UIDevice uniqueIdentifier deprecated - What to do now

Question

It has just come to light that the UIDevice uniqueIdentifier property is deprecated in iOS 5 and unavailable in iOS 7 and above  No alternative method or property appears to be available or forthcoming   Many of our existing apps are tightly dependent on this property for uniquely identifying a particular device   How might we handle this problem going forward   The suggestion from the documentation in 2011-2012 was      Special Considerations      Do not use the uniqueIdentifier property  To create a unique identifier specific    to your app  you can call the CFUUIDCreate function to create a UUID  and write    it to the defaults database using the NSUserDefaults class    However this value won t be the same if a user uninstalls and re-installs the app

User · Answer

You can use your alternative for Apple UDID already  Kind guy gekitz wrote category on UIDevice which will generate some kind of UDID based on device mac-address and bundle identifier   You can find code on github

User · Answer

For Swift 3 0 please use below code   let deviceIdentifier  String    UIDevice current identifierForVendor  uuidString   NSLog  output is        deviceIdentifier

User · Answer

Based on the link proposed by  moonlight  i did several tests and it seems to be the best solution  As  DarkDust says the method goes to check en0 which is always available  There are 2 options  uniqueDeviceIdentifier  MD5 of MAC CFBundleIdentifier  and uniqueGlobalDeviceIdentifier MD5 of the MAC   these always returns the same values  Below the tests i ve done  with the real device     import  UIDevice IdentifierAddition h   NSLog         UIDevice currentDevice  uniqueDeviceIdentifier    NSLog         UIDevice currentDevice  uniqueGlobalDeviceIdentifier         XXXX21f1f19edff198e2a2356bf4XXXX -  WIFI UDID   XXXX7dc3c577446a2bcbd77935bdXXXX -  WIFI GlobalAppUDID          XXXX21f1f19edff198e2a2356bf4XXXX -  3G UDID   XXXX7dc3c577446a2bcbd77935bdXXXX -  3G GlobalAppUDID             XXXX21f1f19edff198e2a2356bf4XXXX -  GPRS UDID   XXXX7dc3c577446a2bcbd77935bdXXXX -  GPRS GlobalAppUDID      XXXX21f1f19edff198e2a2356bf4XXXX -  AirPlane mode UDID   XXXX7dc3c577446a2bcbd77935bdXXXX -  AirPlane mode GlobalAppUDID      XXXX21f1f19edff198e2a2356bf4XXXX -  Wi-Fi after removing and   reinstalling the app  XXXX7dc3c577446a2bcbd77935bdXXXX  Wi-Fi  after   removing and installing the app   Hope it s useful   EDIT  As others pointed out  this solution in iOS 7 is no longer useful since uniqueIdentifier is no longer available and querying for MAC address now returns always 02 00 00 00 00 00

User · Answer

Apple has added a new framework in iOS 11 called DeviceCheck which will help you to get the unique identifier very easily  Read this form more information  https   medium com  santoshbotre01 unique-identifier-for-the-ios-devices-590bb778290d

User · Answer

You can use   NSString  sID      ASIdentifierManager sharedManager  advertisingIdentifier  UUIDString     Which is unique for the device in all application

User · Answer

The MAC address can be spoofed which makes such an approach useless for tying content to specific users or implementing security features like blacklists   After some further research it appears to me that we re left without a proper alternative as of now  I seriously hope Apple will reconsider their decision   Maybe it would be a good idea to email Apple about this topic and   or file a bug   feature request on this since maybe they are not even aware of the full consequences for developers

User · Answer

Using the SSKeychain and code mentioned above  Here s code to copy paste  add SSKeychain module      NSString    getUUID      Use the bundle name as the App identifier  No need to get the localized version   NSString  Appname      NSBundle mainBundle  infoDictionary  objectForKey   CFBundleName           Check if we have UUID already  NSString  retrieveuuid    SSKeychain passwordForService Appname account   user     if  retrieveuuid    NULL           Create new key for this app device      CFUUIDRef newUniqueId   CFUUIDCreate kCFAllocatorDefault        retrieveuuid      bridge transfer NSString  CFUUIDCreateString kCFAllocatorDefault  newUniqueId        CFRelease newUniqueId          Save key to Keychain      SSKeychain setPassword retrieveuuid forService Appname account   user       return retrieveuuid

