Android Jetpack Navigation, BottomNavigationView with Youtube or Instagram like proper back navigation (fragment back stack)?

Android Jetpack Navigation, BottomNavigationView with auto fragment back stack on back button click?

What I wanted, after choosing multiple tabs one after another by user and user click on back button app must redirect to the last page he/she opened.

I achieved the same using Android ViewPager, by saving the currently selected item in an ArrayList. Is there any auto back stack after Android Jetpack Navigation Release? I want to achieve it using navigation graph

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/container"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".main.MainActivity">

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/my_nav_host_fragment"
        android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        app:defaultNavHost="true"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/navigation"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:navGraph="@navigation/nav_graph" />

    <android.support.design.widget.BottomNavigationView
        android:id="@+id/navigation"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="0dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="0dp"
        android:background="?android:attr/windowBackground"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:menu="@menu/navigation" />

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

navigation.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_home"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_home"
        android:title="@string/title_home" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_people"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_group"
        android:title="@string/title_people" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_organization"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_organization"
        android:title="@string/title_organization" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_business"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_business"
        android:title="@string/title_business" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_tasks"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_dashboard"
        android:title="@string/title_tasks" />

</menu>

also added

bottomNavigation.setupWithNavController(Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.my_nav_host_fragment))

I got one answer from Levi Moreira, as follows

navigation.setOnNavigationItemSelectedListener {item ->

            onNavDestinationSelected(item, Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.my_nav_host_fragment))

        }

But by doing this only happening is that last opened fragment's instance creating again.

Providing proper Back Navigation for BottomNavigationView

You don't really need a ViewPager to work with BottomNavigation and the new Navigation architecture component. I have been working in a sample app that uses exactly the two, see here.

The basic concept is this, you have the main activity that will host the BottomNavigationView and that is the Navigation host for your navigation graph, this is how the xml for it look like:

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/container"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".main.MainActivity">

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/my_nav_host_fragment"
        android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        app:defaultNavHost="true"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/navigation"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:navGraph="@navigation/nav_graph" />

    <android.support.design.widget.BottomNavigationView
        android:id="@+id/navigation"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="0dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="0dp"
        android:background="?android:attr/windowBackground"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:menu="@menu/navigation" />

</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

The navigation Menu (tabs menu) for the BottomNavigationView looks like this:

navigation.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_home"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_home"
        android:title="@string/title_home" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_people"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_group"
        android:title="@string/title_people" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_organization"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_organization"
        android:title="@string/title_organization" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_business"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_business"
        android:title="@string/title_business" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_tasks"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_dashboard"
        android:title="@string/title_tasks" />

</menu>

All of this is just the BottomNavigationView setup. Now to make it work with the Navigation Arch Component you need to go into the navigation graph editor, add all your fragment destinations (in my case I have 5 of them, one for each tab) and set the id of the destination with the same name as the one in the navigation.xml file:

This will tell android to make a link between the tab and the fragment, now every time the user clicks the "Home" tab android will take care of loading up the correct fragment. There is also one piece of kotlin code that needs to be added to your NavHost (the main activity) to wire things up with the BottomNavigationView:

You need to add in your onCreate:

bottomNavigation.setupWithNavController(Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.my_nav_host_fragment))

This tells android to do the wiring between the Navigation architecture component and the BottomNavigationView. See more in the docs.

To get the same beahvior you have when you use youtube, just add this:

navigation.setOnNavigationItemSelectedListener {item ->

            onNavDestinationSelected(item, Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.my_nav_host_fragment))

        }

This will make destinations go into the backstack so when you hit the back button, the last visited destination will be popped up.

