How to delete shared preferences data from App in Android

Question

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.

Parnas

Answer 1

To remove specific values: SharedPreferences.Editor.remove() followed by a commit()

To remove them all SharedPreferences.Editor.clear() followed by a commit()

If you don't care about the return value and you're using this from your application's main thread, consider using apply() instead.

Susumu

context.getSharedPreferences("YOUR_PREFS", 0).edit().clear().commit(); //remove all your prefs :) – Jolynnjon

@yoshi there is definitely a remove() as well as a clear(). You use remove() to remove specific preferences, you use clear() to remove them all. The original question wasn't clear if they needed to remove them all or not. – Susumu

Clearing the preferences file does not appear to actually delete it. In my own tests by watching the "Data" usage listed in the App Info panel, creating a new SharedPreference file adds 4KB to this value but using editor.clear().commit() does not reduce the number. – Salman

@Jolynnjon Why don't you put your comment as a separate answer? – Hooke

@Hooke wow this comment has more than hundred votes! I added the answer below with a slightly improvement ;-) – Jolynnjon

@Jolynnjon better using .apply() instead of .commit() – Geehan

In kotlin that is sharedPreferences.edit().clear().apply() – Recidivism

Answer 2

My solution:

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

Phosphorism

Does that remove the variable TEXT only? – Faceharden

@SiKni8 Yes, that removes only the key/value pair with key "text". – Calamitous

I was able to get it to work because it's been a while but thank you for the response :) – Faceharden

You saved my absolute sanity. :P THANK YOU. I was trying to clear the prefs for one element of an object at a time, and this works beautifully. – Jeaz

Consider using apply() instead of commit() to do the task in a background thread. – Blearyeyed

Answer 3

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();

Islander

What will be the KeyName? – Amative

How to delete the entire preference file, not just the preferences inside the file? – Decadence

Use apply() instead of commit() to do the task in a background thread. commit() blocks and write data to storage instantly. apply() is asynchronous. – Stylus

Answer 4

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

Parrish

can we do this things programmatic. – Jolt

@Jolt The other answer does it programatically. – Jiujitsu

@Jolt - Some of us needed this answer. I was unsure how to remove SharedPrefs on an Android Emulator so that I could continue testing my code. – Dita

Not there in android studio 2.2.2 10/18/2016. – Crisper

Thanks, was just looking for deleting this way. – Cleavage

Answer 5

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();

Jolynnjon

Best solution for me. There are few cases when synchronous is neccesary for sharedpreferences content. – Geehan

Answer 6

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();

Deluna

exactly what I want. Thanks it clears all default preferences – Roughcast

Answer 7

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(); 

Moss

Answer 8

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();
}

Erland

Answer 9

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.

Animus

+1 for the useful tip on run-as. You'd think I would have found this after 3 yrs... – Hubblebubble

This isn't the Sharedpreferences, it's the sqlite database – Alfredoalfresco

Answer 10

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

Wileen

Answer 11

Clear them all:

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

Crazyweed

Answer 12

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

Mythomania

Thanks - i did not want to programmatically remove sharedPreferences so this worked for me. – Maloney

On my device I have the option to "clear data" on the uninstall option, which worked for me and removed the need to reinstall my app. – Jimenez

Answer 13

For Kotlin users it is fairly easy:

val sharedPref = context.getSharedPreferences("myPref", Context.MODE_PRIVATE)
 sharedPref.edit().clear().apply()

Sievert

Answer 14

Try this code:

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

Frau

Answer 15

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

adb shell pm clear <package name>

Adachi

Answer 16

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.

Steradian

Answer 17

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

Bunder

Answer 18

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

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

Barbaraanne

Answer 19

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();

Lightless

Answer 20

• 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()

Prenotion

Answer 21

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

Ensign

Answer 22

One line of code in kotlin:

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

Chukker

Answer 23

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();
    }
}

Reich

Answer 24

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

I can delete file in shared preferences with it

Maynardmayne

All above solutions are wrong, only delete file is right one to delete shared preferences – Kraut

Answer 25

My Answer:

In Java:

SharedPreferences myPrefs = context.getSharedPreferences("My_Pref", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
myPrefs.edit().remove("my_key").apply();

In Kotlin:

val myPrefs = context.getSharedPreferences("My_Pref", Context.MODE_PRIVATE)
myPrefs.edit().remove("my_key").apply()

Mozambique

Answer 26

Kotlin :

  var prefs2: SharedPreferences? = context!!.getSharedPreferences("loginFB", 0)
  prefs2!!.edit().remove("email").commit()

Fitzgerald

Answer 27

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

Koffman

Answer 28

This is my Kotlin method:

      public fun clearAllSharedPrefs() {
            val sharedPreferences: SharedPreferences = MainApplication.applicationContext()
                .getSharedPreferences("MY_CUSTOME_KEY", Context.MODE_PRIVATE)
            sharedPreferences.edit().clear()
            sharedPreferences.edit().apply()
        }

Kingery

Answer 29

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.

Jael

So whoever down voted this solution should maybe also explain why: You need a rooted phone to access /data/data directly! – Bechance

You need to Remove the SharedPreferences form the Application and not the ADB Shell.It is done using: SharedPreferences.edit().clear().commit(); – Subminiature

Asked never said they wanted a no root solution. There is a technical error here though; because this method requires root, you have to run su after adb shell to open up a privileged shell. – Recording

Why was this downvoted so much? This is a useful answer and the one I was looking for. – Bisectrix