Android activity life cycle - what are all these methods for?

Question

What is the life cycle of an Android activity? Why are so many similar sounding methods (onCreate(), onStart(), onResume()) called dur

Answer 1

I run some logs as per answers above and here is the output:

Starting Activity

On Activity Load (First Time)
————————————————————————————————————————————————
D/IndividualChatActivity: onCreate: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onStart: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onResume: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onPostResume: 

Reload After BackPressed
————————————————————————————————————————————————
D/IndividualChatActivity: onCreate: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onStart: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onResume: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onPostResume: 

OnMaximize(Circle Button)
————————————————————————————————————————————————
D/IndividualChatActivity: onRestart: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onStart: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onResume: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onPostResume: 

OnMaximize(Square Button)
————————————————————————————————————————————————
D/IndividualChatActivity: onRestart: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onStart: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onResume: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onPostResume: 

Stopping The Activity

On BackPressed
————————————————————————————————————————————————
D/IndividualChatActivity: onPause:
D/IndividualChatActivity: onStop: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onDestroy: 

OnMinimize (Circle Button)
————————————————————————————————————————————————
D/IndividualChatActivity: onPause: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onStop: 

OnMinimize (Square Button)
————————————————————————————————————————————————
D/IndividualChatActivity: onPause: 
D/IndividualChatActivity: onStop: 

Going To Another Activity
————————————————————————————————————————————————
D/IndividualChatActivity: onPause:
D/IndividualChatActivity: onStop: 

Close The App
————————————————————————————————————————————————
D/IndividualChatActivity: onDestroy: 

In my personal opinion only two are required onStart and onStop.

onResume seems to be in every instance of getting back, and onPause in every instance of leaving (except for closing the app).