[Android] AppState 'inactive' not triggered on Android

Description

When listening to an AppState change, inactive is never triggered on Android, only background.

Reproduction Steps

1. Setup a change listener on AppState.
2. Output the current app state in the listener function.
3. Send the app to the background (go to home screen) and notice background is logged, but never inactive

Sample Code

componentDidMount() {
  AppState.addEventListener('change', this._handleAppStateChange);
}

_handleAppStateChange(currentAppState) {
  console.log(currentAppState); // never outputs 'inactive' on android
}

Additional Information

• React Native version: 0.43.3
• Platform: Android
• Development Operating System: macOS
• Testing on: Android Simulator with a Nexus 5 with Nougat

[martin-rueegg]

I’m not aware that the issue is solved. It would be required to take action when the app goes into background, e.g. covering the app’s screen for privacy reasons, so that the system’s screenshot in the app-switch does not show the content of the app, but it’s lock screen.

[JLWalsh]

+1. The inactive state is not sent when receiving a phone call aswell.

Edit: Have a look at AppStateModule. It seems that there are only three states possible: uninitalized, foreground and background. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that Android has the inactive state, so that would explain why it was not implemented on Android. It would be a good thing to mention in the docs.