, null);
if (id != null) {
// Use the ids previously computed and stored in the
// prefs file
uuid = UUID.fromString(id);
} else {
final String androidId = Secure.getString(context.getContentResolver(), Secure.ANDROID_ID);
// Use the Android ID unless it's broken, in which case
// fallback on deviceId,
// unless it's not available, then fallback on a random
// number which we store
// to a prefs file
try {
if (!"9774d56d682e549c".equals(androidId)) {
uuid = UUID.nameUUIDFromBytes(androidId.getBytes("utf8"));
} else {
final String deviceId = ((TelephonyManager) context.getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE)).getDeviceId();
uuid = (deviceId != null ? UUID.nameUUIDFromBytes(deviceId.getBytes("utf8")) : UUID.randomUUID());
}
} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
throw new RuntimeException(e);
}
// Write the value out to the prefs file
prefs.edit().putString(PREFS_DEVICE_ID, uuid.toString()).commit();
}
}
}
}
}
/**
* Returns a unique UUID for the current android device. As with all UUIDs,
* this unique ID is "very highly likely" to be unique across all Android
* devices. Much more so than ANDROID_ID is.
*
* The UUID is generated by using ANDROID_ID as the base key if appropriate,
* falling back on TelephonyManager.getDeviceID() if ANDROID_ID is known to
* be incorrect, and finally falling back on a random UUID that's persisted
* to SharedPreferences if getDeviceID() does not return a usable value.
*
* In some rare circumstances, this ID may change. In particular, if the
* device is factory reset a new device ID may be generated. In addition, if
* a user upgrades their phone from certain buggy implementations of Android
* 2.2 to a newer, non-buggy version of Android, the device ID may change.
* Or, if a user uninstalls your app on a device that has neither a proper
* Android ID nor a Device ID, this ID may change on reinstallation.
*
* Note that if the code falls back on using TelephonyManager.getDeviceId(),
* the resulting ID will NOT change after a factory reset. Something to be
* aware of.
*
* Works around a bug in Android 2.2 for many devices when using ANDROID_ID
* directly.
*
* #see http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=10603
*
* #return a UUID that may be used to uniquely identify your device for most
* purposes.
*/
public UUID getDeviceUuid() {
return uuid;
}
}
To use that in an Activity, do the following:
UUID identifier = new DeviceUuidFactory(this).getDeviceUuid();

The options you mentioned cover pretty much all the different scenarios to get a unique ID, there's also a unique ID value provided by the OS which has been proved was incorrectly implemented by some vendors and it returns the same value for all the devices of that specific vendor, so No, there's no 1 and only best way to do it, usually you need to combine and validate if one or another exist, for example in our project:
First we go for TelephonyManager and if it exist we take it from there
If not( as is the case in most tablets), then we go for MAC address
If not, then we use the Android unique ID provided in Settings.
Hope it helps!
Regards!

How to get current SIM card number in Android?

I want to know user mobile number in Android. I used this code but I'm not getting number.
TelephonyManager tm = (TelephonyManager)getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
String n = tm.getLine1Number();
Permission:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE"/>
Is it compulsory to save number in android mobile settings --> about phone --> status --> myphone number
Any idea on this?

I think sim serial Number and sim number is unique. You can try this for get sim serial number and get sim number and Don't forget to add permission in manifest file.
TelephonyManager telemamanger = (TelephonyManager) getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
String getSimSerialNumber = telemamanger.getSimSerialNumber();
String getSimNumber = telemamanger.getLine1Number();
And add below permission into your Androidmanifest.xml file.
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE"/>
Let me know if there is any issue.

Getting the Phone Number, IMEI, and SIM Card ID
TelephonyManager tm = (TelephonyManager)
getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
For SIM card, use the getSimSerialNumber()
//---get the SIM card ID---
String simID = tm.getSimSerialNumber();
if (simID != null)
Toast.makeText(this, "SIM card ID: " + simID,
Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
Phone number of your phone, use the getLine1Number() (some device's dont return the phone number)
//---get the phone number---
String telNumber = tm.getLine1Number();
if (telNumber != null)
Toast.makeText(this, "Phone number: " + telNumber,
Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
IMEI number of the phone, use the getDeviceId()
//---get the IMEI number---
String IMEI = tm.getDeviceId();
if (IMEI != null)
Toast.makeText(this, "IMEI number: " + IMEI,
Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
Permissions needed
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE"/>

