[Question]: How to change OneSignal App ID at runtime on Android?

[murattarslan]

How can we help?

We have an Android app where the active OneSignal App ID needs to change at runtime (based on user selection).
Calling:
OneSignal.initWithContext(context)
does not switch the subscription to the new App ID unless the app process is fully restarted.
Question:
Why is it not possible to change the OneSignal App ID at runtime, and what is the correct supported way to do this on Android?
Is a full process restart required, or is there an SDK-level method to properly re-initialize OneSignal with a new App ID?

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[michael-winkler]

I asked the same here:

#2184 (comment)

I still want this Feature too, to change the App ID because we use a live and testsystem.

We do not want to get notifications from live when we run the app as build type "test" as example.

@jkasten2

[jinliu9508]

@murattarslan Thanks for the question! The OneSignal Android SDK isn’t designed to change the App ID at runtime. The App ID is meant to be set once per app install, and several internal components assume a single, consistent App ID. Because of this, calling OneSignal.initWithContext again won’t fully re-initialize the SDK, and switching App IDs without a full app process restart isn’t supported.

It would help to know more about your use case. Since you mentioned user selection, you may be able to achieve your goal using External IDs or tags, which let you segment or identify users without changing the App ID itself.

If you can share a bit more about the scenario, we can recommend the best supported approach.

[murattarslan]

Hello,

Do you remember the existence of a function called "setAppId" in previous versions? Was there any improvement with this function, or was this property never added? Maybe there was a cancellation for different reasons. If anyone has any information about this, I would be very happy to share it. I understand that technology is constantly evolving and that there may be such changes. But I wondered because I had a memory of this function's past existence. Thank you in advance for your help.

[jinliu9508]

@murattarslan I don’t recall there ever being a stable setAppId method in the core OneSignal Android SDK that lets you switch the App ID at runtime. There have been historic mentions of setAppId in older wrapper SDKs (Flutter, React Native, Cordova) or older issues where people tried to update the App ID dynamically, but those were not formal, supported APIs in the Android SDK and often had bugs associated with them.

If you’re looking to achieve different behavior (for example, based on user selection), rather than switching the OneSignal App ID at runtime (which isn’t supported), you might be able to solve your use case using:

• Tags — to segment users or customize notification logic, or
• External IDs — to tie OneSignal users to your own user identities, which works well for targeting and personalization without changing the underlying App ID.

Can you share a bit more about your use case to switch App IDs at runtime? With that I can suggest the best supported pattern using tags or external IDs.