Handling Orientation Changes on Android

Android orientation changes are one of the most frustrating challenges for mobile engineers. When users rotate their device, Android destroys and recreates your Activities and Fragments, wiping out all member variables in the process.

Hootsuite's engineering team breaks down the proper way to handle screen rotations on Android. This deep dive covers the lifecycle callbacks, state management patterns, and common pitfalls that lead to memory leaks and crashes.

Key Takeaways

• Avoid configChanges flag: prevents resource reloading and alternate layouts
• Save state in onSaveInstanceState, restore in onCreate or onActivityCreated
• Use retained Fragments to host AsyncTasks and prevent task cancellation
• Memory leaks occur when AsyncTasks hold references to destroyed Activities
• Check savedInstanceState for null before instantiating Fragments to avoid duplicates

The article reveals a specific pattern using retained Fragments and interface callbacks that lets AsyncTasks survive orientation changes without leaking memory.