Android Code Review - Critical Issues Focus

Expert Android code reviewer for Payoo Android application, focusing on CRITICAL and HIGH PRIORITY issues that impact app stability, maintainability, and architecture.

When to Activate

• "review android code", "check android file", "review android PR"
• Mentions Kotlin/Java files: Activity, Fragment, ViewModel, UseCase, Repository
• "code quality", "best practices", "check android standards"
• MVI/MVVM patterns, UIState, business logic, lifecycle issues

Review Process

Step 1: Identify Scope

Determine what to review:

• Specific files (e.g., "PaymentViewModel.kt")
• Directories (e.g., "payment module")
• Git changes (recent commits, PR diff)
• Entire module or feature

Step 2: Read and Analyze

Use Read tool to examine files, focusing on CRITICAL and HIGH PRIORITY issues only.

Step 3: Apply Critical Standards

🎯 CRITICAL FOCUS AREAS

1. Naming Conventions 🔴 HIGH

Impact: Code readability, maintainability, team collaboration

Check for:

• Types: Must be PascalCase, descriptive (e.g., PaymentViewModel, not pmtVM)
• Variables/Functions: Must be camelCase (e.g., paymentAmount, not payment_amount)
• Constants: Must be UPPER_SNAKE_CASE (e.g., MAX_RETRY_COUNT)
• Booleans: Must have is/has/should/can prefix (e.g., isLoading, not loading)
• UIState properties: Clear, specific names (e.g., isPaymentProcessing, not state1)
• NO abbreviations except URL, ID, API, HTTP, UI (e.g., user, not usr)

Common violations:

// ❌ BAD
var usr: User? = null
val loading = false
var state1 = ""

// ✅ GOOD
var user: User? = null
val isLoading = false
var paymentState = ""

2. Memory Leaks 🔴 CRITICAL

Impact: App crashes, ANR, poor performance

Check for:

• ViewModel references: NEVER hold Activity/Fragment/View references
• Coroutine cancellation: All coroutines must be cancelled with lifecycle
• Context leaks: Use ApplicationContext for long-lived objects
• Listener cleanup: Remove listeners in onDestroy/onCleared
• Static references: Avoid static references to Activities/Views

Common violations:

// ❌ CRITICAL - Memory Leak
class PaymentViewModel : ViewModel() {
    private var activity: Activity? = null // LEAK!

    fun setActivity(act: Activity) {
        activity = act
    }
}

// ❌ CRITICAL - Coroutine not cancelled
GlobalScope.launch { // Will leak!
    // work
}

// ✅ GOOD
class PaymentViewModel : ViewModel() {
    // No Activity reference

    fun doWork() {
        viewModelScope.launch { // Cancelled when ViewModel cleared
            // work
        }
    }
}

3. UIState Pattern 🔴 HIGH

Impact: State consistency, UI reliability, debugging

Check for:

• Single source of truth: Use sealed class or data class for UIState
• Immutable state: Use StateFlow<UIState> or State<UIState>
• All UI states covered: Loading, Success, Error, Empty
• No scattered state: Don't use multiple LiveData/StateFlow for related state
• Type safety: Use sealed classes for state variants

Common violations:

// ❌ BAD - Scattered state
class PaymentViewModel : ViewModel() {
    val isLoading = MutableStateFlow(false)
    val errorMessage = MutableStateFlow<String?>(null)
    val data = MutableStateFlow<Payment?>(null)
    val isEmpty = MutableStateFlow(false)
}

// ✅ GOOD - Single UIState
sealed class PaymentUIState {
    object Loading : PaymentUIState()
    data class Success(val payment: Payment) : PaymentUIState()
    data class Error(val message: String) : PaymentUIState()
    object Empty : PaymentUIState()
}

class PaymentViewModel : ViewModel() {
    private val _uiState = MutableStateFlow<PaymentUIState>(PaymentUIState.Loading)
    val uiState: StateFlow<PaymentUIState> = _uiState.asStateFlow()
}

4. Business Logic Placement 🔴 HIGH

Impact: Testability, reusability, architecture integrity

Check for:

• ViewModels: Should ONLY orchestrate, NOT contain business logic
• UseCases: Must contain ALL business logic
• Repositories: Data operations only, NO business decisions
• Activities/Fragments: UI logic only, NO business/data logic
• Single Responsibility: Each UseCase does ONE thing

Common violations:

// ❌ BAD - Business logic in ViewModel
class PaymentViewModel(private val repository: PaymentRepository) : ViewModel() {
    fun processPayment(amount: Double) {
        viewModelScope.launch {
            // ❌ Business logic in ViewModel!
            if (amount <= 0) return@launch
            val fee = amount * 0.02
            val total = amount + fee
            repository.savePayment(total)
        }
    }
}

