Configuration change in Android

An Activity will also be restarted, if a so called "configuration change" happens. A configuration change happens if an event is triggered which may be relevant for the application. For example if the user changes the orientation of the device (vertically or horizontally). Android assumes that an Activity might want to use different resources for these orientations and restarts the Activity.

In the emulator you can simulate the change of the orientation via Ctrl+F11.

You can avoid a restart of your application for certain configuration changes via the configChangesattribute on your Activity definition in your AndroidManifest.xml. The following Activity will not be restarted in case of orientation changes or position of the physical keyboard (hidden / visible).

 android:name=".ProgressTestActivity"
     android:label="@string/app_name"
     android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard">