Android Question urgent help needed - IMEI

Zeev Goldstein

Well-Known Member
Licensed User
Longtime User
hi
my app uses the IMEI to identify the device
since recent android update this element doesn't work
can anyone please help ?
how do i get the device IMEI ?
if i can get the phone number and SIM ID (IMEI) will be perfect
but device IMEI is the most critical issue for me

thank you
 

DonManfred

Expert
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Longtime User
since recent android update this element doesn't work
can anyone please help ?
No. We are not allowed to get any deviceidentifier (IDs) any longer.


An Alternative you can use

 
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Zeev Goldstein

Well-Known Member
Licensed User
Longtime User
No. We are not allowed to get any deviceidentifier (IDs) any longer.


An Alternative you can use


thanks
so how do you identify the device?
say for license etc ?
 
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DonManfred

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Longtime User
I only have some Apps running on the Devices from our workmen in the Company.

I do create an Advertising ID, send this to our server and on Serverside i mark this entry to be Member X... For 10 Devices the work is comprehensible.

Starting from Andoid 10 we do not get any Hardware-ID...
 
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Zeev Goldstein

Well-Known Member
Licensed User
Longtime User
I only have some Apps running on the Devices from our workmen in the Company.

I do create an Advertising ID, send this to our server and on Serverside i mark this entry to be Member X... For 10 Devices the work is comprehensible.

Starting from Andoid 10 we do not get any Hardware-ID...

wow, that's too bad

can i generate a unique GUID ? how ?
perhaps i can use this as one time stored id...
 
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Erel

B4X founder
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can i generate a unique GUID ? how ?
 
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udg

Expert
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Longtime User
Hi Zeev,
you may consider to build your own solution in order to manage licensing. I'm thinking aloud here, so take it as something that needs a deeper analysis and absolutely not a guidance or hint.
To use your app, a customer needs to register with you (and possibly pay..). For registration you use his/her email and a userID that you generate on your server and mail him/her. Upon installation of your app, the customer needs to enter that userID, but the app will generate a device ID too (a random number, or any other key you like), then send it to your server along with the user ID (everything encrypted, just to make it more solid). Only upon successful registration the app starts working.
From that point on, on startup the app will send the couple user-device IDs to your server in order to properly work.

Now, on your server you have full control about the licensing since you know email, userID and deviceID, so you could switch it off at any time.

Let's say that your legitimate user buys a new phone. You app gets installed anew, the userID stays the same (since the customer knows it) but the deviceID will be different.
When the registration message reaches your server you can disable previous account and start the new one. This prevents the user to give away his/her userID to friends or others since his/her own account will stop in that case.
What about a customer that wants to use the same app on two phones? Just mail him/her two or more userIDs.. after all, all the ID for the same customer will share the same email on your DB so manage them will be easy for you.
What about people who investigate about the deviceID and are so able to generate a twin of a legitimate installation? Well, it depends on the nature of the app. If it works with personal data I doubt that the original user will be willing to let it happen. If it's not, are you sure taht the economic damage you suffer from a few pirated copies justifies a great amount of time to build a more secure solution?

Again, all the above needs deeper analysis but it could be a starting point.
 
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