How do you get the user defined "Device Name" in android?

Question

I am trying to get the user defined device name that is set in settings. I've tried several options and so far nothing.

If it helps or hurts I am needing it in a BroadcastReceiver

Thanks

score 31 · Answer 1 · answered May 24 '13 at 01:42

31

This got me what I was needed... http://cmanios.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/bluetooth-adapter-device-name-and-mac-address-in-android/

BluetoothAdapter myDevice = BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter();
    String deviceName = myDevice.getName();

Make sure you add

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH"/>

to your manifest

answered May 24 '13 at 01:42

Chris Whittle

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You can accept your own answer. As it would have been a stretch to guess that you were talking about Bluetooth from your question, I added a tag and mention to the title. – Chris Stratton May 24 '13 at 02:08
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In the settings it says nothing about Blue tooth on either of the devices I was working with. I went by trial and error until I found it. – Chris Whittle May 24 '13 at 12:10
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Alright, I rolled back my edit. But your solution reveals the problem to be one which has no general solution - on many devices what you are trying to do is simply not possible at all, as there's no means for the user to name the device. – Chris Stratton May 24 '13 at 20:05
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please take note. as this answer works, you still have to restart your device if you update your device name on your device settings for you to get the updated name. – ralphgabb May 20 '15 at 04:43
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Since BT is mandatory to ship the phone with Google Apps, we can expect all devices except a few like Amazon Kindle to have BT.http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/24464/any-android-phones-that-dont-support-bluetooth/48233#48233 – garnet Jan 19 '16 at 12:41
Attempt to invoke virtual method 'java.lang.String android.bluetooth.BluetoothAdapter.getName()' on a null object reference – Dec 20 '20 at 16:19

score 15 · Answer 2 · answered May 07 '19 at 14:30

In summary, there is no single consistent way to retrieve the user-customized device name.

However, there are numerous utilities that you can use that will work on different models and manufacturers:

Settings.System.getString(getContentResolver(), “bluetooth_name”); (docs)
Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(), “bluetooth_name”); (docs)
BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter().getName(); (docs)
Settings.System.getString(getContentResolver(), “device_name”); (docs)
Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(), “lock_screen_owner_info”); (docs)

1, 2 and 3 appear to be the most reliable on the devices my colleague tested. Here is his full analysis:

Source: https://medium.com/@pribble88/how-to-get-an-android-device-nickname-4b4700b3068c

Unfortunately, none of these methods work on Pixel 2 XL emulator (api 28). They all return null! — t-gao, May 14 '19 at 09:47

score 14 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 22 '20 at 07:58

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Following works for me

String deviceName = Settings.Global.getString(<Context>.getContentResolver(), Settings.Global.DEVICE_NAME);

edited Sep 22 '20 at 07:58

Felix

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answered Jul 20 '18 at 14:59

Neelam Verma

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Not working on huawei. I want to get user custom name of device – Vlad Oct 27 '19 at 07:18
Requires API-Level 25 - but on devices with this level or higher, it seems to be the most reliable option – Felix Sep 22 '20 at 07:59
Does this require any permissions? Does the Play Store allow it? – casolorz Jun 21 '23 at 16:05

kakopappa · Answer 4 · 2016-09-27T04:05:00.707

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BluetoothAdapter myDevice = BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter();
String deviceName = myDevice.getName();

returns Galaxy S5.

String deviceName = android.os.Build.MODEL;
returns SM-G900H.

After some research I found the device_name in /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db

so, to get it using shell command

shell@k3g:/ $ settings get system device_name
settings get system device_name
Milky Way

using java

String deviceName = Settings.System.getString(getContentResolver(), "device_name");
returns Milky Way

POC github project https://github.com/kakopappa/getdevcicename

detailed explanation: http://androidbridge.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-to-get-android-device-name-settings.html

edited Sep 27 '16 at 04:05

answered Sep 27 '16 at 03:57

kakopappa

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this was returning a null :( – Lavekush Agrawal Nov 27 '17 at 08:04
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This returns what the user named his device in settings: `settings get global device_name` and in java `Settings.Global.getString(getContentResolver(), "device_name");` – F0r3v3r-A-N00b Oct 16 '18 at 03:49
That shell command returns "null" on Android P (Pixel) despite having set the value in the Settings section of the phone. – Richard Le Mesurier Feb 05 '19 at 12:38
The `Settings.System` method now returns "null" as well. – Richard Le Mesurier Feb 05 '19 at 12:44
thanks for providing this answer interpreting the question as being about the device's user-assigned name, not the device's model name. as others have mentioned, none of the methods here seem to be working with my kindle (android 5.1.1). They return variously `null`, `Fire`, or `KFDOWI`. hm. [android docs](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/Settings.Global.html#DEVICE_NAME) say that device_name was added in API level 25, which apparently means Fire OS 6, so i guess this makes sense. sort of. why is `settings get global device_name` returning anything at all then ? – orion elenzil May 15 '19 at 22:25

score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 26 '17 at 15:46

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This one worked for me on API 25:

Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(), "bluetooth_name");

Here's how to find it... (just replace the name of your device)

$ adb shell
$ settings list system | grep "<device_name>"
$ settings list secure | grep "<device_name>"

answered Jan 26 '17 at 15:46

TheHebrewHammer

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In my version of ADB (1.0.36) in macOS, the settings command does not have a `list` option, just `get` and `put`. – jk7 Feb 15 '17 at 19:15
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Correction: The `settings` shell command on my cheap LG tracfone does not have the `list` option. – jk7 Feb 15 '17 at 19:37
Just to add another variant, my Samsung J2 has the device name in global settings. `settings list global | grep ""` – Sinc Mar 25 '20 at 20:33

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered May 23 '13 at 02:19

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Use:

String deviceName = android.os.Build.MODEL;

answered May 23 '13 at 02:19

ArturSkowronski

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Thanks articles, but that only gives me the phone (SAMSUNG-SGH-I337) name not the one I set in Settings->about device->Device Name. – Chris Whittle May 23 '13 at 02:30
So far I've tried: System.getProperty("net.hostname"); and android.os.Build.MODEL; – Chris Whittle May 23 '13 at 02:41
Dont expect Samsung to follow the same standards set by Google. Its possible they may do things their own way. – Siddharth May 23 '13 at 02:56
This was the same on another device (non samsung) this just gave me the actual Model and not user defined Device Name. – Chris Whittle May 23 '13 at 18:51
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Note that even having a "Settings->About->DeviceName" is a vendor customization, rather than a part of Android itself. – Chris Stratton May 24 '13 at 02:10
It's settings → bluetooth → option menu → rename phone on stock android. – arnt Oct 23 '14 at 12:30

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 16 '21 at 08:32

No of the above mentioned methods work for all devices. If you want a robust way to get user defined device name on almost all Android devices (including TV) and not requiring any permissions use this

String userDeviceName = Settings.Global.getString(getContentResolver(), Settings.Global.DEVICE_NAME);
if(userDeviceName == null)
    userDeviceName = Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(), "bluetooth_name");

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered May 01 '23 at 10:02

The following line worked for me:

String userDeviceName = Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(), "bluetooth_name");

However, I had to ensure that -

The app is running on devices with API level 25 or higher
Bluetooth was turned on at least once after updating the device name. Otherwise, the getString() will only return the old device name.

How do you get the user defined "Device Name" in android?

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