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If someone stumble upon to this question  when searching for an alternative  I have followed this approach in IDManager class  This is a collection from different solutions  KeyChainUtil is a wrapper to read from keychain   You can also use the hashed MAC address as a kind of unique ID       Apple confirmed this bug in their system in response to a Technical Support Incident         request  They said that identifierForVendor and advertisingIdentifier sometimes         returning all zeros can be seen both in development builds and apps downloaded over the         air from the App Store  They have no work around and can t say when the problem will be fixed      define kBuggyASIID               00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000      NSString    getUniqueID       if  NSClassFromString   ASIdentifierManager              NSString   asiID      ASIdentifierManager sharedManager  advertisingIdentifier  UUIDString           if   asiID compare kBuggyASIID     NSOrderedSame                NSLog   Error  This device return buggy advertisingIdentifier                 return  IDManager getUniqueUUID             else               return asiID                   else           return  IDManager getUniqueUUID                NSString    getUniqueUUID       NSError   error      NSString   uuid    KeychainUtils getPasswordForUsername kBuyassUser andServiceName kIdOgBetilngService error  amp error       if  error            NSLog   Error geting unique UUID for this device        error localizedDescription            return nil            if   uuid            DLog   No UUID found  Creating a new one             uuid    IDManager GetUUID           uuid    Util md5String uuid            KeychainUtils storeUsername USER NAME andPassword uuid forServiceName SERVICE NAME updateExisting YES error  amp error           if  error                NSLog   Error getting unique UUID for this device        error localizedDescription                return nil                      return uuid        NSUUID is after iOS 6        NSString   GetUUID       CFUUIDRef theUUID   CFUUIDCreate NULL       CFStringRef string   CFUUIDCreateString NULL  theUUID       CFRelease theUUID       return   NSString   string autorelease       pragma mark - MAC address    Return the local MAC addy    Courtesy of FreeBSD hackers email list    Last fallback for unique identifier    NSString    getMACAddress       int                 mib 6       size t              len      char                 buf      unsigned char        ptr      struct if msghdr     ifm      struct sockaddr dl   sdl       mib 0    CTL NET      mib 1    AF ROUTE      mib 2    0      mib 3    AF LINK      mib 4    NET RT IFLIST       if   mib 5    if nametoindex  en0       0            printf  Error  if nametoindex error n            return NULL             if  sysctl mib  6  NULL   amp len  NULL  0   lt  0            printf  Error  sysctl  take 1 n            return NULL             if   buf   malloc len      NULL            printf  Error  Memory allocation error n            return NULL             if  sysctl mib  6  buf   amp len  NULL  0   lt  0            printf  Error  sysctl  take 2 n            free buf      Thanks  Remy  Psy  Demerest         return NULL             ifm    struct if msghdr   buf      sdl    struct sockaddr dl    ifm   1       ptr    unsigned char   LLADDR sdl       NSString  outstring    NSString stringWithFormat    02X  02X  02X  02X  02X  02X    ptr    ptr 1     ptr 2     ptr 3     ptr 4     ptr 5         free buf       return outstring        NSString    getHashedMACAddress       NSString   mac    IDManager getMACAddress       return  Util md5String mac         NSString   md5String  NSString   plainText       if plainText    nil     plainText length     0          return nil       const char  value    plainText UTF8String       unsigned char outputBuffer CC MD5 DIGEST LENGTH       CC MD5 value  strlen value   outputBuffer        NSMutableString  outputString     NSMutableString alloc  initWithCapacity CC MD5 DIGEST LENGTH   2       for NSInteger count   0  count  lt  CC MD5 DIGEST LENGTH  count              outputString appendFormat    02x  outputBuffer count              NSString   retString    NSString stringWithString outputString        outputString release       return retString

