Android Share Preferences vs Intent extra in order to share data

Question

In my Android Application I have to pass data (Variables regarding the state of the application) from an Activiy to another one. And I have to do this many times in others Activities. What's the best and more efficient way to do this? Should I read that information from the share preferences every time I need it or should I send it as an extra in the intents?

Answer 1

It really just depends on how long you need the data. If you only need it for the lifetime of the application then just pass the data with Intents. This will be the easiest. You can put the data into a Bundle to make passing them around even easier.

If you need it the next time you log in or you need it to be saved if your app is killed for some reason then use SharedPreferences

You also can store it in SharedPreferences and open them up say, in the MainActivity, and pass certain data around. It really just depends on what you need. I hope this helps but if you need a better explanation then please be a little more clear on what you want

In case you aren't familiar with SharedPreferences, the docs have a good example to get you started

SharedPreferences

Answer 2

I think that it depends on why you need this data... If it is some general settings of the application, I think that user preference is better as it persists, but if it is just some data required by the others activities, you should use intent extras.