Android : LiveData vs Flow

Feature	LiveData	Flow
Type	Observable data holder class	Cold stream of data
Reactivity	Emits only when observed	Collects only when needed
Threading	Runs on the main thread by default	Runs on the background thread by default
Backpressure Handling	Not supported (always runs on the main thread)	Handles backpressure efficiently
Lifecycle Awareness	Yes, automatically stops when the observer’s lifecycle is destroyed	No, needs manual lifecycle handling (`lifecycleScope.launch`)
Data Emission	Retains last emitted value	Does not retain values by default (stateless)
Multiple Subscribers	Supports multiple active observers	Cold stream, each collector gets a new stream
Cold vs Hot	Hot (always active, even without observers)	Cold (starts emitting only when collected)
Use Case	UI state management, database, observing changes	One-time API calls, event streams, complex data transformations
Cancellation	Automatically stops when the lifecycle is destroyed	Needs manual cancellation using coroutine scope
Memory Efficiency	Can retain memory if not properly cleared	More memory-efficient, does not store unnecessary data
Error Handling	Uses `observeForever` but no built-in try/catch	Supports `catch {}` and `onEach {}` for error handling
Best Used For	UI-related state observation, database updates (Room)	API calls, event-based operations, and continuous data streams

When to Use LiveData?

✅ Lifecycle-aware UI updates
✅ Simple UI state management
✅ Works well with XML-based views

When to Use Flow?

✅ One-time API calls
✅ Handling large data streams efficiently
✅ Best suited for Jetpack Compose
✅ Background operations without UI binding

👉 Best Practice: Use Flow for data processing and transformations, then convert it to LiveData if UI needs to observe it (asLiveData()). 🚀

That’s it for today. Happy Coding….

Android : LiveData vs Flow

Table of contents

When to Use LiveData?

When to Use Flow?

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Romman Sabbir

Romman Sabbir