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Android

Posted by Akshay Shivpuri
Akshay Shivpuri
2,917 Points

activity lifecycle in Android

When we launch a simple android app and click on the back button then the onPause() method gets invoked followed by onStop() and onDestroy() method. But when we click on the Home button when the app is active then only onPause() and onStop() method gets called. Why doesn't the onDestroy() method gets called then?

1 Answer

Andrew Pham
Andrew Pham
3,492 Points
Andrew Pham
Andrew Pham
3,492 Points

I believe it is a design decision of Android. It allows users more control over the device. It's assumed that when you press home, you may just need to get to your home screen quickly and come back to the app later. Pressing the back button is a bit more direct and is assumed to mean you want to exit the application.

This feature works in favour of big games, during the middle of a game you may need to quickly text your friend or do some quick action with another app (requiring you to go back home), you can press home then resume the game alter without having to initialise the whole thing again.