Android back button behaviour
android, android-activity, ondestroy, onpause, onresume
Solution
http://developer.android.com/training/basics/activity-lifecycle/recreating.html
This is a subchapter from the official Android documentation that addresses your question. It is a subchapter of the topic `Managing the Activity Lifecycle`, which can be read here: http://developer.android.com/training/basics/activity-lifecycle/index.html
It is definitely worth reading the whole chapter to get to know the details about Androids Activity behaviour. But the subchapter ( first link ) is the relevant part to this question.
Problem
Let's say we have a default, empty activity with default behaviour, launched with default intent flags. User presses back button on the device. The activity disappear... but how, actually? - Is pressing back button behaving the same way like `finish()`? - Is the activity immedietely destroyed (`onDestroy` is called)? - Is the activity guaranteed to be destroyed, but not immedietely? - Is there any chance the activity won't be destroyed and this instance will be reused when this activity is launched in the future? (so only `onPause` and `onStop` -> `onStart` and `onResume` are called?) I'm looking for a reliable answer, so please do not answer if you are not absolutely sure what happens here.