Clicking the device back button closes the app instead of going back to previous page

Question

If click any ion-item it open the desired page but if i click device back button it close the app rather than going back to previous page in android:

This is my ionic side menu:

<ion-side-menus enable-menu-with-back-views="false">
  <ion-side-menu-content>
    <ion-nav-bar class="bar-positive">
      <ion-nav-back-button></ion-nav-back-button>
      <ion-nav-buttons side="left">
        <button class="button button-icon icon ion-android-menu" menu-toggle="left">
        </button>
      </ion-nav-buttons>
    </ion-nav-bar>
    <ion-nav-view name="menuContent"></ion-nav-view>
  </ion-side-menu-content>

  <ion-side-menu side="left">
    <ion-header-bar class="bar-positive">
      <h1 class="title"></h1>
    </ion-header-bar>
    <ion-content>
      <ion-list>
        <ion-item menu-close ng-click="login()">
          Login
        </ion-item>
        <ion-item menu-close ui-sref="app.search">
          Search
        </ion-item>
        <ion-item menu-close href="#/app/browse">
          Browse
        </ion-item>
        <ion-item menu-close href="#/app/playlists">
          Playlists
        </ion-item>
      </ion-list>
    </ion-content>
  </ion-side-menu>
</ion-side-menus>

Here is app.js :

    .state('app', {
    url: '/app',
    abstract: true,
    templateUrl: 'templates/menu.html',
    controller: 'AppCtrl'
  })

  .state('app.search', {
    url: '/search',
    views: {
      'menuContent': {
        templateUrl: 'templates/search/default.html'
      }
    }
  })
  .state('app.search-form', {
    url: '/search-form',
    views: {
      'menuContent': {
        templateUrl: 'templates/search/search-form.html'
      }
    }
  })

One solution I found:

$ionicHistory.nextViewOptions({        
  disableBack: true,
  historyRoot: true
});      

So when you click a button and going to next page, this will will disable back button.

Answer 1

It is the menu-close attribute in the side menu that clears the history. You could experiment by replacing it with menu-toggle="left". That will still close the side bar but keep the history.

I ended up overriding the behaviour for the HW back key like below. It sends the user to the starting view before exiting the app when pressing back. Note that I still use the menu-close attribute in the side menu. Also note I happen to store the start url in window.localStorage["start_view"] because it can change in my app. Hope it can help/inspire someone else with this problem.

$ionicPlatform.registerBackButtonAction(function(event) {
    if ($ionicHistory.backView() == null && $ionicHistory.currentView().url != window.localStorage["start_view"]) {
      // Goto start view
      console.log("-> Going to start view instead of exiting");
      $ionicHistory.currentView($ionicHistory.backView()); // to clean history.
      $rootScope.$apply(function() {
        $location.path(window.localStorage["start_view"]);
      });
    } else if ($ionicHistory.backView() == null && $ionicHistory.currentView().url == window.localStorage["start_view"]) {
      console.log("-> Exiting app");
      navigator.app.exitApp();
    } else {
      // Normal back
      console.log("-> Going back");
      $ionicHistory.goBack();
    }
  }, 100);

Answer 2

Import NavController in your app.component.ts and use below code.

import { NavController} from '@ionic/angular';

constructor( private nav: NavController ) {this.initializeApp();}

ngOnInit() {
    this.plateform.backButton.subscribe(res => {
      this.nav.goBack('');
    });
  }