You have to set host navigation like below xml:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="@color/colorPrimary" />

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/navigation_host_fragment"
        android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        app:defaultNavHost="true"
        app:navGraph="@navigation/nav_graph" />

    <android.support.design.widget.BottomNavigationView
        android:id="@+id/bottom_navigation_view"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:itemIconTint="@drawable/color_state_list"
        app:itemTextColor="@drawable/color_state_list"
        app:menu="@menu/menu_bottom_navigation" />
</LinearLayout>

Setup With Navigation Controller :

NavHostFragment navHostFragment = (NavHostFragment) getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.navigation_host_fragment);
NavigationUI.setupWithNavController(bottomNavigationView, navHostFragment.getNavController());

menu_bottom_navigation.xml :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item
        android:id="@id/tab1"  // Id of navigation graph 
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:title="@string/tab1" />
    <item
        android:id="@id/tab2" // Id of navigation graph
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:title="@string/tab2" />

    <item
        android:id="@id/tab3" // Id of navigation graph
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:title="@string/tab3" />
</menu>

nav_graph.xml :

<navigation xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/nav_graph"
    app:startDestination="@id/tab1">
    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/tab1"
        android:name="com.navigationsample.Tab1Fragment"
        android:label="@string/tab1"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_tab_1" />

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/tab2"
        android:name="com.navigationsample.Tab2Fragment"
        android:label="@string/tab2"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_tab_2"/>

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/tab3"
        android:name="com.simform.navigationsample.Tab3Fragment"
        android:label="@string/tab3"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_tab_3"/>
</navigation>

By setting up the same id of "nav_graph" to "menu_bottom_navigation" will handle the click of bottom navigation.

You can handle back action using popUpTo property in action tag.

First, let me clarify how Youtube and Instagram handles fragment navigation.

• When the user is on a detail fragment, back or up pop the stack once, with the state properly restaured. A second click on the already selected bottom bar item pop all the stack to the root, refreshing it
• When the user is on a root fragment, back goes to the last menu selected on the bottom bar, displaying the last detail fragment, with the state properly restaured (JetPack doesn't)
• When the user is on the start destination fragment, back finishes activity

None of the other answers above solve all this problems using the jetpack navigation.

JetPack navigation has no standard way to do this, the way that I found more simple is to dividing the navigation xml graph into one for each bottom navigation item, handling the back stack between the navigation items myself using the activity FragmentManager and use the JetPack NavController to handle the internal navigation between root and detail fragments (its implementation uses the childFragmentManager stack).

Suppose you have in your navigation folder this 3 xmls:

res/navigation/
    navigation_feed.xml
    navigation_explore.xml
    navigation_profile.xml

Have your destinationIds inside the navigation xmls the same of your bottomNavigationBar menu ids. Also, to each xml set the app:startDestination to the fragment that you want as the root of the navigation item.

Create a class BottomNavController.kt:

class BottomNavController(
        val context: Context,
        @IdRes val containerId: Int,
        @IdRes val appStartDestinationId: Int
) {
    private val navigationBackStack = BackStack.of(appStartDestinationId)
    lateinit var activity: Activity
    lateinit var fragmentManager: FragmentManager
    private var listener: OnNavigationItemChanged? = null
    private var navGraphProvider: NavGraphProvider? = null

    interface OnNavigationItemChanged {
        fun onItemChanged(itemId: Int)
    }

    interface NavGraphProvider {
        @NavigationRes
        fun getNavGraphId(itemId: Int): Int
    }

    init {
        var ctx = context
        while (ctx is ContextWrapper) {
            if (ctx is Activity) {
                activity = ctx
                fragmentManager = (activity as FragmentActivity).supportFragmentManager
                break
            }
            ctx = ctx.baseContext
        }
    }

    fun setOnItemNavigationChanged(listener: (itemId: Int) -> Unit) {
        this.listener = object : OnNavigationItemChanged {
            override fun onItemChanged(itemId: Int) {
                listener.invoke(itemId)
            }
        }
    }

    fun setNavGraphProvider(provider: NavGraphProvider) {
        navGraphProvider = provider
    }

    fun onNavigationItemReselected(item: MenuItem) {
        // If the user press a second time the navigation button, we pop the back stack to the root
        activity.findNavController(containerId).popBackStack(item.itemId, false)
    }

    fun onNavigationItemSelected(itemId: Int = navigationBackStack.last()): Boolean {

