A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device , a request to execute an application (124Aa-An); determining, by the computing device a current user of the computing device; determining, by the computing device, a reset state variable of the application, wherein the reset state variable is indicative of a value which changes each time the current user requests that state information of the application associated with the current user is reset; generating, by the computing device, a unique identifier that does not include personally identifiable information for the current user, wherein generating the unique identifier is based on: the current user of the computing device, the reset state variable, and an application identifier for the application, sending, by the computing device and to an application service provider , the unique identifier and one or more requests for information; receiving, by the computing device and from the application service provider, state information for the application based on the unique identifier,; and configuring, based on the received state information, the application, wherein the state information includes one or more of information about a current state of the application, historical application usage information of the current user for the application, and user preference information of the user for the application, and configuring the application comprises updating the respective one or more of information about a current state of the application, historical application usage information of the current user for the application, and user preference information of the user for the application based on the received state information. receiving, by a computing device , a request to execute an application (124Aa-An); determining, by the computing device a current user of the computing device; determining, by the computing device, a reset state variable of the application, wherein the reset state variable is indicative of a value which changes each time the current user requests that state information of the application associated with the current user is reset; generating, by the computing device, a unique identifier that does not include personally identifiable information for the current user, wherein generating the unique identifier is based on: the current user of the computing device, the reset state variable, and an application identifier for the application, the current user of the computing device, the reset state variable, and an application identifier for the application, sending, by the computing device and to an application service provider , the unique identifier and one or more requests for information; receiving, by the computing device and from the application service provider, state information for the application based on the unique identifier,; and configuring, based on the received state information, the application, wherein the state information includes one or more of information about a current state of the application, historical application usage information of the current user for the application, and user preference information of the user for the application, and configuring the application comprises updating the respective one or more of information about a current state of the application, historical application usage information of the current user for the application, and user preference information of the user for the application based on the received state information. <EOS>