Best way to check if an iPhone app is running for the first time

Question

I want to check if my iPhone app is running for the first time. I can create a file in the documents folder and check that file to see if this is the first time the app is running, but I wanted to know if there is a better way to do this.

Answer 1

I like to use NSUserDefaults to store an indication of the the first run.

NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];  
if (![defaults objectForKey:@"firstRun"])
  [defaults setObject:[NSDate date] forKey:@"firstRun"];

[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] synchronize];

You can then test for it later...

NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];        
if([defaults objectForKey:@"firstRun"])           
{
  // do something or not...
}