        // Replace fragment representing a navigation item
        val fragment = fragmentManager.findFragmentByTag(itemId.toString())
                ?: NavHostFragment.create(navGraphProvider?.getNavGraphId(itemId)
                        ?: throw RuntimeException("You need to set up a NavGraphProvider with " +
                                "BottomNavController#setNavGraphProvider")
                )
        fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
                .setCustomAnimations(
                        R.anim.nav_default_enter_anim,
                        R.anim.nav_default_exit_anim,
                        R.anim.nav_default_pop_enter_anim,
                        R.anim.nav_default_pop_exit_anim
                )
                .replace(containerId, fragment, itemId.toString())
                .addToBackStack(null)
                .commit()

        // Add to back stack
        navigationBackStack.moveLast(itemId)

        listener?.onItemChanged(itemId)

        return true
    }

    fun onBackPressed() {
        val childFragmentManager = fragmentManager.findFragmentById(containerId)!!
                .childFragmentManager
        when {
            // We should always try to go back on the child fragment manager stack before going to
            // the navigation stack. It's important to use the child fragment manager instead of the
            // NavController because if the user change tabs super fast commit of the
            // supportFragmentManager may mess up with the NavController child fragment manager back
            // stack
            childFragmentManager.popBackStackImmediate() -> {
            }
            // Fragment back stack is empty so try to go back on the navigation stack
            navigationBackStack.size > 1 -> {
                // Remove last item from back stack
                navigationBackStack.removeLast()

                // Update the container with new fragment
                onNavigationItemSelected()
            }
            // If the stack has only one and it's not the navigation home we should
            // ensure that the application always leave from startDestination
            navigationBackStack.last() != appStartDestinationId -> {
                navigationBackStack.removeLast()
                navigationBackStack.add(0, appStartDestinationId)
                onNavigationItemSelected()
            }
            // Navigation stack is empty, so finish the activity
            else -> activity.finish()
        }
    }

    private class BackStack : ArrayList<Int>() {
        companion object {
            fun of(vararg elements: Int): BackStack {
                val b = BackStack()
                b.addAll(elements.toTypedArray())
                return b
            }
        }

        fun removeLast() = removeAt(size - 1)
        fun moveLast(item: Int) {
            remove(item)
            add(item)
        }
    }
}

// Convenience extension to set up the navigation
fun BottomNavigationView.setUpNavigation(bottomNavController: BottomNavController, onReselect: ((menuItem: MenuItem) -> Unit)? = null) {
    setOnNavigationItemSelectedListener {
        bottomNavController.onNavigationItemSelected(it.itemId)
    }
    setOnNavigationItemReselectedListener {
        bottomNavController.onNavigationItemReselected(it)
        onReselect?.invoke(it)
    }
    bottomNavController.setOnItemNavigationChanged { itemId ->
        menu.findItem(itemId).isChecked = true
    }
}

Do your layout main.xml like this:

<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <FrameLayout
        android:id="@+id/container"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@id/bottomNavigationView"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <com.google.android.material.bottomnavigation.BottomNavigationView
        android:id="@+id/bottomNavigationView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="0dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="0dp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:menu="@menu/navigation" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Use on your activity like this:

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(),
        BottomNavController.NavGraphProvider  {
    
    private val navController by lazy(LazyThreadSafetyMode.NONE) {
        Navigation.findNavController(this, R.id.container)
    }

    private val bottomNavController by lazy(LazyThreadSafetyMode.NONE) {
        BottomNavController(this, R.id.container, R.id.navigation_feed)
    }

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.main)

        bottomNavController.setNavGraphProvider(this)
        bottomNavigationView.setUpNavigation(bottomNavController)
        if (savedInstanceState == null) bottomNavController
        		.onNavigationItemSelected()

