Android Interview Questions and Answers (Updated for Modern Android)

Preparing for an Android interview? This guide covers the most commonly asked Android interview questions with simple explanations and modern Android development concepts.

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Broadcast Receiver Interview Questions

1. What is a Broadcast Receiver?

A Broadcast Receiver is an Android component used to listen for system-wide or application-wide events.

Examples:

• Battery low
• Wi-Fi state changed
• Incoming SMS
• Phone call received
• Boot completed

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2. How do you trigger a Broadcast Receiver?

Using an Intent and the sendBroadcast() method.

Intent intent = new Intent("com.example.MY_EVENT");
sendBroadcast(intent);

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3. Types of Broadcast Receivers?

• Static Receiver
• Dynamic Receiver
• Ordered Broadcast
• Sticky Broadcast (deprecated)

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4. What is the lifecycle method of Broadcast Receiver?

onReceive()

This method is automatically called when the receiver receives a matching broadcast event.

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5. Why should heavy work not be done inside onReceive()?

Broadcast Receivers are short-lived components. Long operations inside onReceive() may cause ANR (Application Not Responding) issues.

Modern Android recommends:

• WorkManager
• Foreground Service
• JobScheduler

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SQLite Database Interview Questions

1. What is a database?

A database is an organized collection of structured data.

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2. Which database is used in Android?

Android traditionally uses SQLite. Modern Android applications often use:

• Room Database
• SQLite
• Realm
• Firebase

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3. Where is SQLite database stored?

Inside the application’s internal storage.

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4. What is a Primary Key?

A Primary Key uniquely identifies each row in a table.

Properties:

• Unique
• Not Null

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5. What is a Foreign Key?

A Foreign Key is used to create relationships between tables.

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6. Difference Between DELETE and DROP

DELETE	DROP
Deletes rows only	Deletes entire table
DML operation	DDL operation

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7. Difference Between UPDATE and UPGRADE

UPDATE	UPGRADE
Updates existing data	Changes database schema
DML operation	DDL operation

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Activity and Fragment Interview Questions

1. How do you start an Activity?

Intent intent =
    new Intent(this, SecondActivity.class);

startActivity(intent);

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2. How do you pass data to an Activity?

Intent intent =
    new Intent(this, SecondActivity.class);

intent.putExtra("name", "Salil");

startActivity(intent);

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3. What is a Fragment?

A Fragment is a reusable UI component used inside Activities.

Fragments help create responsive UI designs for:

• Mobile phones
• Tablets
• Foldable devices

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4. How do you pass data to a Fragment?

Bundle bundle = new Bundle();

bundle.putString("name", "Android");

MyFragment fragment = new MyFragment();

fragment.setArguments(bundle);

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5. Activity Lifecycle During Back Press

When user presses the Back button:

onPause()
onStop()
onDestroy()

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6. Activity Lifecycle During Home Button Press

onPause()
onStop()

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7. Activity Lifecycle During Screen Rotation

onPause()
onSaveInstanceState()
onStop()
onDestroy()

onCreate()
onStart()
onRestoreInstanceState()
onResume()

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Important Activity Lifecycle Methods

onCreate()

• First lifecycle method
• Initialize views
• Load UI
• Setup dependencies

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onPause()

• Called when Activity partially loses focus
• Save lightweight state
• Pause animations or videos

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onSaveInstanceState()

• Used during configuration changes
• Saves temporary UI state
• Useful for screen rotations

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Material Design Components Interview Questions

CoordinatorLayout

• Advanced ViewGroup
• Supports coordinated animations
• Used with AppBarLayout and FAB

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Toolbar

• Modern replacement for ActionBar
• Customizable
• Can be placed anywhere in layout

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RecyclerView

• Modern replacement for ListView
• Efficient and reusable
• Uses ViewHolder pattern
• Supports Grid and Staggered layouts

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CardView

• Provides elevation and rounded corners
• Used for modern card-based UI

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FloatingActionButton (FAB)

• Represents primary action
• Usually displayed bottom-right

Example: Compose button in Gmail

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Snackbar

• Modern alternative to Toast
• Supports actions
• Can be swiped away

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Networking Interview Questions

1. What is HttpURLConnection?

A Java API used to establish network communication between Android application and server.

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2. What is InputStream?

Used to read data coming from the server.

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3. Difference Between InputStreamReader and BufferedReader

InputStreamReader	BufferedReader
Reads character by character	Reads efficiently in chunks
Slower	Faster

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REST API Interview Questions

What is REST API?

REST (Representational State Transfer) is a lightweight web service architecture used for communication between client and server.

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REST vs SOAP

REST	SOAP
Faster	Slower
Uses JSON mostly	Uses XML mostly
Lightweight	Heavy protocol

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Android Services Interview Questions

1. What is a Service?

A Service is an Android component used to perform background operations.

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2. Types of Services?

• Started Service
• Bound Service
• Foreground Service
• IntentService (deprecated)

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3. Service Lifecycle Methods

onCreate()
onStartCommand()
onBind()
onDestroy()

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4. What is Foreground Service?

A Foreground Service performs important tasks visible to the user with a persistent notification.

Examples:

• Music player
• Navigation apps
• Fitness tracking

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Modern Android Development Topics

Important Topics for 2026 Interviews

• Jetpack Compose
• MVVM Architecture
• Hilt Dependency Injection
• Coroutines
• Flow & StateFlow
• Room Database
• Retrofit
• WorkManager
• Navigation Component
• Clean Architecture
• Modularization
• CI/CD

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Conclusion

Android interviews today focus on both core Android concepts and modern Android architecture.

Understanding components like Activities, Fragments, Broadcast Receivers, Services, RecyclerView, Room, and networking concepts is essential for Android developer roles.

Modern Android development also expects knowledge of Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, MVVM, Coroutines, and scalable architecture patterns.

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About the Author

Salil Jha is a Full Stack and Mobile Developer specializing in Android, React Native, scalable SaaS platforms, fintech systems, and modern web applications.

CodeChain Dev — Building scalable developer-first products.