GoRouter / StatefulShell: Lost navigation history when changing top branch / inconsistent behavior with android system back button

[PaulGrandperrin]

Steps to reproduce

1. run the official example code on Android
2. click View details under Screen A => Details for A opens
3. Here, tapping the top left back button or using the Android native back button will have the same behavior => popping the Details screen and go back to Screen A.
   No problem here, and it feels normal and intuitive.
4. From step 2. , have a quick glance at the tab Section B and go back to tab Section A
5. Now, tapping the top left back button or using the Android native back button have different behaviors:

• using the top left button keeps the same behavior as before, no problem.
• using the system button acts like it forgot the stack/history and considers Details of A as the topmost page of Section A and therefor closes the app.

Expected results

Step 3. should behave as step 5., for consistency with each other and with what the user expects: the navigation stack should be restored when switching back to the same tab.

It also makes the two available back buttons inconsistent with each other when on step 5.

This is very surprising, and I don't see how to work around this. I haven't shipped my app to users yet, but already, I myself can't help but accidentally close my app all the time because the muscle memory for the expected behavior is so strong :-/

I think this is a bug and not on purpose also because the documentation of StatefulShellRoute (and other places I think) mentions that:

The StatefulNavigationShell can be used to access information about the state of the route, as well as to switch the active branch (i.e. restoring the navigation stack of another branch). The latter is accomplished by using the method [StatefulNavigationShell.goBranch](https://pub.dev/documentation/go_router/latest/go_router/StatefulNavigationShell/goBranch.html)...

Actual results

Code sample

https://github.com/flutter/packages/blob/main/packages/go_router/example/lib/stateful_shell_route.dart

Screenshots or Video

No response

Logs

No response

Flutter Doctor output

Doctor output

[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.24.1, on NixOS 24.05 (Uakari) 6.10.12, locale en_US.UTF-8)
    • Flutter version 3.24.1 on channel stable at /nix/store/ivslg1wbqmfcfhaxabdi36bd3cjvhnbq-flutter-wrapped-3.24.1-sdk-links
    • Upstream repository https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
    • Framework revision nixpkgs000 (), 1970-01-01 00:00:00
    • Engine revision c9b9d5780d
    • Dart version 3.5.1
    • DevTools version 2.37.2

[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 30.0.3)
    • Android SDK at /nix/store/x428bw3jdbqgy2pdapqnpqh6k3v75cy1-androidsdk/libexec/android-sdk
    • Platform android-34, build-tools 30.0.3
    • ANDROID_HOME = /nix/store/x428bw3jdbqgy2pdapqnpqh6k3v75cy1-androidsdk/libexec/android-sdk
    • ANDROID_SDK_ROOT = /nix/store/x428bw3jdbqgy2pdapqnpqh6k3v75cy1-androidsdk/libexec/android-sdk
    • Java binary at: /nix/store/xy53lk4001h814d7dwh8f52wcqxrn7rp-openjdk-17.0.11+9/lib/openjdk/bin/java
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.11+9-nixos)
    • All Android licenses accepted.

[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
    • CHROME_EXECUTABLE = /nix/store/2jnylk8yf0mrhh0ja5ffcylcxzc5jpf3-google-chrome-128.0.6613.137/bin/google-chrome-stable

[✓] Linux toolchain - develop for Linux desktop
    • clang version 16.0.6
    • cmake version 3.29.6
    • ninja version 1.12.1
    • pkg-config version 0.29.2

[!] Android Studio (not installed)
    • Android Studio not found; download from https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html
      (or visit https://flutter.dev/to/linux-android-setup for detailed instructions).

[✓] Connected device (3 available)
    • Pixel 7 Pro (mobile) • 192.168.1.13:43079 • android-arm64  • Android 15 (API 35)
    • Linux (desktop)      • linux              • linux-x64      • NixOS 24.05 (Uakari) 6.10.12
    • Chrome (web)         • chrome             • web-javascript • Google Chrome 128.0.6613.137

[✓] Network resources
    • All expected network resources are available.

! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

[danagbemava-nc]

Hi @PaulGrandperrin, what version of go_router are you using? Can you share a recording of what you experience? This appears to work as expected. See the recording below

Screen.Recording.2024-10-08.at.1.24.35.PM.mov

[PaulGrandperrin]

Hi @danagbemava-nc,

At least I'm glad it's not expected behavior, and it might just be an issue on my end.

Sorry for the poor video, the android emulator is barely usable on gnome wayland. The image I'm using is 'system-images;android-34-ext10;google_apis_playstore;x86_64' but it behaves exactly the same on my Pixel 7 Pro on Android 15 QPR1.

