Question

I would like to know if and how it is possible to detect if my application have run in the past on a given android device. I would like every time the phone reboots to be able to check if my application has run on the past and retrieve some private data. If not just create those data.

Answer 1

You could store a simple value in the SharedPreference of the application.

insert this into your onCreate() in your Main Activity

SharedPreferences shared = getSharedPreferences("config", 0);


if (shared.getBoolean("hasRunBefore", false))
{
 // have run before.
}
else
{
SharedPreferences.Editor editor = shared.edit();
editor.putBoolean("hasRunBefore", true);
editor.commit();
 // have not run before
}