User · Answer

A working way to get UDID    Launch a web server inside the app with two pages  one should return specially crafted MobileConfiguration profile and another should collect UDID  More info here  here and here  You open the first page in Mobile Safari from inside the app and it redirects you to Settings app asking to install configuration profile  After you install the profile  UDID is sent to the second web page and you can access it from inside the app   Settings app has all necessary entitlements and different sandbox rules     An example using RoutingHTTPServer   import UIKit import RoutingHTTPServer   UIApplicationMain class AppDelegate  UIResponder  UIApplicationDelegate       var bgTask   UIBackgroundTaskInvalid     let server   HTTPServer        func application application  UIApplication  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions   NSObject  AnyObject    - gt  Bool           application openURL NSURL string   http   localhost 55555             return true            func applicationDidEnterBackground application  UIApplication            bgTask   application beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler                 dispatch async dispatch get main queue      unowned self  in                 application endBackgroundTask self bgTask                  self bgTask   UIBackgroundTaskInvalid                                  class HTTPServer  RoutingHTTPServer       override init             super init           setPort 55555          handleMethod  GET   withPath                      1 setHeader  Content-Type   value   application x-apple-aspen-config                1 respondWithData NSData contentsOfFile  NSBundle mainBundle   pathForResource  udid   ofType   mobileconfig                         handleMethod  POST   withPath                     let raw   NSString data  0 body    encoding NSISOLatin1StringEncoding  as  String             let plistString   raw substringWithRange Range start  raw rangeOfString   lt  xml    startIndex end  raw rangeOfString   lt  plist gt     endIndex               let plist   NSPropertyListSerialization propertyListWithData plistString dataUsingEncoding NSISOLatin1StringEncoding    options   allZeros  format  nil  error  nil  as   String String               let udid   plist  UDID                 println udid     Here is your UDID                1 statusCode   200              1 respondWithString  see https   developer apple com library ios documentation NetworkingInternet Conceptual iPhoneOTAConfiguration ConfigurationProfileExamples ConfigurationProfileExamples html                     start nil            Here are the contents of udid mobileconfig    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  UTF-8   gt   lt  DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC  -  Apple  DTD PLIST 1 0  EN   http   www apple com DTDs PropertyList-1 0 dtd  gt   lt plist version  1 0  gt       lt dict gt           lt key gt PayloadContent lt  key gt           lt dict gt               lt key gt URL lt  key gt               lt string gt http   localhost 55555 lt  string gt               lt key gt DeviceAttributes lt  key gt               lt array gt                   lt string gt IMEI lt  string gt                   lt string gt UDID lt  string gt                   lt string gt PRODUCT lt  string gt                   lt string gt VERSION lt  string gt                   lt string gt SERIAL lt  string gt               lt  array gt           lt  dict gt           lt key gt PayloadOrganization lt  key gt           lt string gt udid lt  string gt           lt key gt PayloadDisplayName lt  key gt           lt string gt Get Your UDID lt  string gt           lt key gt PayloadVersion lt  key gt           lt integer gt 1 lt  integer gt           lt key gt PayloadUUID lt  key gt           lt string gt 9CF421B3-9853-9999-BC8A-982CBD3C907C lt  string gt           lt key gt PayloadIdentifier lt  key gt           lt string gt udid lt  string gt           lt key gt PayloadDescription lt  key gt           lt string gt Install this temporary profile to find and display your current device s UDID  It is automatically removed from device right after you get your UDID  lt  string gt           lt key gt PayloadType lt  key gt           lt string gt Profile Service lt  string gt       lt  dict gt   lt  plist gt    The profile installation will fail  I didn t bother to implement an expected response  see documentation   but the app will get a correct UDID  And you should also sign the mobileconfig