        // do your things...
    }

    override fun getNavGraphId(itemId: Int) = when (itemId) {
        R.id.navigation_feed -> R.navigation.navigation_feed
        R.id.navigation_explore -> R.navigation.navigation_explore
        R.id.navigation_profile -> R.navigation.navigation_profile
        else -> R.navigation.navigation_feed
    }

    override fun onSupportNavigateUp(): Boolean = navController
    		.navigateUp()

    override fun onBackPressed() = bottomNavController.onBackPressed()
}

With the version 2.4.0 of the navigation package, it is finally officially supported!

https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/releases/navigation#version_240_2

Not only that: after uploading the navigation library to this version, this feature is the default behaviour. And as a side note, now this default behaviour includes that fragments are not recreated when navigating among them, that seemed to be something quite requested.

You can have a viewpager setup with bottom navigation view. Each fragment in the viewpager will be a container fragment, it will have child fragments with its own backstack. You can maintain backstack for each tab in viewpager this way

The key point to have a proper back stack that keeps state's is to have NavHostFragment's which has childFragmentManager and their own backstack. Extension file of Navigation component's advanced sample actually does this.

/**
 * Manages the various graphs needed for a [BottomNavigationView].
 *
 * This sample is a workaround until the Navigation Component supports multiple back stacks.
 */
fun BottomNavigationView.setupWithNavController(
    navGraphIds: List<Int>,
    fragmentManager: FragmentManager,
    containerId: Int,
    intent: Intent
): LiveData<NavController> {

    // Map of tags
    val graphIdToTagMap = SparseArray<String>()
    // Result. Mutable live data with the selected controlled
    val selectedNavController = MutableLiveData<NavController>()

    var firstFragmentGraphId = 0

    // First create a NavHostFragment for each NavGraph ID
    navGraphIds.forEachIndexed { index, navGraphId ->
        val fragmentTag = getFragmentTag(index)

        // Find or create the Navigation host fragment
        val navHostFragment = obtainNavHostFragment(
            fragmentManager,
            fragmentTag,
            navGraphId,
            containerId
        )

        // Obtain its id
        val graphId = navHostFragment.navController.graph.id

        if (index == 0) {
            firstFragmentGraphId = graphId
        }

        // Save to the map
        graphIdToTagMap[graphId] = fragmentTag

        // Attach or detach nav host fragment depending on whether it's the selected item.
        if (this.selectedItemId == graphId) {
            // Update livedata with the selected graph
            selectedNavController.value = navHostFragment.navController
            attachNavHostFragment(fragmentManager, navHostFragment, index == 0)
        } else {
            detachNavHostFragment(fragmentManager, navHostFragment)
        }
    }

    // Now connect selecting an item with swapping Fragments
    var selectedItemTag = graphIdToTagMap[this.selectedItemId]
    val firstFragmentTag = graphIdToTagMap[firstFragmentGraphId]
    var isOnFirstFragment = selectedItemTag == firstFragmentTag

    // When a navigation item is selected
    setOnNavigationItemSelectedListener { item ->
        // Don't do anything if the state is state has already been saved.
        if (fragmentManager.isStateSaved) {
            false
        } else {
            val newlySelectedItemTag = graphIdToTagMap[item.itemId]
            if (selectedItemTag != newlySelectedItemTag) {
                // Pop everything above the first fragment (the "fixed start destination")
                fragmentManager.popBackStack(
                    firstFragmentTag,
                    FragmentManager.POP_BACK_STACK_INCLUSIVE
                )
                val selectedFragment = fragmentManager.findFragmentByTag(newlySelectedItemTag)
                        as NavHostFragment

