Android does async do in background create a new thread

In Android, when you use the AsyncTask class to perform a task in the background, it does not necessarily create a new thread. Instead, it uses a thread pool to execute the task.

Here's what happens:

  1. When you create an AsyncTask instance, it is added to a thread pool managed by the Android system.
  2. When you call execute() on the AsyncTask instance, it is placed in a queue and waits for a thread to become available in the thread pool.
  3. When a thread becomes available, the AsyncTask instance is executed on that thread.
  4. The AsyncTask instance runs on the thread until it completes its task, which can include performing network requests, database operations, or other I/O-bound tasks.
  5. When the task is complete, the AsyncTask instance notifies the main thread (the UI thread) that the task is finished, and the main thread can then update the UI accordingly.

The thread pool used by AsyncTask is managed by the Android system and is designed to handle a large number of tasks efficiently. The pool is configured to have a minimum of 5 threads and a maximum of 128 threads, depending on the device and the system configuration.

It's worth noting that AsyncTask is a subclass of java.lang.Thread, but it does not create a new thread every time you call execute(). Instead, it reuses threads from the thread pool to execute tasks. This approach helps to improve performance and reduce the overhead of creating and managing threads.

If you need more control over the threading model or want to create a new thread for a specific task, you can use other Android APIs, such as:

However, for most cases, AsyncTask provides a convenient and efficient way to perform tasks in the background without worrying about the underlying threading details.