how to find out if code is running on the emulator?

[Ulf Dittmer]

I've seen various suggestions how code can find out whether it runs on the emulator, but none are quite satisfactory, or "future-proof". For the time being I've settled on reading the device ID, which is all zeros for the emulator:

TelephonyManager telmgr = (TelephonyManager) getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
boolean isEmulator = "000000000000000".equals(telmgr.getDeviceId());

But on a deployed app that requires the READ_PHONE_STATE permission, which otherwise wouldn't be necessary, and which may make people suspicious what the app is up to. What other techniques are people using? Is there a better solution?

[Monu Tripathi]

I've seen various suggestions how code can find out whether it runs on the emulator, but none are quite satisfactory, or "future-proof".

Though I have not programmed conditionally like this before, AFAIK, there isn't any "advertised" field that makes this distinction. So, I guess it is safe to assume and say that none of the options found elsewhere are future proof. In absence of such a field, one has to resort to idiosyncrasies of the emulator which makes it different from the actual device. Device Id is one such thing.

But on a deployed app that requires the READ_PHONE_STATE permission, which otherwise wouldn't be necessary, and which may make people suspicious what the app is up to. What other techniques are people using? Is there a better solution?

If "better" solution, in your case, is finding a property that does not require a permission, see this thread.

[Ulf Dittmer]

Thanks, that is a better solution. It returns null for the emulator, and an actual ID for a real device; I'm not sure why it doesn't work for the guy in that discussion.