Android: How to programmatically access the device serial number shown in the AVD manager (API Version 8)

AndroidSerial Number

Android Problem Overview

How do I programmatically access the value shown in the image below ?

enter image description here

Android Solutions

Solution 1 - Android

This is the hardware serial number. To access it on

  • Android Q (>= SDK 29) android.Manifest.permission.READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE is required. Only system apps can require this permission. If the calling package is the device or profile owner then the READ_PHONE_STATE permission suffices.

  • Android 8 and later (>= SDK 26) use android.os.Build.getSerial() which requires the dangerous permission READ_PHONE_STATE. Using android.os.Build.SERIAL returns android.os.Build.UNKNOWN.

  • Android 7.1 and earlier (<= SDK 25) and earlier android.os.Build.SERIAL does return a valid serial.

It's unique for any device. If you are looking for possibilities on how to get/use a unique device id you should read here.

For a solution involving reflection without requiring a permission see this answer.

Solution 2 - Android

Up to Android 7.1 (SDK 25)

Until Android 7.1 you will get it with:

Build.SERIAL
From Android 8 (SDK 26)

On Android 8 (SDK 26) and above, this field will return UNKNOWN and must be accessed with:

Build.getSerial()

which requires the dangerous permission android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE.

From Android Q (SDK 29)

Since Android Q using Build.getSerial() gets a bit more complicated by requiring:

android.Manifest.permission.READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE (which can only be acquired by system apps), or for the calling package to be the device or profile owner and have the READ_PHONE_STATE permission. This means most apps won't be able to uses this feature. See the Android Q announcement from Google.

See Android SDK reference

Best Practice for Unique Device Identifier

If you just require a unique identifier, it's best to avoid using hardware identifiers as Google continuously tries to make it harder to access them for privacy reasons. You could just generate a UUID.randomUUID().toString(); and save it the first time it needs to be accessed in e.g. shared preferences. Alternatively you could use ANDROID_ID which is a 8 byte long hex string unique to the device, user and (only Android 8+) app installation. For more info on that topic, see Best practices for unique identifiers.

Solution 3 - Android

Build.SERIAL can be empty or sometimes return a different value (proof 1, proof 2) than what you can see in your device's settings.

If you want a more complete and robust solution, I've compiled every possible solution I could found in a single gist. Here's a simplified version of it :

public static String getSerialNumber() {
    String serialNumber;

    try {
        Class<?> c = Class.forName("android.os.SystemProperties");
        Method get = c.getMethod("get", String.class);

        serialNumber = (String) get.invoke(c, "gsm.sn1");
        if (serialNumber.equals(""))
            serialNumber = (String) get.invoke(c, "ril.serialnumber");
        if (serialNumber.equals(""))
            serialNumber = (String) get.invoke(c, "ro.serialno");
        if (serialNumber.equals(""))
            serialNumber = (String) get.invoke(c, "sys.serialnumber");
        if (serialNumber.equals(""))
            serialNumber = Build.SERIAL;

        // If none of the methods above worked
        if (serialNumber.equals(""))
            serialNumber = null;
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        serialNumber = null;
    }

    return serialNumber;
}

I try to update the gist regularly whenever I can test on a new device or Android version. Contributions are welcome too.

Solution 4 - Android

From Android P, defining the READ_PHONE_STATE permission in AndroidManifest only, will not work. We have to actually request for the permission. Below code works for me:

@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.P)
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
        ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this, new String[]{Manifest.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE}, 101);
    }
}

@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.O)
@Override
protected void onResume() {
    super.onResume();
    if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
        return;
    }
    Log.d(TAG,Build.getSerial());
}
@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.O)
@Override
public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, String[] permissions, int[] grantResults) {
    switch (requestCode) {
        case 101:
            if (grantResults[0] == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
            if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
                return;
            }
        } else {
            //not granted
        }
        break;
        default:
            super.onRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
    }
}

Add this permissions in AndroidManifest.xml

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

Hope this helps.

Thank You, MJ

Solution 5 - Android

I like my solution:

/**
 * Checks some permission
 *
 * @return true - If have any of the permissions sent by parameter
 * @return true - If you do not have any of the permissions sent by parameter
 */
fun Context.hasPermissionSome(vararg permissions: String): Boolean {
    permissions.forEach { permission ->
        if (hasPermission(permission)) {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

@CheckResult
fun validateValue(value: String?, valueToCompare: String? = null): Boolean {
    if (!value.isNullOrEmpty() && value != Build.UNKNOWN && value != valueToCompare)
        return true

    return false
}

/**
 * @see: https://developer.android.com/about/versions/10/privacy/changes#data-ids
 *
 * Retrieve SerialNumber with system commands:
 *   adb shell getprop ro.serialno
 *   adb shell getprop ro.boot.serialno
 *   adb shell getprop ril.serialnumber
 * @return device Serial Number obtained with SystemProperties
 */
@SuppressLint("PrivateApi")
private fun serialNumberBySysProp(): String? {
    var sn: String? = null

    val readPhonePermissions = arrayOf(
        Manifest.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE,
        "android.permission.READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE"
    )

    if (!this.context.hasPermissionSome(*readPhonePermissions))
        return sn

    try {
        val systemProps = Class.forName("android.os.SystemProperties")
        val getProp = systemProps.getMethod("get", String::class.java)
        
        // 1ª tentativa
        sn = getProp("ril.serialnumber") as String?
        if (validateValue(sn)) {
            return sn
        }

        // 2ª tentativa
        sn = getProp("ro.serialno") as String?
        if (validateValue(sn)) {
            return sn
        }

        // 3ª tentativa
        sn = getProp("ro.boot.serialno") as String?
        if (validateValue(sn)) {
            return sn
        }

        // 4ª tentativa
        sn = getProp("sys.serialnumber") as String?
        if (validateValue(sn)) {
            return sn
        }

    } catch (e: Exception) { }

    return if (validateValue(sn))
        sn
    else
        null
}

/**
 * @return device Serial Number obtained with Build Class
 */
@SuppressLint("HardwareIds")
private fun serialNumberByBuild(): String? {
    var sn: String? = null
    MediaDrm.PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNIQUE_ID
    if (!this.context.hasPermissionSome(
            Manifest.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE,
            "android.permission.READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE"
        ))
        return sn

    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.Q) {
        sn = Build.getSerial()
    } else if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
        sn = Build.getSerial()
    } else if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT <= Build.VERSION_CODES.N_MR1) {
        sn = Build.getSerial()

        if (!validateValue(sn))
            sn = Build.SERIAL
    }

    return if (validateValue(sn))
        sn
    else
        null
}

val serialNumber: String
    @SuppressLint("HardwareIds", "PrivateApi", "MissingPermission", "StaticFieldLeak")
    get() {
        var serial: String = serialNumberByBuild() ?: ""

        if (!validateValue(serial)) {
            serial = serialNumberBySysProp() ?: ""
        }

        return serial
    }

Add this permissions in AndroidManifest.xml

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE" />
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Attributions

All content for this solution is sourced from the original question on Stackoverflow.

The content on this page is licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestionHeshan PereraView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - AndroidthaussmaView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - AndroidPatrick FavreView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - AndroidMickäel A.View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - AndroidMMJView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - AndroidAndrè StraubeView Answer on Stackoverflow