Question { 4475 }

What is the difference between activities and services?

Answer

Activities and services are two fundamental components in Android, each serving distinct purposes within an Android application:

1. Activities:
- An Activity represents a single screen with a user interface. It is a visual component where users can interact and perform actions.
- Activities are typically used to present a UI to the user, receive input, and navigate to other activities.
- They have a user interface, visible to the user, and are generally associated with a screen.
- The activity lifecycle methods (onCreate, onStart, onResume, onPause, onStop, onDestroy) manage the behavior of an activity as it moves through different states.

2. Services:
- A Service is a background task that can perform long-running operations without a UI. It operates independently of any user interface.
- Services are often used to handle tasks that need to continue running even when the application is in the background or not actively interacting with the user.
- They don't have a user interface and run in the background.
- Services can run indefinitely and perform operations such as downloading files, playing music, or checking for updates.
- Common service lifecycle methods include onStartCommand, onBind, and onDestroy.