ActionBar 'up' button destroys parent activity, 'back' does not
In the android manifest.xml adding the following attribute for the parent activity tag worked for me.
android:launchMode="singleTop"Reference : http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html
Refer the similar question:How can I return to a parent activity correctly?
You can override what the actionbar up button should do like:
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {switch (item.getItemId()) {case android.R.id.home: onBackPressed(); return true;}return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);}And recreate the back button effect.
when you specify parent activity in manifest then it gets restarted when you click on up Navigation button in action bar.
check this i already answered this question
https://stackoverflow.com/a/32401235/3479012
you need to override up nevigation button in actionbar by accessing it by android.R.id.home in onOptionsItemSelected and do finish top activity.