                // Exclude the first fragment tag because it's always in the back stack.
                if (firstFragmentTag != newlySelectedItemTag) {
                    // Commit a transaction that cleans the back stack and adds the first fragment
                    // to it, creating the fixed started destination.
                    fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
                        .attach(selectedFragment)
                        .setPrimaryNavigationFragment(selectedFragment)
                        .apply {
                            // Detach all other Fragments
                            graphIdToTagMap.forEach { _, fragmentTagIter ->
                                if (fragmentTagIter != newlySelectedItemTag) {
                                    detach(fragmentManager.findFragmentByTag(firstFragmentTag)!!)
                                }
                            }
                        }
                        .addToBackStack(firstFragmentTag)
                        .setCustomAnimations(
                            R.anim.nav_default_enter_anim,
                            R.anim.nav_default_exit_anim,
                            R.anim.nav_default_pop_enter_anim,
                            R.anim.nav_default_pop_exit_anim
                        )
                        .setReorderingAllowed(true)
                        .commit()
                }
                selectedItemTag = newlySelectedItemTag
                isOnFirstFragment = selectedItemTag == firstFragmentTag
                selectedNavController.value = selectedFragment.navController
                true
            } else {
                false
            }
        }
    }

    // Optional: on item reselected, pop back stack to the destination of the graph
    setupItemReselected(graphIdToTagMap, fragmentManager)

    // Handle deep link
    setupDeepLinks(navGraphIds, fragmentManager, containerId, intent)

    // Finally, ensure that we update our BottomNavigationView when the back stack changes
    fragmentManager.addOnBackStackChangedListener {
        if (!isOnFirstFragment && !fragmentManager.isOnBackStack(firstFragmentTag)) {
            this.selectedItemId = firstFragmentGraphId
        }

        // Reset the graph if the currentDestination is not valid (happens when the back
        // stack is popped after using the back button).
        selectedNavController.value?.let { controller ->
            if (controller.currentDestination == null) {
                controller.navigate(controller.graph.id)
            }
        }
    }
    return selectedNavController
}

private fun BottomNavigationView.setupDeepLinks(
    navGraphIds: List<Int>,
    fragmentManager: FragmentManager,
    containerId: Int,
    intent: Intent
) {
    navGraphIds.forEachIndexed { index, navGraphId ->
        val fragmentTag = getFragmentTag(index)

        // Find or create the Navigation host fragment
        val navHostFragment = obtainNavHostFragment(
            fragmentManager,
            fragmentTag,
            navGraphId,
            containerId
        )
        // Handle Intent
        if (navHostFragment.navController.handleDeepLink(intent)
            && selectedItemId != navHostFragment.navController.graph.id
        ) {
            this.selectedItemId = navHostFragment.navController.graph.id
        }
    }
}

private fun BottomNavigationView.setupItemReselected(
    graphIdToTagMap: SparseArray<String>,
    fragmentManager: FragmentManager
) {
    setOnNavigationItemReselectedListener { item ->
        val newlySelectedItemTag = graphIdToTagMap[item.itemId]
        val selectedFragment = fragmentManager.findFragmentByTag(newlySelectedItemTag)
                as NavHostFragment
        val navController = selectedFragment.navController
        // Pop the back stack to the start destination of the current navController graph
        navController.popBackStack(
            navController.graph.startDestination, false
        )
    }
}

private fun detachNavHostFragment(
    fragmentManager: FragmentManager,
    navHostFragment: NavHostFragment
) {
    fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
        .detach(navHostFragment)
        .commitNow()
}

private fun attachNavHostFragment(
    fragmentManager: FragmentManager,
    navHostFragment: NavHostFragment,
    isPrimaryNavFragment: Boolean
) {
    fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
        .attach(navHostFragment)
        .apply {
            if (isPrimaryNavFragment) {
                setPrimaryNavigationFragment(navHostFragment)
            }
        }
        .commitNow()

}

private fun obtainNavHostFragment(
    fragmentManager: FragmentManager,
    fragmentTag: String,
    navGraphId: Int,
    containerId: Int
): NavHostFragment {
    // If the Nav Host fragment exists, return it
    val existingFragment = fragmentManager.findFragmentByTag(fragmentTag) as NavHostFragment?
    existingFragment?.let { return it }

