What is the most appropriate way to store user settings in Android application

Question

I am creating an application which connects to the server using username/password and I would like to enable the option \"Save password\" so the user wouldn\'t have to type

Answer 1

This is a supplemental answer for those arriving here based on the question title (like I did) and don't need to deal with the security issues related to saving passwords.

How to use Shared Preferences

User settings are generally saved locally in Android using SharedPreferences with a key-value pair. You use the String key to save or look up the associated value.

Write to Shared Preferences

String key = "myInt";
int valueToSave = 10;

SharedPreferences sharedPref = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(context);
SharedPreferences.Editor editor = sharedPref.edit();
editor.putInt(key, valueToSave).commit();

Use apply() instead of commit() to save in the background rather than immediately.

Read from Shared Preferences

String key = "myInt";
int defaultValue = 0;

SharedPreferences sharedPref = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(context);
int savedValue = sharedPref.getInt(key, defaultValue);

The default value is used if the key isn't found.

Notes

• Rather than using a local key String in multiple places like I did above, it would be better to use a constant in a single location. You could use something like this at the top of your settings activity:

    final static String PREF_MY_INT_KEY = "myInt";
  

• I used an int in my example, but you can also use putString(), putBoolean(), getString(), getBoolean(), etc.

• See the documentation for more details.

• There are multiple ways to get SharedPreferences. See this answer for what to look out for.