Why does AndroidId have a different result between Android and Xamarin

Question

I have the need to detect a common factor between two apps, one written in Xamarin and one written in Java (Android Studio), running on a users phone. This will then be sent to a server to identify that phone.

In the good old days the IMEI did the job nicely. However now I am having to use the Device ID, which is fine for the current purpose, but not perfect.

Anyway, using the following statement in Xamarin gives one result, while using the statement that follows this in Android, gives a different result, both on the same phone.

I am currently using the Android code below on several different apps and they all report the same number. It is only when used on Xamarin that the number changes.

Why would this be, why is the Device ID not reported as the same value, and is there a way to identify the DeviceID via both platforms that result in the same output ?

Thanks

Xamarin code - Result is "a70c996e74002942"

var Device_ID = Android.Provider.Settings.Secure.GetString(ContentResolver, Android.Provider.Settings.Secure.AndroidId);  

Android Studio code - Result is "702669b2e9a6f7d1"

String Device_ID = Settings.Secure.getString(context.getContentResolver(), Settings.Secure.ANDROID_ID)  

Answer 1

Hello,

From ANDROID_ID reference in the Android docs.

unique to each combination of app-signing key, user, and device

Because different applications have different app-signing keys, you will get different Android Id.
If you want to handle the IDs depends greatly on the specific scenario, please refer Android docs: Best practices for unique identifiers

Best Regards,

Leon Lu

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