    // Otherwise, create it and return it.
    val navHostFragment = NavHostFragment.create(navGraphId)
    fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
        .add(containerId, navHostFragment, fragmentTag)
        .commitNow()
    return navHostFragment
}

private fun FragmentManager.isOnBackStack(backStackName: String): Boolean {
    val backStackCount = backStackEntryCount
    for (index in 0 until backStackCount) {
        if (getBackStackEntryAt(index).name == backStackName) {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

private fun getFragmentTag(index: Int) = "bottomNavigation#$index"

Important part here is to obtain NavHostFragment if it does not exist in back stack with the function above and add it to back stack. commitNow is synchronous unlike commit

private fun obtainNavHostFragment( fragmentManager: FragmentManager, fragmentTag: String, navGraphId: Int, containerId: Int ): NavHostFragment { // If the Nav Host fragment exists, return it val existingFragment = fragmentManager.findFragmentByTag(fragmentTag) as NavHostFragment? existingFragment?.let { return it }

// Otherwise, create it and return it.
val navHostFragment = NavHostFragment.create(navGraphId)
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
    .add(containerId, navHostFragment, fragmentTag)
    .commitNow()
return navHostFragment

}

I built one using the NavigationExtension above which looks like this

with nested navigation.

Navigation graphs are similar, so only i add one

nav_graph_home.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<navigation xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/nav_graph_home"
    app:startDestination="@id/homeFragment1">


    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/homeFragment1"
        android:name="com.smarttoolfactory.tutorial5_3navigationui_bottomnavigation_nestednavigation.blankfragment.HomeFragment1"
        android:label="HomeFragment1"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_home1">
        <action
            android:id="@+id/action_homeFragment1_to_homeFragment2"
            app:destination="@id/homeFragment2" />
    </fragment>

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/homeFragment2"
        android:name="com.smarttoolfactory.tutorial5_3navigationui_bottomnavigation_nestednavigation.blankfragment.HomeFragment2"
        android:label="HomeFragment2"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_home2">
        <action
            android:id="@+id/action_homeFragment2_to_homeFragment3"
            app:destination="@id/homeFragment3" />
    </fragment>

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/homeFragment3"
        android:name="com.smarttoolfactory.tutorial5_3navigationui_bottomnavigation_nestednavigation.blankfragment.HomeFragment3"
        android:label="HomeFragment3"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_home3" >
        <action
            android:id="@+id/action_homeFragment3_to_homeFragment1"
            app:destination="@id/homeFragment1"
            app:popUpTo="@id/homeFragment1"
            app:popUpToInclusive="true" />
    </fragment>

</navigation>

Menu for bottom navigation

menu_bottom_nav.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item
            android:id="@+id/nav_graph_home"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_baseline_home_24"
            android:title="Home"/>

    <item
            android:id="@+id/nav_graph_dashboard"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_baseline_dashboard_24"
            android:title="Dashboard"/>

    <item
            android:id="@+id/nav_graph_notification"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_baseline_notifications_24"
            android:title="Notification"/>
    
</menu>

Layout for MainActivity that contains FragmentContainerView and BottomNavigationView

activiy_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <androidx.fragment.app.FragmentContainerView
        android:id="@+id/nav_host_container"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/bottom_nav"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <com.google.android.material.bottomnavigation.BottomNavigationView
        android:id="@+id/bottom_nav"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:menu="@menu/menu_bottom_nav" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

MainActivity.kt

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    private var currentNavController: LiveData<NavController>? = null

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        supportFragmentManager.addOnBackStackChangedListener {
            val backStackEntryCount = supportFragmentManager.backStackEntryCount
            val fragments = supportFragmentManager.fragments
            val fragmentCount = fragments.size


            Toast.makeText(
                this,
                "MainActivity backStackEntryCount: $backStackEntryCount, fragmentCount: $fragmentCount, fragments: $fragments",
                Toast.LENGTH_SHORT
            ).show()
        }


        if (savedInstanceState == null) {
            setupBottomNavigationBar()
        } // Else, need to wait for onRestoreInstanceState
    }

    override fun onRestoreInstanceState(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onRestoreInstanceState(savedInstanceState)
        // Now that BottomNavigationBar has restored its instance state
        // and its selectedItemId, we can proceed with setting up the
        // BottomNavigationBar with Navigation
        setupBottomNavigationBar()
    }

