153

How can I use UserDefaults to save/retrieve strings, booleans and other data in Swift?

swiftBoy
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Mithun Ravindran
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    I am reopening this question because it can server as a good general question on this topic. The accepted answer is also more clear than the [previous marked duplicate](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25420651/store-string-in-nsuserdefaults), which was also more specific than this question. – Suragch Nov 30 '17 at 02:00
  • https://stackoverflow.com/a/53587688/6630644 – SPatel Dec 03 '18 at 12:49
  • I think this question is available in stack overflow you should search before add question here – Yogesh Patel May 31 '19 at 17:32

14 Answers14

403

ref: NSUserdefault objectTypes

Swift 3 and above

Store

UserDefaults.standard.set(true, forKey: "Key") //Bool
UserDefaults.standard.set(1, forKey: "Key")  //Integer
UserDefaults.standard.set("TEST", forKey: "Key") //setObject

Retrieve

 UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "Key")
 UserDefaults.standard.integer(forKey: "Key")
 UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: "Key")

Remove

 UserDefaults.standard.removeObject(forKey: "Key")

Remove all Keys

 if let appDomain = Bundle.main.bundleIdentifier {
UserDefaults.standard.removePersistentDomain(forName: appDomain)
 }

Swift 2 and below

Store

NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject(newValue, forKey: "yourkey")
NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().synchronize()

Retrieve

  var returnValue: [NSString]? = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().objectForKey("yourkey") as? [NSString]

Remove

 NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().removeObjectForKey("yourkey")


Register

registerDefaults: adds the registrationDictionary to the last item in every search list. This means that after NSUserDefaults has looked for a value in every other valid location, it will look in registered defaults, making them useful as a "fallback" value. Registered defaults are never stored between runs of an application, and are visible only to the application that registers them.

Default values from Defaults Configuration Files will automatically be registered.

for example detect the app from launch , create the struct for save launch

struct DetectLaunch {
static let keyforLaunch = "validateFirstlunch"
static var isFirst: Bool {
    get {
        return UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: keyforLaunch)
    }
    set {
        UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: keyforLaunch)
    }
}
}

Register default values on app launch:

UserDefaults.standard.register(defaults: [
        DetectLaunch.isFirst: true
    ])

remove the value on app termination:

func applicationWillTerminate(_ application: UIApplication) {
    DetectLaunch.isFirst = false

}

and check the condition as

if DetectLaunch.isFirst {
  // app launched from first
}

UserDefaults suite name

another one property suite name, mostly its used for App Groups concept, the example scenario I taken from here :

The use case is that I want to separate my UserDefaults (different business logic may require Userdefaults to be grouped separately) by an identifier just like Android's SharedPreferences. For example, when a user in my app clicks on logout button, I would want to clear his account related defaults but not location of the the device.

let user = UserDefaults(suiteName:"User")

use of userDefaults synchronize, the detail info has added in the duplicate answer.

Anbu.Karthik
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51

Best way to use UserDefaults

Steps

  1. Create extension of UserDefaults
  2. Create enum with required Keys to store in local
  3. Store and retrieve the local data wherever you want

Sample

extension UserDefaults{

    //MARK: Check Login
    func setLoggedIn(value: Bool) {
        set(value, forKey: UserDefaultsKeys.isLoggedIn.rawValue)
        //synchronize()
    }

    func isLoggedIn()-> Bool {
        return bool(forKey: UserDefaultsKeys.isLoggedIn.rawValue)
    }

    //MARK: Save User Data
    func setUserID(value: Int){
        set(value, forKey: UserDefaultsKeys.userID.rawValue)
        //synchronize()
    }

    //MARK: Retrieve User Data
    func getUserID() -> Int{
        return integer(forKey: UserDefaultsKeys.userID.rawValue)
    }
}

enum for Keys used to store data

enum UserDefaultsKeys : String {
    case isLoggedIn
    case userID
}

Save in UserDefaults where you want

UserDefaults.standard.setLoggedIn(value: true)          // String
UserDefaults.standard.setUserID(value: result.User.id!) // String

Retrieve data anywhere in app

print("ID : \(UserDefaults.standard.getUserID())")
UserDefaults.standard.getUserID()

Remove Values

UserDefaults.standard.removeObject(forKey: UserDefaultsKeys.userID) 

