Advanced interview questions in Android & Kotlin, page 3
`remember` vs. `rememberSaveable`: When and why to use each?
Tests understanding of state survival in Compose. A good answer contrasts remember (for composition) with rememberSaveable (for activity recreation/process death), explaining its use of the Bundle mechanism. A red flag is confusing the two lifecycles.
remember vs. rememberSaveable: When and Why to Use Each
Tests understanding of Compose state survival. remember is for recomposition scope. rememberSaveable survives activity recreation and process death via a Bundle, requiring custom Savers for complex types. Red flag: saying remember survives rotation.
Diagnose Compose recomposition issues and explain lambda stability
Tests Compose skipping and stability. Strong answers name recomposition counts, compiler metrics, and immutable state, then explain unremembered lambdas create new instances and prevent skipping.
How do you diagnose and fix excessive recomposition in Jetpack Compose?
This tests your grasp of Compose's stability system. First, use Layout Inspector to find high-recomposition areas. Then, enable and analyze the Compose compiler report to diagnose unstable parameters (like List) or lambdas.
How do you diagnose and fix excessive recomposition in Jetpack Compose?
This tests your understanding of Compose's stability system for performance. Use the Layout Inspector and Compiler Metrics to find unstable composables, then fix them with immutable data types and stable lambdas.
How would you architect two source Flows from ViewModel to data layer?
This tests merging parallel async streams into one reactive state. A strong answer uses combine on two cold repository Flows, exposes one UI state Flow from the ViewModel, and maps failures to error states. Red flag: using two coroutines mutating shared state.
Combine two network sources using Coroutines and Flow
Tests your grasp of async data combination and state management. A good answer uses Flow.combine in a ViewModel, fed by a Repository, emitting a sealed class for UI state (Loading, Success, Error). A red flag is trying to combine state in the UI layer itself.
How do you navigate between feature modules without direct dependencies?
This tests architectural decoupling in multi-module Android apps. A great answer describes a shared navigation contract or deep-link router that lets features stay independent. Recommending direct Gradle dependencies between features is a major red flag.
Navigate between feature modules without direct dependencies?
Tests dependency inversion in modular apps. Answer by defining navigation interfaces in a shared module, implementing them in the :app module, and using DI to connect them. A red flag is suggesting direct module dependencies or using reflection for navigation.
How would you architect state-driven UI with ViewModel and Compose?
Tests unidirectional data flow and state hoisting. Model screen state as an immutable data class, expose StateFlow from ViewModel, and collect it in Compose so events flow up and state down. Red flag: exposing mutable state or putting logic in Composables.
Room DAO: Flow<List<User>> vs suspend fun getUsers(): List<User>
This tests reactivity versus one-shot queries in Room and coroutines. Flow emits on every table change on Room's dispatcher, while suspend returns a single snapshot requiring manual refresh.
How would you implement a robust offline-first repository?
Tests single-source-of-truth discipline and network-local sync. Outline a Room repository with Flow, background refresh, disk persistence, immediate local emission, and conflict resolution with retry.
Parse polymorphic media JSON with Kotlin sealed classes and custom serializers
Sealed Media with Image and Video; use Moshi Factory or kotlinx.serialization keyed on the type field.
Configure OkHttp Cache for Retrofit and force network requests
This tests HTTP caching semantics in mobile networking. A strong answer covers Cache setup with a 50 MiB directory, server Cache-Control driving expiration, and CacheControl.FORCE_NETWORK to bypass.
Replace a production NetworkService with a fake in Hilt instrumented tests
Tests whether you know Hilt test overrides beyond basic DI. A strong answer covers @BindValue for field-level fakes and @TestInstallIn or @UninstallModules for module swaps.
Describe Hilt's component hierarchy and scope injection rules
Tests whether you understand Hilt's generated component tree and scoping rules. A strong answer lists the hierarchy, explains parent-outlives-child semantics, and states that ActivityScoped-into-Singleton injection fails at compile time.
Android 12 foreground service restrictions and WorkManager expedited jobs
Tests Android 12 background-start limits. A great answer covers: the API 31 ban on background FGS starts, BOOT_COMPLETED exceptions, and WorkManager setExpedited with out-of-quota fallback. Red flag: starting an FGS in a BroadcastReceiver ignoring quota.
How would you implement and register a custom IdlingResource?
Implement the three IdlingResource methods with an atomic counter; register via IdlingRegistry in setup and unregister in teardown.
What is the role of TestDispatcher and runTest in coroutine testing?
This tests coroutine test infrastructure and virtual time control. A great answer says runTest installs a TestDispatcher and TestScope, skips delays automatically, and exposes advanceTimeBy to test timeouts instantly.
What is Android Test Orchestrator and how does it isolate tests?
Tests process-level isolation in Android UI suites. A strong answer says it runs each test in its own Instrumentation process, stopping crashes or leaked state from cascading, and notes slower startup.
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