Screencast.from.2024-10-08.16-51-40.webm

pubspec.yaml

name: test
description: "test"
publish_to: 'none'
version: 0.1.0

environment:
  sdk: '>=3.4.3 <4.0.0'

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  go_router: ^14.3.0

dev_dependencies:
  flutter_test:
    sdk: flutter

flutter:
  uses-material-design: true

pubspec.lock

# Generated by pub
# See https://dart.dev/tools/pub/glossary#lockfile
packages:
  async:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: async
      sha256: "947bfcf187f74dbc5e146c9eb9c0f10c9f8b30744e341481c1e2ed3ecc18c20c"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "2.11.0"
  boolean_selector:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: boolean_selector
      sha256: "6cfb5af12253eaf2b368f07bacc5a80d1301a071c73360d746b7f2e32d762c66"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "2.1.1"
  characters:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: characters
      sha256: "04a925763edad70e8443c99234dc3328f442e811f1d8fd1a72f1c8ad0f69a605"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "1.3.0"
  clock:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: clock
      sha256: cb6d7f03e1de671e34607e909a7213e31d7752be4fb66a86d29fe1eb14bfb5cf
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "1.1.1"
  collection:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: collection
      sha256: ee67cb0715911d28db6bf4af1026078bd6f0128b07a5f66fb2ed94ec6783c09a
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "1.18.0"
  fake_async:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: fake_async
      sha256: "511392330127add0b769b75a987850d136345d9227c6b94c96a04cf4a391bf78"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "1.3.1"
  flutter:
    dependency: "direct main"
    description: flutter
    source: sdk
    version: "0.0.0"
  flutter_test:
    dependency: "direct dev"
    description: flutter
    source: sdk
    version: "0.0.0"
  flutter_web_plugins:
    dependency: transitive
    description: flutter
    source: sdk
    version: "0.0.0"
  go_router:
    dependency: "direct main"
    description:
      name: go_router
      sha256: "6f1b756f6e863259a99135ff3c95026c3cdca17d10ebef2bba2261a25ddc8bbc"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "14.3.0"
  leak_tracker:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: leak_tracker
      sha256: "3f87a60e8c63aecc975dda1ceedbc8f24de75f09e4856ea27daf8958f2f0ce05"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "10.0.5"
  leak_tracker_flutter_testing:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: leak_tracker_flutter_testing
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      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "3.0.5"
  leak_tracker_testing:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: leak_tracker_testing
      sha256: "6ba465d5d76e67ddf503e1161d1f4a6bc42306f9d66ca1e8f079a47290fb06d3"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "3.0.1"
  logging:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: logging
      sha256: "623a88c9594aa774443aa3eb2d41807a48486b5613e67599fb4c41c0ad47c340"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
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  matcher:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
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      sha256: d2323aa2060500f906aa31a895b4030b6da3ebdcc5619d14ce1aada65cd161cb
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "0.12.16+1"
  material_color_utilities:
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    description:
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      url: "https://pub.dev"
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  meta:
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      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "1.15.0"
  path:
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    description:
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      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "1.9.0"
  sky_engine:
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    source: sdk
    version: "0.0.99"
  source_span:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
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      sha256: "53e943d4206a5e30df338fd4c6e7a077e02254531b138a15aec3bd143c1a8b3c"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "1.10.0"
  stack_trace:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: stack_trace
      sha256: "73713990125a6d93122541237550ee3352a2d84baad52d375a4cad2eb9b7ce0b"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "1.11.1"
  stream_channel:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: stream_channel
      sha256: ba2aa5d8cc609d96bbb2899c28934f9e1af5cddbd60a827822ea467161eb54e7
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "2.1.2"
  string_scanner:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
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      url: "https://pub.dev"
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  term_glyph:
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      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
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      url: "https://pub.dev"
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  vector_math:
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    description:
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      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
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  vm_service:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: vm_service
      sha256: "5c5f338a667b4c644744b661f309fb8080bb94b18a7e91ef1dbd343bed00ed6d"
      url: "https://pub.dev"
    source: hosted
    version: "14.2.5"
sdks:
  dart: ">=3.4.3 <4.0.0"
  flutter: ">=3.19.0"

[PaulGrandperrin]

I found the what's special about my config:
In my AndroidManifest.xml, I enabled android:enableOnBackInvokedCallback="true" for predictive back gestures (https://docs.flutter.dev/platform-integration/android/predictive-back).

Removing this flag "solves the issue", but of course, prevents us from using predictive back gestures.

[danagbemava-nc]

Hi @PaulGrandperrin, thanks for the update. It appears that this is already being tracked in #145290

Kindly follow up in the issue linked above for updates.

Closing from here as duplicate.

Thank you

[PaulGrandperrin]

Indeed, reading the description, it seems similar, I'll follow the issue, thanks!

[github-actions]

This thread has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. If you are still experiencing a similar issue, please open a new bug, including the output of flutter doctor -v and a minimal reproduction of the issue.