The Android Developer Option labeled “Don’t keep activities” forces the system to destroy every activity as soon as the user leaves it. This setting is primarily intended for development and testing purposes. For example, if enabled, when a user switches from one application to another or backgrounds an activity by pressing the home button, the current activity is immediately terminated rather than being kept in memory in a paused state. This mimics the behavior of low-memory devices where the system needs to reclaim resources.
The importance of this setting lies in its ability to simulate a low-memory environment during application development. By enabling it, developers can proactively identify and address issues related to activity state restoration, data persistence, and overall application stability under resource constraints. This allows developers to test how their applications handle unexpected terminations and ensure proper data management, contributing to a more robust and reliable user experience. Historically, this option has been crucial for debugging and optimizing applications for devices with limited RAM.