This way you can store primitive data in best

Update You need no use synchronize() to store the values. As @Moritz pointed out the it unnecessary and given the article about it.Check comments for more detail

iSrinivasan27
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  • You don't need `synchronize()`, it's explained in the documentation. It's not only useless here but could slow down the defaults access. – Eric Aya Jan 18 '18 at 13:10
  • Yes it's mentioned in doc. Once the default data is changed it will save automatically but in some cases your values might not store i.e asynchronous. So i thought its better to sync. – iSrinivasan27 Jan 18 '18 at 13:41
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    It's not better - it's even the source of issues sometimes. Do not use sync, it's obsolete and problematic. See http://www.codingexplorer.com/nsuserdefaults-a-swift-introduction/ notably the "update" part. I also ran many tests about this and removed all calls to sync in all my apps and never had an issue even in dire situations. But hey, if you like useless stuff that can slow down your app, call sync... sure... ;) – Eric Aya Jan 18 '18 at 14:08
  • It's really helpful. I have commented sync(). Using sync() is based on needed. – iSrinivasan27 Jan 19 '18 at 05:03
  • hii how to save data in nsuserdefaults in a seperate file in swift – Dilip Tiwari Dec 24 '18 at 10:22
16

Swift 4 :

Store

    UserDefaults.standard.set(object/value, forKey: "key_name")

Retrive

    var returnValue: [datatype]? = UserDefaults.standard.object(forKey: "key_name") as? [datatype]

Remove

    UserDefaults.standard.removeObject(forKey:"key_name") 
drewster
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Nikunj Joshi
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3

I would say Anbu's answer perfectly fine but I had to add guard while fetching preferences to make my program doesn't fail

Here is the updated code snip in Swift 5

Storing data in UserDefaults

@IBAction func savePreferenceData(_ sender: Any) {
        print("Storing data..")
        UserDefaults.standard.set("RDC", forKey: "UserName") //String
        UserDefaults.standard.set("TestPass", forKey: "Passowrd")  //String
        UserDefaults.standard.set(21, forKey: "Age")  //Integer

    }

Fetching data from UserDefaults

    @IBAction func fetchPreferenceData(_ sender: Any) {
        print("Fetching data..")

        //added guard
        guard let uName = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: "UserName") else { return }
        print("User Name is :"+uName)
        print(UserDefaults.standard.integer(forKey: "Age"))
    }
Hardik Vyas
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swiftBoy
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2
//Save
NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().setObject("yourString", forKey: "YourStringKey")

//retrive
let yourStr : AnyObject? = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().objectForKey("YourStringKey")
Dharmesh Kheni
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2

You can use NSUserDefaults in swift this way,

@IBAction func writeButton(sender: UIButton)
{
    let defaults = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults()
    defaults.setObject("defaultvalue", forKey: "userNameKey")

}

@IBAction func readButton(sender: UIButton)
{
    let defaults = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults()
    let name = defaults.stringForKey("userNameKey")
    println(name) //Prints defaultvalue in console
}
DHEERAJ
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    The first version of this post said to use the `synchronize()` command for `NSUserDefaults` to make sure your stuff is saved after doing a block of changes. This might have been more necessary in iOS 7 and earlier, **but in iOS 8 and on, you should not call synchronize() in most situations.** Check this for more Info: http://www.codingexplorer.com/nsuserdefaults-a-swift-introduction/ – Dharmesh Kheni Jul 03 '15 at 09:58
2

Swift 5 and above:

let defaults = UserDefaults.standard

defaults.set(25, forKey: "Age")
let savedInteger = defaults.integer(forKey: "Age")

defaults.set(true, forKey: "UseFaceID")
let savedBoolean = defaults.bool(forKey: "UseFaceID")

defaults.set(CGFloat.pi, forKey: "Pi")
defaults.set("Your Name", forKey: "Name")
defaults.set(Date(), forKey: "LastRun")


let array = ["Hello", "World"]
defaults.set(array, forKey: "SavedArray")


let savedArray = defaults.object(forKey: "SavedArray") as? [String] ?? [String()

let dict = ["Name": "Your", "Country": "YourCountry"]
defaults.set(dict, forKey: "SavedDict")

let savedDictionary = defaults.object(forKey: "SavedDictionary") as? [String: String] ?? [String: String]()

:)

Milo
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Xab Ion
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2

UserDefault+Helper.swift

import UIKit

private enum Defaults: String {
   case countryCode = "countryCode"
   case userloginId   = "userloginid"
}

final class UserDefaultHelper {

static var countryCode: String? {
    set{
        _set(value: newValue, key: .countryCode)
    } get {
        return _get(valueForKay: .countryCode) as? String ?? ""
    }
}

static var userloginId: String? {
    set{
        _set(value: newValue, key: .userloginId)
    } get {
        return _get(valueForKay: .userloginId) as? String ?? ""
    }
}

private static func _set(value: Any?, key: Defaults) {
    UserDefaults.standard.set(value, forKey: key.rawValue)
}

private static func _get(valueForKay key: Defaults)-> Any? {
    return UserDefaults.standard.value(forKey: key.rawValue)
}

static func deleteCountryCode() {
    UserDefaults.standard.removeObject(forKey: Defaults.countryCode.rawValue)
 }

static func deleteUserLoginId() {
    UserDefaults.standard.removeObject(forKey: Defaults.userloginId.rawValue)
 }
}

