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This document outlines how the use of dialog destinations can introduce
unique considerations for how you need to manage your back stack.
Overview
One or more dialog destinations can only exist on the top of the back stack.
This is because when the user navigates to a destination that is not a dialog
destination, the NavController automatically pops all dialog destinations off
the top of the stack. This ensures that the current destination is always fully
visible over other destinations on the back stack.
If the back stack consists solely of hosted destinations
that fill the navigation host, and the user navigates to a dialog destination,
then the back stack might look similar to figure 2:
Figure 2. A back stack with a dialog destination on top.
If the user then navigates to another dialog destination, it is then added to
the top of the back stack, as shown in figure 3:
Figure 3. A back stack with two Dialog
destinations on top.
If the user then navigates to a non-floating destination, any dialog
destinations are first popped from the top of the back stack before navigating
to the new destination, as shown in figure 4:
Figure 4. The Dialog destinations
are popped, and the new destination is added.
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Last updated 2025-02-10 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-02-10 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Dialog destinations\n\nThis document outlines how the use of [dialog destinations](/guide/navigation/design) can introduce\nunique considerations for how you need to manage your back stack.\n\nOverview\n--------\n\nOne or more dialog destinations can only exist on the top of the back stack.\nThis is because when the user navigates to a destination that is not a dialog\ndestination, the `NavController` automatically pops all dialog destinations off\nthe top of the stack. This ensures that the current destination is always fully\nvisible over other destinations on the back stack.\n\nDestinations can be either [hosted destinations](/guide/navigation/design), [activity\ndestinations](/guide/navigation/design/activity-destinations), or [dialog destination](/guide/navigation/design/dialog-destinations).\n| **Note:** Dialog destinations implement the [`FloatingWindow`](/reference/androidx/navigation/FloatingWindow) interface. As such, they overlay other destinations on the back stack.\n\nExample\n-------\n\nIf the back stack consists solely of [hosted destinations](/guide/navigation/design)\nthat fill the navigation host, and the user navigates to a dialog destination,\nthen the back stack might look similar to figure 2:\n**Figure 2.** A back stack with a dialog destination on top.\n\nIf the user then navigates to another dialog destination, it is then added to\nthe top of the back stack, as shown in figure 3:\n**Figure 3.** A back stack with two `Dialog` destinations on top.\n\nIf the user then navigates to a non-floating destination, any dialog\ndestinations are first popped from the top of the back stack before navigating\nto the new destination, as shown in figure 4:\n**Figure 4.** The `Dialog` destinations are popped, and the new destination is added."]]
