How to programmatically clear application data

Question

I am developing automated tests for an android application (using Robotium). In order to ensure the consistency and reliability of tests, I would like to start each test with clean state (of the application under test). In order to do so, I need to clear the app data. This can be done manually in Settings/Applications/Manage Applications/[My App]/Clear data

What is the recommended way to get this done programmatically?

This would be so great. When debugging database issues, I have to navigate to the Clear Data option so much and it really breaks my flow. — Jason Prado, Jun 16 '11 at 14:54
Is it feasible to use the adb tool to clear the data between application launches? adb -w — smith324, Feb 01 '11 at 05:15
Unfortunately, this option is not available (the adb help is outdated). — user597603, Mar 03 '11 at 18:54
How to do it via Android Studio is discussed here: https://stackoverflow.com/q/31713579/905686. — user905686, May 04 '18 at 15:42
Specifically, do this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/57461180/94557 — Matt Wolfe, Oct 25 '19 at 16:35

score 176 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 21 '11 at 11:11

176

You can use the package-manager tool to clear data for installed apps (similar to pressing the 'clear data' button in the app settings on your device). So using adb you could do:

adb shell pm clear my.wonderful.app.package

answered Dec 21 '11 at 11:11

edovino

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On Android 2.1-update1, this unfortunately yields `Error: unknown command 'clear'`. – Paul Lammertsma Apr 11 '12 at 13:49
@Palani: works for me for any version above 2.1-r1 (andoid-7). any error messages? – edovino Jun 05 '12 at 14:56
1

Above command connects to android shell and executes "pm clear my.wonderful.app.package" in android. In my device, "pm" command don't have "clear" option. Its nothing related with sdk. It depends on device firmware. – Palani Aug 02 '12 at 18:18
m looking for clear data of browser(defaut)and chrome browser apps in android device programmaticaly from my android app.Please help for it.. – Brijesh Patel May 19 '14 at 08:36
Doesn't work on every device, but it is wonderful for the devices that it works on – Cory Trese Nov 13 '14 at 17:30

score 37 · Answer 2 · answered May 05 '14 at 10:34

37

Following up to @edovino's answer, the way of clearing all of an application's preferences programmatically would be

private void clearPreferences() {
    try {
        // clearing app data
        Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
        runtime.exec("pm clear YOUR_APP_PACKAGE_GOES HERE");

    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Warning: the application will force close.

answered May 05 '14 at 10:34

Sebastiano

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If you have any test code running after this, it fails. – Rajath Aug 11 '14 at 07:00
Does executing this require and permissions to be declared in the manifest? – reubenjohn Jul 03 '15 at 08:51
1

No, it does not require any special permission. – Sebastiano Jul 03 '15 at 08:52
2

if I don't want to force close app then ? – N J Nov 06 '15 at 09:15

score 22 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

22

you can clear SharedPreferences app-data with this

Editor editor = 
context.getSharedPreferences(PREF_FILE_NAME, Context.MODE_PRIVATE).edit();
editor.clear();
editor.commit();

and for clearing app db, this answer is correct -> Clearing Application database

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Community

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1

answered Jun 20 '11 at 23:09

Yilmaz Guleryuz

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score 17 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 21 '15 at 06:14

17

From API version 19 it is possible to call ActivityManager.clearApplicationUserData().

((ActivityManager) context.getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE)).clearApplicationUserData();

answered Jul 21 '15 at 06:14

Jocke

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Just FYI, calling this will terminate your app. – Zach Rattner Sep 08 '15 at 15:29

score 9 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 14 '11 at 06:11

Check this code to:

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
// closing Entire Application
    android.os.Process.killProcess(android.os.Process.myPid());
    Editor editor = getSharedPreferences("clear_cache", Context.MODE_PRIVATE).edit();
    editor.clear();
    editor.commit();
    trimCache(this);
    super.onDestroy();
}


public static void trimCache(Context context) {
    try {
        File dir = context.getCacheDir();
        if (dir != null && dir.isDirectory()) {
            deleteDir(dir);

        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        // TODO: handle exception
    }
}


public static boolean deleteDir(File dir) {
    if (dir != null && dir.isDirectory()) {
        String[] children = dir.list();
        for (int i = 0; i < children.length; i++) {
            boolean success = deleteDir(new File(dir, children[i]));
            if (!success) {
                return false;
            }
        }
    }

    // <uses-permission
    // android:name="android.permission.CLEAR_APP_CACHE"></uses-permission>
    // The directory is now empty so delete it

    return dir.delete();
}

score 7 · Answer 6 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

7

If you have just a couple of shared preferences to clear, then this solution is much nicer.