    /**
     * Called on first creation and when restoring state.
     */
    private fun setupBottomNavigationBar() {
        val bottomNavigationView = findViewById<BottomNavigationView>(R.id.bottom_nav)

        val navGraphIds = listOf(
            R.navigation.nav_graph_home,
            R.navigation.nav_graph_dashboard,
            R.navigation.nav_graph_notification
        )

        // Setup the bottom navigation view with a list of navigation graphs
        val controller = bottomNavigationView.setupWithNavController(
            navGraphIds = navGraphIds,
            fragmentManager = supportFragmentManager,
            containerId = R.id.nav_host_container,
            intent = intent
        )
        // Whenever the selected controller changes, setup the action bar.
        controller.observe(this, Observer { navController ->
            setupActionBarWithNavController(navController)
        })
        currentNavController = controller
    }

    override fun onSupportNavigateUp(): Boolean {
        return currentNavController?.value?.navigateUp() ?: false
    }
}

Fragment layouts and classes are simple classes so i skipped them out.You can check out full sample i built, or Google's repository to examine extension for advanced navigation or or other samples.

I have made an app like this (still not published on PlayStore) that has the same navigation, maybe its implementation is different from what Google does in their apps, but the functionality is the same.

the structure involves I have Main Activity that I switch the content of it by showing/hiding fragments using:

public void switchTo(final Fragment fragment, final String tag /*Each fragment should have a different Tag*/) {

// We compare if the current stack is the current fragment we try to show
if (fragment == getSupportFragmentManager().getPrimaryNavigationFragment()) {
  return;
}

// We need to hide the current showing fragment (primary fragment)
final Fragment currentShowingFragment = getSupportFragmentManager().getPrimaryNavigationFragment();

final FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
if (currentShowingFragment != null) {
  fragmentTransaction.hide(currentShowingFragment);
}

// We try to find that fragment if it was already added before
final Fragment alreadyAddedFragment = getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentByTag(tag);
if (alreadyAddedFragment != null) {
  // Since its already added before we just set it as primary navigation and show it again
  fragmentTransaction.setPrimaryNavigationFragment(alreadyAddedFragment);
  fragmentTransaction.show(alreadyAddedFragment);
} else {
  // We add the new fragment and then show it
  fragmentTransaction.add(containerId, fragment, tag);
  fragmentTransaction.show(fragment);
  // We set it as the primary navigation to support back stack and back navigation
  fragmentTransaction.setPrimaryNavigationFragment(fragment);
}

fragmentTransaction.commit();
}

The best solution is the solution that is provided by google team on his repo, the back button still sends u back to first button but the rest behavior its "normal"... It looks strage that Google is still not provinding a good solution, even when they are using it on (youtube, Google Photos, etc), they said androidx its out there to help, but is look like just we go around and find a workaround for the normal stuff.

Here is the link to google Repo where they are using nav. bottom with a navGraph per each button. https://github.com/android/architecture-components-samples/blob/master/NavigationAdvancedSample/app/src/main/java/com/example/android/navigationadvancedsample/NavigationExtensions.kt copy this file into ur project and have a look how it`s implemented in their project. For back button behavior u can create un own stack and onBackpressed just navigate on that stack.

Short and good code in Kotlin to connect bottom navigation items with fragments inside navigation graph:

    val navControl = findNavController( R.id.nav_host_frag_main)
    bottomNavigationView?.setupWithNavController(navControl)

*Just consider:Bottom navigation id's & fragments inside navigation graph must have the same id. Also thanks to good explanation from @sanat Answer

If you have a bottomNavigationView with 3 items corresponding to 3 Fragments: FragmentA, FragmentB and FragmentC where FragmentA is the startDestination in your navigation graph, then when you're on FragmentB or FragmentC and you click back, you're going to be redirected to FragmentA, that's the behavior recommended by Google and that's implemented by default.

