Android :: I Can't Get Rid Of This Error Message: Activity <App Name> Has Leaked ServiceConnection <ServiceConnection Name>@438030a8 That Was Originally Bound Here

I'm working on my first Android app, so I apologize if this is extremely obvious. I've got three activities in my app, and the user switches back and forth pretty frequently. I've also got a remote service, which handles a telnet connection. The apps need to bind to this service in order to send/receive telnet messages.

I have re-written my code in light of your clarification on the difference between using bindService() as a stand-alone function or after startService(), and I now only get the leak error message intermittently when using the back button to cycle between activities.

My connection activity has the following onCreate() and onDestroy():

CODE:..........

So the service is started when the activity is started, and stopped when the activity is destroyed if no successful telnet connection was made (connectStatus == 0). The other activities bind to the service only if a successful connection was made (connectStatus == 1, saved to a shared preferences). Here is their onResume() and onDestroy():

CODE:.............

So the binding happens in onResume() so that it will pick up the changed state from the connection activity, and in the onDestroy() function it is unbound, if necessary.

But I still get the memory leak error message "Activity has leaked ServiceConnection @438030a8 that was originally bound here" intermittently when switching activities. What am I doing wrong?

Full error message follows (from the revised code):

CODE:..........

I did as you suggested and added an onUnBind() override to the service. onUnBind() is actually only triggered when all clients disconnect from the service, but when I hit the home button, it executed, then the error message popped up! This makes no sense to me, as all the clients have been unbound from the service, so how could the one destroyed leak a serviceConnection? Check it out:

CODE:..................

I thought it might be something like you said, where the binding to the service is not complete when unbindService() is called, however I tried calling a method on the service as I backed through each activity to verify that the binding is complete, and they all went through fine.

In general, this behavior doesn't seem related to how long I stay in each activity. Once the first activity leaks its serviceConnection, however, they all do as I back through them after that.

One other thing, if I turn on "Immediately destroy activities" in Dev Tools, it prevents this error.