User · Answer

It looks like for iOS 6  Apple is recommending you use the NSUUID class   From the message now in the UIDevice docs for uniqueIdentifier property      Deprecated in iOS 5 0  Use the identifierForVendor property of this   class or the advertisingIdentifier property of the ASIdentifierManager   class instead  as appropriate  or use the UUID method of the NSUUID   class to create a UUID and write it to the user defaults database

User · Answer

A not perfect but one of the best and closest alternative to UDID  in Swift using iOS 8 1 and Xcode 6 1    Generating a random UUID  let strUUID  String   NSUUID   UUIDString   And use KeychainWrapper library   Add a string value to keychain   let saveSuccessful  Bool   KeychainWrapper setString  Some String   forKey   myKey     Retrieve a string value from keychain   let retrievedString  String    KeychainWrapper stringForKey  myKey     Remove a string value from keychain   let removeSuccessful  Bool   KeychainWrapper removeObjectForKey  myKey     This solution uses the keychain  thus the record stored in the keychain will be persisted  even after the app is uninstalled and reinstalled  The only way of deleting this record is to Reset all contents and settings of the device  That is why I mentioned that this solution of substitution is not perfect but stays one of the best solution of replacement for UDID on iOS 8 1 using Swift

User · Answer

You can achieve from this code   UIDevice-with-UniqueIdentifier-for-iOS-5

User · Answer

Dont use these libraries - libOmnitureAppMeasurement  It does use uniqueIdentifier which apple doesnt support anymore

User · Answer

Create your own UUID and then store it in the Keychain  Thus it persists even when your app gets uninstalled  In many cases it also persists even if the user migrates between devices  e g  full backup and restore to another device     Effectively it becomes a unique user identifier as far as you re concerned   even better than device identifier    Example   I am defining a custom method for creating a UUID as    -  NSString   createNewUUID        CFUUIDRef theUUID   CFUUIDCreate NULL       CFStringRef string   CFUUIDCreateString NULL  theUUID       CFRelease theUUID       return   NSString   string autorelease       You can then store it in KEYCHAIN on the very first launch of your app  So that after first launch  we can simply use it from keychain  no need to regenerate it   The main reason for using Keychain to store is  When you set the UUID to the Keychain  it will persist even if the user completely uninstalls the App and then installs it again    So  this is the permanent way of storing it  which means the key will be unique all the way         import  SSKeychain h        import  lt Security Security h gt    On applictaion launch include the following code        getting the unique key  if present   from keychain   assuming  your app identifier  as a key        NSString  retrieveuuid    SSKeychain passwordForService   your app identifier  account   user          if  retrieveuuid    nil       if this is the first time app lunching   create key for device         NSString  uuid     self createNewUUID      save newly created key to Keychain          SSKeychain setPassword uuid forService   your app identifier  account   user       this is the one time process     Download SSKeychain m and  h file from  sskeychain and Drag SSKeychain m and  h file to your project  and add  Security framework  to your project  To use UUID afterwards simply use    NSString  retrieveuuid    SSKeychain passwordForService   your app identifier  account   user