If however you wish to alter this behavior, you'll need to either use a ViewPager as was suggested by some of the other answers, or manually handle the fragments backStack and back transactions yourself -which in a way would undermine the use of the Navigation component altogether-.

I didn't find any official solutions, but I use my own way

First, I create Stack for handle fragments

    needToAddToBackStack : Boolen = true


    private lateinit var fragmentBackStack: Stack<Int>
    fragmentBackStack = Stack()
    

and in

navController.addOnDestinationChangedListener { _, destination, _ ->
        if (needToAddToBackStack) {
            fragmentBackStack.add(destination.id)
        }

      
        needToAddToBackStack = true

    }

and handle the back button

override fun onBackPressed() {
    if (::fragmentBackStack.isInitialized && fragmentBackStack.size > 1) {
        fragmentBackStack.pop()
        val fragmentId = fragmentBackStack.lastElement()
        needToAddToBackStack = false
        navController.navigate(fragmentId)

    } else {
        if (::fragmentBackStack.isInitialized && fragmentBackStack.size == 1) {
            finish()
        } else {
            super.onBackPressed()
        }
    }

In the jetpack navigation, you have to make changes in only single navigation graph xml file for handle navigation, handle backstacks, custom animations, pass arguments between fragments.

If you want simply back to previous fragment,

<action
        android:id="@+id/action_deleteEmployeeFragment_to_employeesListFragment2"
        app:destination="@id/employeesListFragment"/>


    btn_cancel.setOnClickListener {
                it.findNavController().popBackStack()
            }

If you want to clear all backstacks and go to new fragment

<action
        android:id="@+id/action_deleteEmployeeFragment_to_employeesListFragment2"
        app:destination="@id/employeesListFragment"
        app:popUpTo="@id/employeesListFragment"
        app:popUpToInclusive="true"
        app:launchSingleTop="true" />


 btn_submit.setOnClickListener {
                   it.findNavController().navigate(DeleteEmployeeFragmentDirections.actionDeleteEmployeeFragmentToEmployeesListFragment2())
        }

For more reference: Jetpack Navigation Example

Originally answered here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/63645978/8956093

In Jetpack Navigation Componenet, if you want to perform some operation when fragment is poped then you need to override following functions.

1. Add OnBackPressedCallback in fragment to run your special operation when back is pressed present in system navigation bar at bottom.

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
   
        onBackPressedCallback = object : OnBackPressedCallback(true) {
            override fun handleOnBackPressed() {
                //perform your operation and call navigateUp
               findNavController().navigateUp()
            }
        }
    requireActivity().onBackPressedDispatcher.addCallback(onBackPressedCallback)
    }
   

2. Add onOptionsItemMenu in fragment to handle back arrow press present at top left corner within the app.

    override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState)
   
        setHasOptionsMenu(true)
    }
   
   override fun onOptionsItemSelected(item: MenuItem): Boolean {
      if (item.itemId == android.R.id.home) {
          //perform your operation and call navigateUp
          findNavController().navigateUp()
          return true
      }
      return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item)
   }
   

3. If there is no special code to be run when back is pressed on host fragment then use onSupportNavigateUp in Activity.

    override fun onSupportNavigateUp(): Boolean {
      if (navController.navigateUp() == false){
        //navigateUp() returns false if there are no more fragments to pop
        onBackPressed()
      }
      return navController.navigateUp()
    }
   

Note that onSupportNavigateUp() is not called if the fragment contains onOptionsItemSelected()

After read your question, I checked Google document again. And I saw that they have provided a solution make Navigation UI work well with BottomNavigationView. So, I created a tutorial for any guys that also need it like me. For text version: https://nhatvm.com/how-to-use-navigationui-with-bottomnavigation-in-android/ And for youtube version: https://youtu.be/2uxILvBbkyY