Usage:

Save Value:

UserDefaultHelper.userloginId = data["user_id"] as? String

Fetch Value:

let userloginid = UserDefaultHelper.userloginId

Delete Value:

UserDefaultHelper.deleteUserLoginId()
Mannam Brahmam
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1

I saved NSDictionary normally and able to get it correctly.

 dictForaddress = placemark.addressDictionary! as NSDictionary
        let userDefaults = UserDefaults.standard
        userDefaults.set(dictForaddress, forKey:Constants.kAddressOfUser)

// For getting data from NSDictionary.

let userDefaults = UserDefaults.standard
    let dictAddress = userDefaults.object(forKey: Constants.kAddressOfUser) as! NSDictionary
Chandni
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1
class UserDefaults_FavoriteQuote {
    static let key = "appname.favoriteQuote"

    static var value: String? {
        get {
            return UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: key)
        }
        set {
            if newValue != nil {
                UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: key)
            } else {
                UserDefaults.standard.removeObject(forKey: key)
            }
        }
    }
}
neoneye
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0

In class A, set value for key:

let text = "hai"  
UserDefaults.standard.setValue(text, forKey: "textValue")

In class B, get the value for the text using the key which declared in class A and assign it to respective variable which you need:

var valueOfText  = UserDefaults.value(forKey: "textValue")
vonaka
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0

Swift 4, I have used Enum for handling UserDefaults.

This is just a sample code. You can customize it as per your requirements.

For Storing, Retrieving, Removing. In this way just add a key for your UserDefaults key to the enum. Handle values while getting and storing according to dataType and your requirements.

enum UserDefaultsConstant : String {
    case AuthToken, FcmToken

    static let defaults = UserDefaults.standard


   //Store
    func setValue(value : Any) {
        switch self {
        case .AuthToken,.FcmToken:
            if let _ = value as? String {
                UserDefaults.standard.set(value, forKey: self.rawValue)
            }
            break
        }

        UserDefaults.standard.synchronize()
    }

   //Retrieve
    func getValue() -> Any? {
        switch self {
        case .AuthToken:
            if(UserDefaults.standard.value(forKey: UserDefaultsConstant.AuthToken.rawValue) != nil) {

                return "Bearer "+(UserDefaults.standard.value(forKey: UserDefaultsConstant.AuthToken.rawValue) as! String)
            }
            else {
                return ""
            }

        case .FcmToken:

            if(UserDefaults.standard.value(forKey: UserDefaultsConstant.FcmToken.rawValue) != nil) {
                print(UserDefaults.standard.value(forKey: UserDefaultsConstant.FcmToken.rawValue))
                return (UserDefaults.standard.value(forKey: UserDefaultsConstant.FcmToken.rawValue) as! String)
            }
            else {
                return ""
            }
        }
    }

    //Remove
    func removeValue() {
        UserDefaults.standard.removeObject(forKey: self.rawValue)
        UserDefaults.standard.synchronize()
    }
}

For storing a value in userdefaults,

if let authToken = resp.data?.token {
     UserDefaultsConstant.AuthToken.setValue(value: authToken)
    }

For retrieving a value from userdefaults,

//As AuthToken value is a string
    (UserDefaultsConstant.AuthToken.getValue() as! String)
Pramod More
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0

I have Created my Custom Functions for Store Data in Userdefualts

 //******************* REMOVE NSUSER DEFAULT *******************
 func removeUserDefault(key:String) {
  UserDefaults.standard.removeObject(forKey: key);
 }

 //******************* SAVE STRING IN USER DEFAULT *******************
 func saveInDefault(value:Any,key:String) {
  UserDefaults.standard.setValue(value, forKey: key);
  UserDefaults.standard.synchronize();
 }


//******************* FETCH STRING FROM USER DEFAULT *******************
func fetchString(key:String)->AnyObject {
if (UserDefaults.standard.object(forKey: key) != nil) {
    return UserDefaults.standard.value(forKey: key)! as AnyObject;
}
 else {
    return "" as AnyObject;
}
 }
Imran Rasheed
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-1

use UserDefault to store any settings value you want your application to remember between start ups, maybe you want to know ifs its been started before, maybe you want some values the user has set to be remembers so they don't have to be set very time, on Mac windows frames are stored in there for you, maybe you want to control the behaviour of the app, but you don't want it available to end users, you just want to choose just before your release. Be careful what you store in UserDefaults, it's not protected.

Nathan Day
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