Clicking the back button twice to exit an activity

Question

I've noticed this pattern in a lot of Android apps and games recently: when clicking the back button to "exit" the application, a Toast comes up with a message similar to "Please click BACK again to exit".

I was wondering, as I'm seeing it more and more often, is that a built-in feature that you can somehow access in an activity? I've looked at the source code of many classes but I can't seem to find anything about that.

Of course, I can think about a few ways to achieve the same functionality quite easily (the easiest is probably to keep a boolean in the activity that indicates whether the user already clicked once...) but I was wondering if there's something already here.

EDIT: As @LAS_VEGAS mentioned, I didn't really mean "exit" in the traditional meaning. (i.e. terminated) I meant "going back to whatever was open before the application start activity was launched", if that makes sense :)

Answer 1

Based upon the correct answer and suggestions in comments, I have created a demo which works absolutely fine and removes the handler callbacks after being used.

MainActivity.java

package com.mehuljoisar.d_pressbacktwicetoexit;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Handler;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    private static final long delay = 2000L;
    private boolean mRecentlyBackPressed = false;
    private Handler mExitHandler = new Handler();
    private Runnable mExitRunnable = new Runnable() {

        @Override
        public void run() {
            mRecentlyBackPressed=false;   
        }
    };

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBackPressed() {

        //You may also add condition if (doubleBackToExitPressedOnce || fragmentManager.getBackStackEntryCount() != 0) // in case of Fragment-based add
        if (mRecentlyBackPressed) {
            mExitHandler.removeCallbacks(mExitRunnable);
            mExitHandler = null;
            super.onBackPressed();
        }
        else
        {
            mRecentlyBackPressed = true;
            Toast.makeText(this, "press again to exit", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            mExitHandler.postDelayed(mExitRunnable, delay);
        }
    }

}

I hope it will be helpful !!

Answer 2

This also helps when you have previous stack activity stored in stack.

I have modified Sudheesh's answer

boolean doubleBackToExitPressedOnce = false;

@Override
public void onBackPressed() {
    if (doubleBackToExitPressedOnce) {
        //super.onBackPressed();

  Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
                    intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
                    intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);//***Change Here***
                    startActivity(intent);
                    finish();
                    System.exit(0);
        return;
    }

    this.doubleBackToExitPressedOnce = true;
    Toast.makeText(this, "Please click BACK again to exit", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

    new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable() {

        @Override
        public void run() {
            doubleBackToExitPressedOnce=false;                       
        }
    }, 2000);
} 

Answer 3

A slightly better method than Zefnus I think. Call System.currentTimeMillis() just one time and omit return; :

long previousTime;

@Override
public void onBackPressed()
{
    if (2000 + previousTime > (previousTime = System.currentTimeMillis())) 
    { 
        super.onBackPressed();
    } else {
        Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Tap back button in order to exit", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
}

Answer 4

1. Declare a global Toast variable for MainActivity Class. example: Toast exitToast;
2. Initialize it in onCreate view method. example: exitToast = Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Press back again to exit", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);

3. Finally create a onBackPressedMethod as Follows:

   @Override
   public void onBackPressed() {
   
       if (exitToast.getView().isShown()) {
           exitToast.cancel();
           finish();
       } else {
           exitToast.show();
       }
   }
   

This works correctly, i have tested. and I think this is much simpler.

Answer 5

I know this is a very old question, but this is the easiest way to do what you want.

@Override
public void onBackPressed() {
   ++k; //initialise k when you first start your activity.
   if(k==1){
      //do whatever you want to do on first click for example:
      Toast.makeText(this, "Press back one more time to exit", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
   }else{
      //do whatever you want to do on the click after the first for example:
      finish(); 
   }
}

I know this isn't the best method, but it works fine!

Answer 6

Process Flow Diagram:

Java Code:

private long lastPressedTime;
private static final int PERIOD = 2000;

@Override
public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    if (event.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK) {
        switch (event.getAction()) {
        case KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN:
            if (event.getDownTime() - lastPressedTime < PERIOD) {
                finish();
            } else {
                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Press again to exit.",
                        Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                lastPressedTime = event.getEventTime();
            }
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}