Performance tips for Activity lifecycle in Android?

To optimize the performance of your Android application, understanding and properly managing the Activity lifecycle is crucial. Here are some tips for improving performance during the different states of an Activity:

  • Use onPause and onResume Wisely: Release resources or stop heavy tasks in onPause, and restart them in onResume. This helps save memory and CPU when your Activity is not in the foreground.
  • Manage Configuration Changes: Handle configuration changes (like screen rotations) efficiently to avoid unnecessary recreation of the Activity. Use the `android:configChanges` attribute in your manifest to manage specific changes without recreating the Activity.
  • Use ViewModels: Implement ViewModels to retain UI-related data across configuration changes. This pattern allows you to avoid re-fetching data during Activity recreations.
  • Async Operations: Offload long-running operations to background threads using AsyncTask, Handlers, or coroutines, keeping the UI responsive.
  • Optimize onCreate: Avoid heavy operations in onCreate. Load essential data first and defer non-critical operations until after the UI is displayed.
  • Use Lifecycle-aware components: Leverage Android Architecture Components to create lifecycle-aware components, which can automatically manage their lifecycle based on the Activity’s state.

By carefully managing the lifecycle of Activities, you can ensure a smooth user experience and better application performance.


Android Activity lifecycle performance optimization ViewModels AsyncTask lifecycle-aware components