User · Answer

I would also suggest changing over from uniqueIdentifier to this open source library  2 simple categories really  that utilize the device   s MAC Address along with the App Bundle Identifier to generate a unique ID in your applications that can be used as a UDID replacement   Keep in mind that unlike the UDID this number will be different for every app   You simply need to import the included NSString and UIDevice categories and call   UIDevice currentDevice  uniqueDeviceIdentifier  like so    import  UIDevice IdentifierAddition h   import  NSString MD5Addition h  NSString  iosFiveUDID     UIDevice currentDevice  uniqueDeviceIdentifier    You can find it on Github here   UIDevice with UniqueIdentifier for iOS 5    Here are the categories  just the  m files - check the github project for the headers       UIDevice IdentifierAddition m    import  UIDevice IdentifierAddition h   import  NSString MD5Addition h    include  lt sys socket h gt     Per msqr  include  lt sys sysctl h gt   include  lt net if h gt   include  lt net if dl h gt    interface UIDevice Private   -  NSString    macaddress    end   implementation UIDevice  IdentifierAddition                                                                                     pragma mark -  pragma mark Private Methods     Return the local MAC addy    Courtesy of FreeBSD hackers email list    Accidentally munged during previous update  Fixed thanks to erica sadun  amp  mlamb  -  NSString    macaddress                   int                 mib 6           size t              len          char                 buf          unsigned char        ptr          struct if msghdr     ifm          struct sockaddr dl   sdl                   mib 0    CTL NET          mib 1    AF ROUTE          mib 2    0          mib 3    AF LINK          mib 4    NET RT IFLIST                   if   mib 5    if nametoindex  en0       0                    printf  Error  if nametoindex error n                    return NULL                             if  sysctl mib  6  NULL   amp len  NULL  0   lt  0                    printf  Error  sysctl  take 1 n                    return NULL                             if   buf   malloc len      NULL                    printf  Could not allocate memory  error  n                    return NULL                             if  sysctl mib  6  buf   amp len  NULL  0   lt  0                    printf  Error  sysctl  take 2                    return NULL                             ifm    struct if msghdr   buf          sdl    struct sockaddr dl    ifm   1           ptr    unsigned char   LLADDR sdl           NSString  outstring    NSString stringWithFormat    02X  02X  02X  02X  02X  02X                                                           ptr    ptr 1     ptr 2     ptr 3     ptr 4     ptr 5            free buf                    return outstring                                                                                       pragma mark -  pragma mark Public Methods  -  NSString    uniqueDeviceIdentifier          NSString  macaddress     UIDevice currentDevice  macaddress           NSString  bundleIdentifier     NSBundle mainBundle  bundleIdentifier               NSString  stringToHash    NSString stringWithFormat         macaddress bundleIdentifier           NSString  uniqueIdentifier    stringToHash stringFromMD5               return uniqueIdentifier     -  NSString    uniqueGlobalDeviceIdentifier          NSString  macaddress     UIDevice currentDevice  macaddress           NSString  uniqueIdentifier    macaddress stringFromMD5                   return uniqueIdentifier      end      NSString MD5Addition m     import  NSString MD5Addition h   import  lt CommonCrypto CommonDigest h gt    implementation NSString MD5Addition   -  NSString    stringFromMD5                   if self    nil     self length     0                  return nil                   const char  value    self UTF8String                    unsigned char outputBuffer CC MD5 DIGEST LENGTH           CC MD5 value  strlen value   outputBuffer                    NSMutableString  outputString     NSMutableString alloc  initWithCapacity CC MD5 DIGEST LENGTH   2           for NSInteger count   0  count  lt  CC MD5 DIGEST LENGTH  count                      outputString appendFormat    02x  outputBuffer count                      return  outputString autorelease       end

User · Answer

NSLog         UIDevice currentDevice identifierForVendor

User · Answer

I had got some issue too  and solution is simple           Get Bundle Info for Remote Registration  handy if you have more than one app      NSString  appName      NSBundle mainBundle  infoDictionary  objectForKey   CFBundleDisplayName        NSString  appVersion      NSBundle mainBundle  infoDictionary  objectForKey   CFBundleVersion             Get the users Device Model  Display Name  Unique ID  Token  amp  Version Number     UIDevice  dev    UIDevice currentDevice       NSString  deviceUuid  dev identifierForVendor  UUIDString        NSString  deviceName   dev name

User · Answer

From iOS 6 onwards  we have NSUUID class which complies RFC4122  Apple Link   apple ref for NSUUID

User · Answer

iOS 11 has introduced the DeviceCheck framework  It has a fullproof solution for uniquely identifying the device

User · Answer

This is code I m using to get ID for both iOS 5 and iOS 6  7   -  NSString    advertisingIdentifier       if   NSClassFromString   ASIdentifierManager              SEL selector   NSSelectorFromString   uniqueIdentifier            if    UIDevice currentDevice  respondsToSelector selector                 return   UIDevice currentDevice  performSelector selector                       return    ASIdentifierManager sharedManager  advertisingIdentifier  UUIDString

