BackHandler on Compose Multiplatform (Android and iOS)

Question

I want to intercept the back gesture or tap (e.g., swiping back on iOS or pressing the back button or gesture on Android) to show a dialog before exiting a screen.

I understand that in Jetpack Compose, I could use BackHandler, but since I am working with Compose Multiplatform, that is not an option. It seems I might need to implement platform-specific logic to achieve this.

I’ve searched for solutions or examples related to this issue but haven’t found any information specifically for Compose Multiplatform. How can I handle this behavior for both Android and iOS? Thanks

Answer 1

For any future readers, Compose Multiplatform has officially implemented BackHandler and PredictiveBackHandler in compose multiplatform version 1.8.0-alpha03.

In order to use that, first add this dependency in your build-gradle commonMain:
implementation("org.jetbrains.compose.ui:ui-backhandler")

After that you can use BackHandler in your compose common-main code:

androidx.compose.ui.backhandler.BackHandler(true) {
    //your back pressed logic here
}

⚠️ Update (Compose Multiplatform 1.9.1)

If you've upgraded to compose-plugin = "1.9.1", you now need to explicitly specify the version for the BackHandler dependency. Otherwise, you may encounter an "unresolved dependency" error in your build.gradle file.

implementation("org.jetbrains.compose.ui:ui-backhandler:1.9.1")

---

✅ Update (Compose Multiplatform 1.10.0+)

As of Compose 1.10.0, the BackHandler from ui-backhandler has been deprecated in favor of NavigationBackHandler.

To use the new API, add this dependency to your version catalog:

composeNavigationEvent = "1.0.0"

And in your dependencies:

compose-navigationevent = { module = "org.jetbrains.androidx.navigationevent:navigationevent-compose", version.ref = "composeNavigationEvent" }

Then use NavigationBackHandler in your code instead of the deprecated BackHandler:

NavigationBackHandler(
    state = rememberNavigationEventState(NavigationEventInfo.None),
    isBackEnabled = true, // You can toggle this dynamically
    onBackCompleted = {
        //back pressed logic here
    }
)

Answer 2

Since 1.8.0-alpha03, there is a solution on Compose Multiplatform itself! https://github.com/JetBrains/compose-multiplatform/releases/tag/v1.8.0-alpha03

There is a small weird thing: You can't access BackHandler and PredictiveBackHandler on your code unless you manually implement the following library: org.jetbrains.compose.ui:ui-backhandler

After that it should work, at least for this alpha version it is the only solution