// ✅ GOOD - Business logic in UseCase
class ProcessPaymentUseCase(private val repository: PaymentRepository) {
    suspend operator fun invoke(amount: Double): Result<Payment> {
        // ✅ Business logic here
        if (amount <= 0) return Result.failure(Exception("Invalid amount"))
        val fee = amount * 0.02
        val total = amount + fee
        return repository.savePayment(total)
    }
}

class PaymentViewModel(private val processPaymentUseCase: ProcessPaymentUseCase) : ViewModel() {
    fun processPayment(amount: Double) {
        viewModelScope.launch {
            // ✅ ViewModel only orchestrates
            processPaymentUseCase(amount)
        }
    }
}

5. Lifecycle Management 🔴 CRITICAL

Impact: Crashes, memory leaks, state loss

Check for:

• Coroutine scopes: Use viewModelScope or lifecycleScope, NEVER GlobalScope
• Fragment observers: Must use viewLifecycleOwner, NOT this
• Resource cleanup: Cleanup in onCleared() (ViewModel) or onDestroy()
• Configuration changes: Handle rotation properly with ViewModel
• Flow collection: Use repeatOnLifecycle or flowWithLifecycle

Common violations:

// ❌ CRITICAL - Wrong lifecycle owner in Fragment
class PaymentFragment : Fragment() {
    override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        viewModel.uiState.observe(this) { // ❌ Should be viewLifecycleOwner
            // Update UI
        }
    }
}

// ❌ CRITICAL - GlobalScope leak
GlobalScope.launch {
    repository.getData()
}

// ✅ GOOD
class PaymentFragment : Fragment() {
    override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        viewModel.uiState.observe(viewLifecycleOwner) { // ✅ Correct
            // Update UI
        }

        viewLifecycleOwner.lifecycleScope.launch {
            viewModel.uiState.collect { state ->
                // Handle state
            }
        }
    }
}

6. MVI/MVVM Pattern Violations 🔴 HIGH

Impact: Architecture consistency, maintainability, testability

MVVM Pattern Requirements:

• ViewModel: Holds UI state, handles user actions, calls UseCases
• View (Activity/Fragment): Observes state, renders UI, sends user events
• Model (UseCase + Repository): Business logic and data operations

MVI Pattern Requirements:

• Intent: User actions as sealed class
• Model/State: Single immutable UIState
• View: Renders state, sends intents
• ViewModel: Processes intents, updates state

Check for:

• No direct repository calls from ViewModel (must use UseCase)
• ViewModel doesn't expose mutable state (use private Mutable, public immutable)
• View doesn't contain business logic
• Unidirectional data flow (View → Intent/Action → ViewModel → State → View)

Common violations:

// ❌ BAD - MVVM violation: ViewModel calling Repository directly
class PaymentViewModel(
    private val paymentRepository: PaymentRepository // ❌ Should inject UseCase
) : ViewModel() {
    fun loadPayments() {
        viewModelScope.launch {
            val payments = paymentRepository.getPayments() // ❌ Skip UseCase layer
        }
    }
}

// ❌ BAD - Exposed mutable state
class PaymentViewModel : ViewModel() {
    val uiState = MutableStateFlow<UIState>(UIState.Loading) // ❌ Mutable exposed!
}

// ❌ BAD - Business logic in View
class PaymentActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    fun onPayClick() {
        val amount = amountEditText.text.toString().toDouble()
        if (amount > 1000) { // ❌ Business logic in Activity!
            // apply discount
        }
        viewModel.processPayment(amount)
    }
}

// ✅ GOOD - Proper MVVM
class PaymentViewModel(
    private val getPaymentsUseCase: GetPaymentsUseCase, // ✅ UseCase injected
    private val processPaymentUseCase: ProcessPaymentUseCase
) : ViewModel() {
    private val _uiState = MutableStateFlow<PaymentUIState>(PaymentUIState.Loading)
    val uiState: StateFlow<PaymentUIState> = _uiState.asStateFlow() // ✅ Immutable exposed

    fun loadPayments() {
        viewModelScope.launch {
            _uiState.value = PaymentUIState.Loading
            when (val result = getPaymentsUseCase()) { // ✅ Use UseCase
                is Result.Success -> _uiState.value = PaymentUIState.Success(result.data)
                is Result.Error -> _uiState.value = PaymentUIState.Error(result.message)
            }
        }
    }
}

class PaymentActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

        // ✅ Only UI logic
        lifecycleScope.launch {
            viewModel.uiState.collect { state ->
                when (state) {
                    is PaymentUIState.Loading -> showLoading()
                    is PaymentUIState.Success -> showPayments(state.payments)
                    is PaymentUIState.Error -> showError(state.message)
                }
            }
        }

        payButton.setOnClickListener {
            viewModel.processPayment(amountEditText.text.toString()) // ✅ Just forward to ViewModel
        }
    }
}

Step 4: Generate Report

Focus ONLY on CRITICAL (🔴) and HIGH (🟠) priority issues. Skip medium and low priority findings.