User · Answer

We can use identifierForVendor for ios7   - NSString  uniqueIDForDevice       NSString  uniqueIdentifier   nil      if   UIDevice instancesRespondToSelector  selector identifierForVendor           gt  iOS 7         uniqueIdentifier      UIDevice currentDevice  identifierForVendor  UUIDString         else      lt  iOS6  Use UDID of Device                    CFUUIDRef uuid   CFUUIDCreate NULL                 uniqueIdentifier     NSString  CFUUIDCreateString NULL  uuid  - for non- ARC             uniqueIdentifier     NSString  CFBridgingRelease CFUUIDCreateString NULL  uuid      for ARC             CFRelease uuid                    return uniqueIdentifier      --Important Note ---  UDID and identifierForVendor are different ---  1   On uninstalling  and reinstalling the app identifierForVendor will change   2   The value of identifierForVendor remains the same for all the apps installed from the same vendor on the device   3   The value of identifierForVendor also changes for all the apps if any of the app  from same vendor  is reinstalled

User · Answer

Little hack for you         method uniqueDeviceIdentifier   abstract A unique device identifier is a hash value composed from various hardware identifiers such  as the device   s serial number  It is guaranteed to be unique for every device but cannot   be tied to a user account   UIDevice Class Reference    return An 1-way hashed identifier unique to this device         NSString   uniqueDeviceIdentifier             NSString  systemId   nil         We collect it as long as it is available along with a randomly generated ID         This way  when this becomes unavailable we can map existing users so the        new vs returning counts do not break      if      UIDevice currentDevice  systemVersion  floatValue   lt  6 0f             SEL udidSelector   NSSelectorFromString   uniqueIdentifier            if    UIDevice currentDevice  respondsToSelector udidSelector                 systemId     UIDevice currentDevice  performSelector udidSelector                       else           systemId    NSUUID UUID             return systemId

User · Answer

A UUID created by CFUUIDCreate is unique if a user uninstalls and re-installs the app  you will get a new one each time   But you might want it to be not unique  i  e  it should stay the same when the user uninstalls and re-installs the app  This requires a bit of effort  since the most reliable per-device-identifier seems to be the MAC address  You could query the MAC and use that as UUID   Edit  One needs to always query the MAC of the same interface  of course  I guess the best bet is with en0  The MAC is always present  even if the interface has no IP is down   Edit 2  As was pointed out by others  the preferred solution since iOS 6 is - UIDevice identifierForVendor   In most cases  you should be able use it as a drop-in replacement to the old - UIDevice uniqueIdentifier   but a UUID that is created when the app starts for the first time is what Apple seems to want you to use    Edit 3  So this major point doesn t get lost in the comment noise  do not use the MAC as UUID  create a hash using the MAC  That hash will always create the same result every time  even across reinstalls and apps  if the hashing is done in the same way   Anyways  nowadays  2013  this isn t necessary any more except if you need a  stable  device identifier on iOS  lt  6 0   Edit 4  In iOS 7  Apple now always returns a fixed value when querying the MAC to specifically thwart the MAC as base for an ID scheme  So you now really should use - UIDevice identifierForVendor  or create a per-install UUID

User · Answer

check this out   we can use Keychain instead of NSUserDefaults class  to store UUID created by CFUUIDCreate   with this way we could avoid for UUID recreation with reinstallation   and obtain always same UUID for same application even user uninstall and reinstall again   UUID will recreated just when device reset by user   I tried this method with SFHFKeychainUtils and it s works like a charm

User · Answer

Apple has hidden the UDID from all public APIs  starting with iOS 7  Any UDID that begins with FFFF is a fake ID  The  Send UDID  apps that previously worked can no longer be used to gather UDID for test devices   sigh    The UDID is shown when a device is connected to XCode  in the organizer   and when the device is connected to iTunes  although you have to click on  Serial Number  to get the Identifier to display   If you need to get the UDID for a device to add to a provisioning profile  and can t do it yourself in XCode  you will have to walk them through the steps to copy paste it from iTunes   Is there a way since  iOS 7  39 s release  to get the UDID without using iTunes on a PC Mac

