What are the differences between activity and fragment?

Question

As per my research, there is a significant difference in the concept of backstack and how they exist:

Activity

When an activity is placed to the backstack of activities the user can navigate back to the previous activity by just pressing the back button.
Activity can exist independently.

Fragment

When an fragment is placed to the activity we have to request the instance to be saved by calling addToBackstack() during the fragment transaction.
Fragment has to live inside the activity

Are there any additional differences?

Fragments do not need to be declared in the manifest. We have nested fragments but we cannot have nested activties — hoomi, Sep 13 '14 at 11:21
Related post - [Android - I need some clarifications of fragments vs activities and views](https://stackoverflow.com/q/10478233/465053) & [Dilemma: when to use Fragments vs Activities:](https://stackoverflow.com/q/20306091/465053) — RBT, Aug 14 '18 at 09:07

score 68 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 16 '21 at 07:44

68

Those are two completely different things:

An Activity is an application component that provides a screen, with which users can interact in order to do something. More details: https://developer.android.com/guide/components/activities/intro-activities

Whereas a Fragment represents a behavior or a portion of user interface in an Activity. https://developer.android.com/guide/fragments

edited Feb 16 '21 at 07:44

Nazifha

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answered Sep 13 '14 at 11:37

Юрій Мазуревич

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siddhartha shankar · Answer 2 · 2021-12-25T09:14:19.357

56

Main Differences between Activity and Fragment

Activity is an application component that gives a user interface where the user can interact. The fragment is a part of an activity, which contributes its own UI to that activity.
For Tablet or if mobile is in landscape then Using fragment we can show two lists like the only list for show the state name and other lists will show the state description in single activity but using Activity we can't do the same thing.
Activity is not dependent on fragment.but The fragment is dependent on Activity, it can't exist independently.
without using fragment in Activity we can't create multi-pane UI. but using multiple fragments in a single activity we can create multi-pane UI.
If we create a project using only Activity then its difficult to manage but if we use fragments then the project structure will be good and we can handle it easily.
An activity may contain 0 or multiple numbers of fragments. A fragment can be reused in multiple activities, so it acts like a reusable component in activities.
Lifecycle methods are hosted by OS. The activity has its own life cycle. Lifecycle methods in fragments are hosted by hosting the activity.
For Activity, we just need to mention in Manifest but for fragment its not required.
Activity is not lite weight. The fragment is the lite weight.

edited Dec 25 '21 at 09:14

answered Jul 22 '17 at 08:10

siddhartha shankar

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Nice explanation. – Abhishek kumar Apr 11 '19 at 07:57
Can someone elaborate on #10. What makes fragment lightweight compared to activity? – dazzieta Mar 05 '20 at 09:23
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#7 doesn't make sense :-\ – t3chb0t Nov 07 '20 at 18:49
@t3chb0t each of them have their own lifecycle events. For #9, how can it be that fragment uses no memory? There must be some footprint there? – Chucky Feb 03 '21 at 10:15
Activity is not lightweight because --> It's a god object. If you're using AppCompatActivity the it inherit everything from FragmentActivity, Activity, ContextThemeWrapper, ContextWrapper and Context. While Fragment doesn't have extend any class – Dhaval Patel Jul 13 '21 at 13:08

score 29 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 07 '20 at 13:46

Activity is the UI of an application through which user can interact and Fragment is the part of the Activity,it is an sub-Activity inside activity which has its own Life Cycle which runs parallel to the Activities Life Cycle.

Activity LifeCycle                           Fragment LifeCycle
onCreate()                                     onAttach()
    |                                              |
onStart()______onRestart()                     onCreate()
    |             |                                |
onResume()        |                            onCreateView()
    |             |                                |
onPause()         |                            onActivityCreated()
    |             |                                |
onStop()__________|                             onStart()
    |                                              |
onDestroy()                                    onResume()
                                                   |
                                                onPause()
                                                   |
                                                onStop()
                                                   |
                                              onDestroyView()
                                                   |
                                               onDestroy()
                                                   |
                                               onDetach()

score 25 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

As per the android developer documentation, difference between fragment & activity in their life cycle.

Doc link http://developer.android.com/guide/components/fragments.html#Lifecycle

The most significant difference in lifecycle between an activity and a fragment is how one is stored in its respective back stack. An activity is placed into a back stack of activities that's managed by the system when it's stopped, by default (so that the user can navigate back to it with the Back button, as discussed in Tasks and Back Stack). However, a fragment is placed into a back stack managed by the host activity only when you explicitly request that the instance be saved by calling addToBackStack() during a transaction that removes the fragment.

Otherwise, managing the fragment lifecycle is very similar to managing the activity lifecycle. So, the same practices for managing the activity lifecycle also apply to fragments. What you also need to understand, though, is how the life of the activity affects the life of the fragment.

& for multi pane layouts you have to use fragment that you can't achieve with activity.

score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 25 '17 at 09:38

Activity
1. Activities are one of the fundamental building blocks of apps on the Android platform. They serve as the entry point for a user's interaction with an app and are also central to how a user navigates within an app or between apps
2. Lifecycle methods are hosted by OS.
3. Lifecycle of activity

Fragments
1. A Fragment represents a behavior or a portion of user interface in an Activity. You can combine multiple fragments in a single activity to build a multi-pane UI and reuse a fragment in multiple activities. You can think of a fragment as a modular section of an activity, which has its own lifecycle, receives its own input events, and which you can add or remove while the activity is running.
2. Lifecycle methods are hosted by are hosted by hosting activity.
3. Lifecycle of a fragment

What are the differences between activity and fragment?

Activity

Fragment

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