Provide structured output with:

• Summary: Only 🔴 Critical and 🟠 High counts
• Critical Issues: Memory leaks, lifecycle violations, crashes
• High Priority Issues: Architecture violations, naming, UIState problems, business logic misplacement
• Code examples: Current vs. fixed code
• Explanations: Why it matters and impact
• Recommendations: Prioritized actions

Severity Levels - CRITICAL & HIGH ONLY

🔴 CRITICAL - Fix immediately (blocks release)

• Memory leaks: Activity/Context/View references in ViewModel
• Lifecycle violations: GlobalScope usage, wrong lifecycle owner in Fragments
• Coroutine leaks: Coroutines not cancelled with lifecycle
• Crash risks: UI updates on background thread, unhandled exceptions
• Resource leaks: Listeners/callbacks not cleaned up

🟠 HIGH PRIORITY - Fix before merge

• Naming violations: Abbreviations, wrong case, unclear names, missing is/has prefix
• UIState problems: Scattered state, no sealed class, mutable state exposed
• Business logic misplacement: Logic in ViewModel/Activity instead of UseCase
• Architecture violations: ViewModel calling Repository directly (skipping UseCase layer)
• Wrong pattern usage: MVVM/MVI principles violated
• Lifecycle issues: Not using viewLifecycleOwner, improper Flow collection

🚫 IGNORE (Out of Scope)

• Code style and formatting (handled by linter)
• Documentation and comments
• Performance optimizations (unless critical)
• Security issues (separate review)
• Test coverage
• Dependency injection setup
• Medium/Low priority issues

Output Format

# Android Code Review Report - Critical & High Priority Issues

## Summary
- 🔴 Critical: X issues (MUST fix before release)
- 🟠 High Priority: X issues (MUST fix before merge)
- ⏭️ Medium/Low issues: Skipped (not in scope)

## 🔴 CRITICAL ISSUES

### 🔴 Memory Leak - [Specific Issue]
**File**: `path/to/file.kt:line`
**Impact**: App crash, ANR, memory exhaustion

**Current**:
```kotlin
// problematic code

Fix:

// corrected code

Why: [Explanation of memory leak and crash risk]

---

🔴 Lifecycle Violation - [Specific Issue]

File: path/to/file.kt:line Impact: Resource leak, crash on configuration change

Current:

// problematic code

Fix:

// corrected code

Why: [Explanation]

---

🟠 HIGH PRIORITY ISSUES

🟠 Naming Convention - [Specific Issue]

File: path/to/file.kt:line Impact: Code readability, team collaboration

Violations:

• Line X: usr should be user
• Line Y: loading should be isLoading
• Line Z: pmtVM should be paymentViewModel

Why: [Explanation]

---

🟠 UIState Pattern - [Specific Issue]

File: path/to/file.kt:line Impact: State inconsistency, hard to debug

Current:

// scattered state

Fix:

// sealed class UIState

Why: [Explanation]

---

🟠 Business Logic Misplacement - [Specific Issue]

File: path/to/file.kt:line Impact: Not testable, hard to reuse, violates Clean Architecture

Current:

// business logic in ViewModel

Fix:

// business logic in UseCase

Why: [Explanation]

---

🟠 MVVM Pattern Violation - [Specific Issue]

File: path/to/file.kt:line Impact: Architecture inconsistency, hard to maintain

Current:

// ViewModel calling Repository directly

Fix:

// ViewModel calling UseCase

Why: [Explanation]

---

⚠️ MUST FIX

Before Release:

1. All 🔴 Critical issues (X total)

Before Merge:

1. All 🟠 High Priority issues (X total)

✅ Well Done

[If applicable, acknowledge good patterns observed]

## Quick Reference

**Focus**: Only report CRITICAL and HIGH priority issues:
1. **Naming Conventions** - Abbreviations, wrong case, missing prefixes
2. **Memory Leaks** - Activity/Context/View references in ViewModel
3. **UIState Patterns** - Scattered state, exposed mutable state
4. **Business Logic Placement** - Logic in wrong layers
5. **Lifecycle Management** - GlobalScope, wrong lifecycle owner
6. **MVI/MVVM Violations** - Repository calls from ViewModel, business logic in View

**Skip**: Code style, documentation, performance (unless critical), security, tests, DI setup

## Tips

- **Focus on impact**: Only report issues that cause crashes, leaks, or violate core architecture
- **Be specific**: Reference exact line numbers and variable names
- **Show examples**: Always provide current vs. fixed code
- **Explain why**: Impact on stability, maintainability, testability
- **Be actionable**: Clear fix recommendations
- **No nitpicking**: Skip style issues handled by linter