User · Answer

NSString    getUniqueUUID       NSError   error      NSString   uuid    KeychainUtils getPasswordForUsername kBuyassUser andServiceName kIdOgBetilngService error  amp error       if  error        NSLog   Error geting unique UUID for this device        error localizedDescription        return nil            if   uuid            DLog   No UUID found  Creating a new one             uuid    IDManager GetUUID           uuid    Util md5String uuid            KeychainUtils storeUsername USER NAME andPassword uuid forServiceName SERVICE NAME updateExisting YES error  amp error           if  error                NSLog   Error getting unique UUID for this device        error localizedDescription                return nil                      return uuid

User · Answer

UIDevice identifierForVendor introduced in iOS 6 would work for your purposes   identifierForVendor is an alphanumeric string that uniquely identifies a device to the app   s vendor   read-only    property nonatomic  readonly  retain  NSUUID  identifierForVendor   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 onthe same device that come from different vendors  and for apps on different devices regardles of vendor   Available in iOS 6 0 and later and declared in UIDevice h  For iOS 5 refer this link UIDevice-with-UniqueIdentifier-for-iOS-5

User · Answer

Following code helps to get UDID           udid      UIDevice currentDevice  identifierForVendor  UUIDString           NSLog   UDID        udid

User · Answer

I m sure Apple have annoyed many people with this change  I develop a bookkeeping app for iOS and have an online service to sync changes made on different devices  The service maintains a database of all devices and the changes that need to be propagated to them  Therefore it s important to know which devices are which  I m keeping track of devices using the UIDevice uniqueIdentifier and for what it s worth  here are my thoughts    Generate a UUID and store in user defaults  No good because this does not persist when the user deletes the app  If they install again later the online service should not create a new device record  that would waste resources on the server and give a list of devices containing the same one two or more times  Users would see more than one  Bob s iPhone  listed if they re-installed the app  Generate a UUID and store in the keychain  This was my plan  since it persists even when the app is uninstalled  But when restoring an iTunes backup to a new iOS device  the keychain is transferred if the backup is encrypted  This could lead to two devices containing the same device id if the old and new devices are both in service  These should be listed as two devices in the online service  even if the device name is the same  Generate a hash the MAC address and bundle id  This looks like the best solution for what I need  By hashing with the bundle id  the generated device id is not going to enable the device to be tracked across apps and I get a unique ID for the app device combination    It s interesting to note that Apple s own documentation refers to validating Mac App Store receipts by computing a hash of the system MAC address plus the bundle id and version  So this seems allowable by policy  whether it passes through app review I don t yet know

User · Answer

Perhaps you can use    UIDevice currentDevice  identifierForVendor UUIDString   Apple s documentation describes identifierForVender as follows   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

User · Answer

You may want to consider using OpenUDID which is a drop-in replacement for the deprecated UDID   Basically  to match the UDID  the following features are required    unique or sufficiently unique  a low probability collision is probably very acceptable  persistence across reboots  restores  uninstalls available across apps of different vendors  useful to acquire users via CPI networks  -   OpenUDID fulfills the above and even has a built-in Opt-Out mechanism for later consideration   Check http   OpenUDID org it points to the corresponding GitHub  Hope this helps   As a side note  I would shy away from any MAC address alternative  While the MAC address appears like a tempting and universal solution  be sure that this low hanging fruit is poisoned  The MAC address is very sensitive  and Apple may very well deprecate access to this one before you can even say  SUBMIT THIS APP     the MAC network address is used to authenticate certain devices on private lans  WLANs  or other virtual private networks  VPNs      it s even more sensitive than the former UDID

User · Answer

May help  use below code it will always Unique except you erase Format  your device   UIDevice  myDevice  UIDevice currentDevice   NSString  UUID     myDevice identifierForVendor  UUIDString

[ios] UIDevice uniqueIdentifier deprecated - What to do now?

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