Where is a Mac Application's NSUserDefaults Data Stored?

objective-c macos cocoa plist nsuserdefaults
ahmadbaig picture ahmadbaig · Nov 2, 2011 · Viewed 31.8k times · Source

I am using NSUserDefaults to store some data in my application.

NSUserDefaults *prefs = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
[prefs setObject:@"dummy string" forKey:@"lastValue"];
[prefs synchronize];

For testing purposes I need to see the System Preferences plist file where my NSUserDefaults data is saving on the Mac.

I know where the iOS application user defaults are stored, but I don't know about mac application. Where is a Mac Application's NSUserDefaults Data Stored?

Answer

erkanyildiz picture erkanyildiz · Sep 28, 2012

They can be found in more than one place:

~/Library/Preferences/com.example.myapp.plist
~/Library/SyncedPreferences/com.example.myapp.plist

and if sandboxed

~/Library/Containers/com.example.myapp/Data/Library/Preferences/com.example.myapp.plist
~/Library/Containers/com.example.myapp/Data/Library/SyncedPreferences/com.example.myapp.plist

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