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

Some Improvements in Sudheesh B Nair's answer, i have noticed it will wait for handler even while pressing back twice immediately, so cancel handler as shown below. I have cancled toast also to prevent it to display after app exit.

 boolean doubleBackToExitPressedOnce = false;
        Handler myHandler;
        Runnable myRunnable;
        Toast myToast;

    @Override
        public void onBackPressed() {
            if (doubleBackToExitPressedOnce) {
                myHandler.removeCallbacks(myRunnable);
                myToast.cancel();
                super.onBackPressed();
                return;
            }

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

            myHandler = new Handler();

            myRunnable = new Runnable() {

                @Override
                public void run() {
                    doubleBackToExitPressedOnce = false;
                }
            };
            myHandler.postDelayed(myRunnable, 2000);
        }

Answer 2

Sudheesh B Nair's has a nice (and accepted) answer on the question, which i think should have a better alternative such as;

What's wrong with measuring time passed and checking if TIME_INTERVAL miliseconds (say 2000) passed since the last back press. The following sample code uses System.currentTimeMillis(); to store the time onBackPressed() is called;

private static final int TIME_INTERVAL = 2000; // # milliseconds, desired time passed between two back presses.
private long mBackPressed;

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

    mBackPressed = System.currentTimeMillis();
}

---

Back on accepted answer critique; Using a flag to indicate if it was pressed in last TIME_INTERVAL (say 2000) milliseconds and set - reset is via Handler's postDelayed() method was the first thing to come in my mind. But the postDelayed() action should be cancelled when activity is closing, removing the Runnable.

In order to remove the Runnable, it must not be declared anonymous, and be declared as member along with the Handler aswell. Then removeCallbacks() method of Handler can be called appropriately.

The following sample is the demonstration;

private boolean doubleBackToExitPressedOnce;
private Handler mHandler = new Handler();

private final Runnable mRunnable = new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        doubleBackToExitPressedOnce = false;                       
    }
};

@Override 
protected void onDestroy() 
{ 
    super.onDestroy();

    if (mHandler != null) { mHandler.removeCallbacks(mRunnable); }
}

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

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

    mHandler.postDelayed(mRunnable, 2000);
}

---

Thanks to @NSouth for contributing; In order to prevent toast message appearing even after the application is closed, Toast can be declared as a member - say mExitToast - and can be cancelled via mExitToast.cancel(); just before super.onBackPressed(); call.

Answer 3

boolean doubleBackToExitPressedOnce = false;

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

    this.doubleBackToExitPressedOnce = true;

    Snackbar.make(findViewById(R.id.photo_album_parent_view), "Please click BACK again to exit", Snackbar.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

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

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

Answer 4

When HomeActivity contain navigation drawer and double backPressed() funtion to exit app. (Don't forget to initilize global variable boolean doubleBackToExitPressedOnce = false;) new handler after 2 sec set doubleBackPressedOnce variable to false

@Override
public void onBackPressed() {
    DrawerLayout drawer = findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
    if (drawer.isDrawerOpen(GravityCompat.END)) {
        drawer.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.END);
    } else {
        if (doubleBackToExitPressedOnce) {
            super.onBackPressed();
            moveTaskToBack(true);
            return;
        } else {
            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 5

In java

private Boolean exit = false; 

if (exit) {
onBackPressed(); 
}

---

 @Override
public void onBackPressed() {
    if (exit) {
        finish(); // finish activity
    } else {
        Toast.makeText(this, "Press Back again to Exit.",
                Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        exit = true;
        new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                exit = false;
            }
        }, 3 * 1000);

    }
}

---

in kotlin

 private var exit = false

 if (exit) {
        onBackPressed()
         }

---

 override fun onBackPressed(){
           if (exit){
               finish() // finish activity
           }else{
            Toast.makeText(this, "Press Back again to Exit.",
                    Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
            exit = true
            Handler().postDelayed({ exit = false }, 3 * 1000)

        }
    }

Answer 6

For the activity whose is having Navigation Drawer, Use the following code for OnBackPressed()

boolean doubleBackToExitPressedOnce = false;

@Override
    public void onBackPressed() {
        DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
        if (drawer.isDrawerOpen(GravityCompat.START)) {
            drawer.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
        } else {
            if (doubleBackToExitPressedOnce) {
                if (getFragmentManager().getBackStackEntryCount() ==0) {
                    finishAffinity();
                    System.exit(0);
                } else {
                    getFragmentManager().popBackStackImmediate();
                }
                return;
            }

            if (getFragmentManager().getBackStackEntryCount() ==0) {
                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);
            } else {
                getFragmentManager().popBackStackImmediate();
            }
        }
    }