Update: This answer is no longer available as Whatsapp had stopped exposing the phone number as account name, kindly disregard this answer.
=================================================================================
Its been almost 6 months and I believe I should update this with an alternative solution you might want to consider.
As of today, you can rely on another big application Whatsapp, using AccountManager. Millions of devices have this application installed and if you can't get the phone number via TelephonyManager, you may give this a shot.
Permission:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_ACCOUNTS" />
Code:
AccountManager am = AccountManager.get(this);
Account[] accounts = am.getAccounts();
ArrayList<String> googleAccounts = new ArrayList<String>();
for (Account ac : accounts) {
String acname = ac.name;
String actype = ac.type;
// Take your time to look at all available accounts
System.out.println("Accounts : " + acname + ", " + actype);
}
Check actype for whatsapp account
if(actype.equals("com.whatsapp")){
String phoneNumber = ac.name;
}
Of course you may not get it if user did not install Whatsapp, but its worth to try anyway.
And remember you should always ask user for confirmation.

You have everything right, but the problem is with getLine1Number() function.
getLine1Number()- this method returns the phone number string for line
1, i.e the MSISDN for a GSM phone. Return null if it is unavailable.
this method works only for few cell phone but not all phones.
So, if you need to perform operations according to the sim(other than calling), then you should use getSimSerialNumber(). It is always unique, valid and it always exists.

You can use the TelephonyManager to do this:
TelephonyManager t = (TelephonyManager)getSystemService(TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
String number = t.getLine1Number();
Have you used
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE"/>

How do i get the carrier name of an incoming number in android..?

I am able to get the carrier name using the following snippet :
TelephonyManager telephonyManager = ((TelephonyManager) mContext.getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE));
String operatorName = telephonyManager.getNetworkOperatorName();
It works really fine.
I am also able to get the incoming call number using the following snippet:
private final PhoneStateListener phoneStateListener = new PhoneStateListener() {
#Override
public void onCallStateChanged(int state, String incomingNumber) {
String callState = "UNKNOWN";
switch (state) {
case TelephonyManager.CALL_STATE_RINGING:
}
}
}
I want to find out the carrier name / service provider name of an incoming number.
How can I achieve that?
Is that possible to get the incoming number's location, say, for example the country?

It's not possible to get the carrier name of a whatever mobile number neither with the Android API. At least is not that easy (and you could fall into some privacy related issue i think).
Read this article for more information:
http://sms411.net/2006/07/finding-out-someones-carrier/
Of course you can try to find the original carrier (using the prefix), but that could be different from the actual one...

It is not possible to retrieve the details of the carrier of a calling party programatically. Also, because of number portability, it is not possible to retrieve the carrier's name from the caller's phone number. You can, however, get the country information from the first few digits of the number. Refer List of country calling codes for more information.

from API Level 22 (Andrid 5.1) This APIs are available.
SubscriptionManager subscriptionManager = (SubscriptionManager)getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SUBSCRIPTION_SERVICE);
List<SubscriptionInfo> subscriptionInfoList = subscriptionManager.getActiveSubscriptionInfoList();
if (subscriptionInfoList != null && subscriptionInfoList.size() > 0) {
for (SubscriptionInfo info : subscriptionInfoList) {
String carrierName = info.getCarrierName().toString();
String mobileNo = info.getNumber();
String countyIso = info.getCountryIso();
int dataRoaming = info.getDataRoaming();
}
}

Retrieving SIM ID

After searching the API and no luck, mybe anyone know how could I retrieve the SIM ID of the device?
thanks,
ray.

Here is the code to get International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI No.) id and phone id (IMEI No.) and Sim No. programmatically
Before doing this also set the user permission in the manifest file "android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE"
TelephonyManager mTelephonyMgr = (TelephonyManager) getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
String imsi = mTelephonyMgr.getSubscriberId();
String imei = mTelephonyMgr.getDeviceId();
String simno = mTelephonyMgr.getSimSerialNumber();
Log.v("", ""+imsi);
Log.v("", ""+imei);
Log.v("", ""+simno);

Frrom wikiPedia
The Id = Issuer identification number
(IIN) Maximum of seven digits: Major
industry identifier (MII), 2 digits,
89 for telecommunication purposes.
Country code, 1-3 digits, as defined
by ITU-T recommendation E.164. Issuer
identifier, 1-4 digits.
so the API is :
public String getSimCountryIso ()
public String getSimSerialNumber ()
public String getSubscriberId ()

To retrieve the IMSI (subscriber ID in the SIM), Use the getSubscriberId method in the TelephonyManager API.