`backbutton` event not triggered on some devices

[seamlink-aalves]

Bug Report

Problem

Back button event not triggered on some devices. We're testing the update for cordova-android 15 and we noticed on some devices with recent version of the OS (>=15) the backbutton is not triggered.

We were only able to fix this for all devices by changing the AndroidManifest.xml with:

        <edit-config file="app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml" mode="merge"
            target="/manifest/application">
            <application android:enableOnBackInvokedCallback="false" />
        </edit-config>

What is expected to happen?

The eventListener for backbutton should be triggered

What does actually happen?

The eventListener for backbutton is not triggered

Information

Command or Code

Environment, Platform, Device

Version information

Checklist

• I searched for existing GitHub issues
• I updated all Cordova tooling to most recent version
• I included all the necessary information above

[GitToTheHub]

Hi, can you make a minimal repository example which shows the problem?

I tested it in an Android 16.0 simulator and it worked. I used this code for overwriting the back button.

document.addEventListener("backbutton", () => {
    console.log("Back-Button pressed");
});

Please test also a fresh hello world app with cordova-android 15, if the overwriting does work or not.

[seamlink-aalves]

Hi @GitToTheHub

I tested with a blank app running with on a Pixel 9 with the latest Android version and cordova-android 15.

I did the following steps:

• Created a blank App
• Added two link that set different hashes ("#test" and "#test2")
• Added eventListener for backbutton on deviceready

When debugging the App I can confirm the the navigation occurred and had items in History.

The backbutton event did not occur using the device navigation, either using gestures or the navigation bar.

Doing history.back() in console did trigger the navigation.

[GitToTheHub]

Hi @seamlink-aalves,

the back button does not handle history.back() by default. Pressing the back button or doing the back gesture will just close the app. If you override the back button by document.addEventListener("backbutton", () => { ... }) only your custom js code will be executed. If you leave the callback empty, nothing will happen. You have to execute yourself history.back() in your callback, like e.g.:

document.addEventListener("backbutton", () => {
    if (history.length) {
        history.back()
    } else {
        navigator.app.exitApp()
    }
});

[seamlink-aalves]

Hi @GitToTheHub

I know how the backbutton event works. We have it implemented for many years.

What I'm telling you is that it stopped working on some devices after moving to cordova android 15 and a way to reproduce it. I have one oneplus device with the latest version of Android and another pixel 9 also with the latest version. In the first it works fine and in the second it doesn't.

For the test we put console log and see that the event is not triggered on the pixel phone. Adding a breakpoint and debug it we also see that it is not triggering.

[muratkardaslar]

Same issue on some phones after upgrading Cordova android 15.0 (working on Galaxy S21, not working on Galaxy S23 for example) I don't want to rollback Cordova version because of edge-tp-edge support etc. If there is a workaround it would be great.

Best regards

[seamlink-aalves]

Hi @muratkardaslar

Can you confirm if adding the following code to config.xml solves the problem?

<edit-config file="app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml" mode="merge" target="/manifest/application">
    <application android:enableOnBackInvokedCallback="false" />
</edit-config>

For me this solves the problem.

[muratkardaslar]

I'm on a trip right now. I'll check and reply as soon as I get back.

Thank you

[muratkardaslar]

Hi @muratkardaslar

Can you confirm if adding the following code to config.xml solves the problem?

<edit-config file="app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml" mode="merge" target="/manifest/application">
    <application android:enableOnBackInvokedCallback="false" />
</edit-config>

For me this solves the problem.

Yes it worked. Thank you.

[PixelnomadsLtd]

Same problem here. I use a Pixel 8 Pro with Android 16 and the backbutton doesn't fire anymore. After adding this to my config.xml, it worked again.

<edit-config file="app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml" mode="merge" target="/manifest/application">
    <application android:enableOnBackInvokedCallback="false" />
</edit-config>

[GitToTheHub]

Hi, I think what you noticed is, that the back gesture did not fire the js backbutton event on more recent Android versions. I created a fix with PR #1910 which also handles a problem where the js backbutton event is not fired after the first app start and the hardware button was pressed. You can test this.

[seamlink-aalves]

Hi, I tested the PR and can confirm tthat it fixes the issue with backbutton event.

Thanks

[GitToTheHub]

Hi thanks, for testing, so this PR is solving this.