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Kotlin Coroutine Cancellation optimization guide as expected when using Dispatchers.IO for network calls

👀 Views: 25 đŸ’Ŧ Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-14
kotlin coroutines retrofit android viewmodel Kotlin

I'm trying to figure out Can someone help me understand I'm working with an scenario with coroutines in Kotlin where the cancellation of a coroutine does not seem to work when using `Dispatchers.IO` for network calls with Retrofit. I have a coroutine in my ViewModel that makes a network request, and I'm trying to cancel it when the user navigates away from the screen. However, the request continues to execute in the background, which is causing unexpected behavior in my app. Here's a simplified version of my code: ```kotlin class MyViewModel : ViewModel() { private var job: Job? = null fun fetchData() { job = viewModelScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) { try { val response = apiService.getData() // Retrofit call // Process response } catch (e: Exception) { // Handle exceptions } } } override fun onCleared() { super.onCleared() job?.cancel() // Cancelling the job } } ``` When I navigate away from the activity, I expect the `fetchData()` coroutine to stop executing, but it doesn't. I also verified that `onCleared()` is called, and the job is indeed being cancelled. However, the network call still completes, resulting in unnecessary processing after the ViewModel is cleared. I've tried using `withContext(Dispatchers.Main)` to switch back to the main thread after the network call, but this doesn't seem to help either. Is there something I'm missing regarding coroutine cancellation with Retrofit? What are the best practices to ensure that network calls are cancelled properly when a ViewModel is no longer active? Any insights would be appreciated! Could someone point me to the right documentation? Has anyone dealt with something similar?