@Override
protected void setUp() throws Exception {
    super.setUp();
    Instrumentation instrumentation = getInstrumentation();
    SharedPreferences preferences = instrumentation.getTargetContext().getSharedPreferences(...), Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
    preferences.edit().clear().commit();
    solo = new Solo(instrumentation, getActivity());
}

edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Community

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1

answered Oct 15 '12 at 13:08

Thomas Keller

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Doesn't this require *"instrumentation mode"* to be enabled? What is that mode anyway? – ADTC Aug 19 '14 at 06:47
Yep, this requires an "instrumented" application, i.e. your test runs alongside your application code on a real device _in process_, which means that you can access all of your application's state and change it on run time for testing purposes. – Thomas Keller Sep 02 '14 at 07:23
what should be in (...) ? – NickUnuchek Jun 19 '15 at 14:09
@NickUnuchek The name of the preferences file. – Thomas Keller Jun 20 '15 at 16:28

Ronak Poriya · Answer 7 · 2016-04-12T07:20:15.250

Using Context,We can clear app specific files like preference,database file. I have used below code for UI testing using Espresso.

    @Rule
    public ActivityTestRule<HomeActivity> mActivityRule = new ActivityTestRule<>(
            HomeActivity.class);

    public static void clearAppInfo() {
        Activity mActivity = testRule.getActivity();
        SharedPreferences prefs =
                PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(mActivity);
        prefs.edit().clear().commit();
        mActivity.deleteDatabase("app_db_name.db");
    }

score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Dec 17 '19 at 05:27

2

if android version is above kitkat you may use this as well

public void onClick(View view) {

    Context context = getApplicationContext(); // add this line
    if (Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT <= Build.VERSION.SDK_INT) {
        ((ActivityManager) context.getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE))
            .clearApplicationUserData();
        return;
    }

edited Dec 17 '19 at 05:27

Michael Boquecosa

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answered Dec 09 '16 at 14:14

Tushar Saha

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score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 29 '17 at 21:33

What is the recommended way to get this done programmatically?

The only possible option is to run ADB command adb shell pm clear package before the test. The biggest problem is that it's kind of headache combining tests execution and shell commands.

However, we (at Mediafe) came with some solution that can work for you on regular unrooted device. All you need to do is to add an annotation. All the rest is done by running simple bash script.

Just add @ClearData annotation before ANY of your tests and tada , ADB clear command will be executed before the test execution.

This is an example of such test:

@Test
@ClearData
public void someTest() {
    // your test
}

The idea is as follows

Read all tests by using adb shell am instrument -e log true
Build execution plan by parsing the output from (1)
Run the execution plan line by line

Using the same idea these are all options you can easily support:

Clear data
Clear notification bar
Parameterize
Filter and run by tags

Use only annotations. Like this:

@Test
@ClearData
@Tags(tags = {"sanity", "medium"})
@Parameterized.Repeat(count = 3)
public void myTest() throws Exception {
    String param = params[index];
    // ...
}

Bonus! For each failed test:

Collect Logcat + stacktrace
Record video (mp4)
Dump DB (sqlite)
Dump default shared preferences (xml)
Collect dumpsys files like: battery, netstats and other.

In general, it's easy to add more options, since the tests are executed one by one from bash script rather than from gradle task.

The full blog post: https://medium.com/medisafe-tech-blog/running-android-ui-tests-53e85e5c8da8

The source code with examples: https://github.com/medisafe/run-android-tests

Hope this answers 6 years question ;)

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Sep 17 '20 at 08:03

0

This way added by Sebastiano was OK, but it's necessary, when you run tests from i.e. IntelliJ IDE to add:

 try {
    // clearing app data
    Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
    runtime.exec("adb shell pm clear YOUR_APP_PACKAGE_GOES HERE");

}

instead of only "pm package..."

and more important: add it before driver.setCapability(App_package, package_name).

edited Sep 17 '20 at 08:03

Dharman

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answered Sep 17 '20 at 07:57

Bear_Wojtaz

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inside an app when using runtime.exec you cant write adb shell you just need to start from pm.. – S. Ber Rosenberg Apr 03 '23 at 14:43

How to programmatically clear application data

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