[android] How to delete shared preferences data from App in Android

How do I delete SharedPreferences data for my application?

I'm creating an application that uses a lot of web services to sync data. For testing purposes, I need to wipe out some SharedPreferences values when I restart the app.

The Kotlin ktx way to clear all preferences:

val prefs: SharedPreferences = getSharedPreferences("prefsName", Context.MODE_PRIVATE)
prefs.edit(commit = true) {
    clear()
}

Click here for all Shared preferences operations with examples

String prefTag = "someTag";
SharedPreferences prefs = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(applicationContext);
prefs.edit().remove(prefTag).commit();

This will delete the saved shared preferences with the name "someTag".

As of API 24 (Nougat) you can just do:

context.deleteSharedPreferences("YOUR_PREFS");

However, there is no backward compatibility, so if you're supporting anything less than 24, stick with:

context.getSharedPreferences("YOUR_PREFS", Context.MODE_PRIVATE).edit().clear().apply(); 

Editor editor = getSharedPreferences("clear_cache", Context.MODE_PRIVATE).edit();
editor.clear();
editor.commit();

If it is for your testing. You can use adb commands.

adb shell pm clear <package name>

To remove the key-value pairs from preference, you can easily do the following

getActivity().getSharedPreference().edit().remove("key").apply();

I have also developed a library for easy manipulation of shared preferences. You may find the following link

https://github.com/farruhha/SimplePrefs

• To remove a particular value,

SharedPreferences.Editor remove(String key) followed by a commit() or a apply()

• To remove all the values,

  SharedPreferences.Editor clear() followed by a commit() or a apply()

Removing all preferences:

SharedPreferences settings = context.getSharedPreferences("PreferencesName", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
settings.edit().clear().commit();

Removing single preference:

SharedPreferences settings = context.getSharedPreferences("PreferencesName", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
settings.edit().remove("KeyName").commit();

Deleting Android Shared Preferences in one line :-)

context.getSharedPreferences("YOUR_PREFS", 0).edit().clear().commit();

Or apply for non-blocking asynchronous operation:

this.getSharedPreferences("YOUR_PREFS", 0).edit().clear().apply();

To clear all SharedPreferences centrally from any class:

public static SharedPreferences.Editor getEditor(Context context) {
    return getPreferences(context).edit();
}

And then from any class: (commit returns a Boolean where you can check whether your Preferences cleared or not)

Navigation.getEditor(this).clear().commit();

Or you can use apply; it returns void

Navigation.getEditor(this).clear().apply();

If it's not necessary to be removed every time, you can remove it manually from:

Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> (choose your app) -> Clear data or Uninstall

Newer versions of Android:

Settings -> Applications -> (choose your app) -> Storage -> Clear data and Clear cache

You can also just manually uninstall your app using your device. Then when you re-install your app, shared preferences have been reset.

You can always do it programmatically as suggested by the other answers over here. But for development purpose, I find this Plugin very helpful as it speeds up my development significantly.

PLUGIN: ADB Idea

It provides you with features to Clear App Data and Revoke Permission from your Android Studio itself, just with click of a button.

You can use the adb shell to do this even without a rooted phone. The only catch is that the app must be debuggable.

run-as <your package name> <command>

For example:

run-as com.asdf.blah rm /data/data/com.asdf.blah/databases/myDB.db

Alternatively, you can just do the above but without the command which will direct you to the app package root and allow you to execute more commands in the app's context.

new File(context.getFilesDir(), fileName).delete();

I can delete file in shared preferences with it

My solution:

SharedPreferences preferences = getSharedPreferences("Mypref", 0);
preferences.edit().remove("text").commit();

You can use preferences.edit().remove("key").commit() to delete saved values from shared preferences.

Seems that all solution is not completely working or out-dead

to clear all SharedPreferences in an Activity

PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(getBaseContext()).edit().clear().apply();

Call this from the Main Activity after onCreate

note* i used .apply() instead of .commit(), you are free to choose commit();

None of the answers work for me since I have many shared preferences keys.

Let's say you are running an Android Test instead of a unit test.

It is working for me loop and delete through all the shared_prefs files.

@BeforeClass will run before all the tests and ActivityTestRule

@BeforeClass
public static void setUp() {
    Context context = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext();

    File root = context.getFilesDir().getParentFile();
    String[] sharedPreferencesFileNames = new File(root, "shared_prefs").list();
    for (String fileName : sharedPreferencesFileNames) {
        context.getSharedPreferences(fileName.replace(".xml", ""), Context.MODE_PRIVATE).edit().clear().commit();
    }
}

Try this code:

SharedPreferences sharedPreferences = getSharedPreferences("fake", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
SharedPreferences.Editor edit = sharedPreferences.edit();
edit.clear().commit();

One line of code in kotlin:

getSharedPreferences("MY_PREFS_NAME", MODE_PRIVATE).edit().clear().apply()

Clear them all:

PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(context).edit().clear().apply()

Just did this this morning. From a command prompt:

adb shell
cd /data/data/YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME/shared_prefs
rm * // to remove all shared preference files
rm YOUR_PREFS_NAME.xml // to remove a specific shared preference file

NOTE: This requires a rooted device such as the stock Android virtual devices, a Genymotion device, or an actual rooted handset/tablet, etc.

In the class definitions:

private static final String PREFERENCES = "shared_prefs";

private static final SharedPreferences sharedPreferences  = getApplicationContext().getSharedPreferences(PREFERENCES, MODE_PRIVATE);

Inside the class:

public static void deleteAllSharedPrefs(){
    sharedPreferences.edit().clear().commit();
}