Question: I am keeping some application meta data in `SharedPreferences`. Whenever I uninstall the application and reinstall it, the `SharedPreferences` are deleted.

Is there any way to get that to remain, so that if the user does an uninstall and reinstall, they can recover their old data?

Answer: 
You should add a `BackupAgentHelper` to your app. Together with the `SharedPreferenceBackupHelper`, it backups the `SharedPreferences` to the cloud (if the device supports it). When the app is reinstalled the data is restored.

See: 

[BackupAgentHelper](http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/backup/BackupAgentHelper.html)

[SharedPreferenceHelper (contains all the code you need to implement it)](http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/backup/SharedPreferencesBackupHelper.html)

[general Backup guide](http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/backup.html)
As edthethird said: best lay physical files on device external storage and read them on installation.
If the file content needs to be hidden from users just perform a simple encryption/decryption process.