I've got a massive problem with the way the android fragment backstack seems to work and would be most grateful for any help that is offered. Imagine you have 3 Fragments [1] [2] [3] I want the user to be able to navigate [1] > [2] > [3] but on the way back (pressing back button) [3] > [1]. As I would have imagined this would be accomplished by not calling addToBackStack(..) when creating the transaction that brings fragment [2] into the fragment holder defined in XML. The reality of this seems as though that if I dont want [2] to appear again when user presses back button on [3], I must not call addToBackStack in the transaction that shows fragment [3]. This seems completely counter-intuitive (perhaps coming from the iOS world). Anyway if i do it this way, when I go from [1] > [2] and press back I arrive back at [1] as expected. If I go [1] > [2] > [3] and then press back I jump back to [1] (as expected). Now the strange behavior happens when I try and jump to [2] again from [1]. First of all [3] is briefly displayed before [2] comes into view. If I press back at this point [3] is displayed, and if I press back once again the app exits. Can anyone help me to understand whats going on here? And here is the layout xml file for my main activity: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:orientation="vertical" > <fragment android:id="@+id/headerFragment" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" class="com.fragment_test.FragmentControls" > <!-- Preview: layout=@layout/details --> </fragment> <FrameLayout android:id="@+id/detailFragment" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" /> Update This is the code I'm using to build by nav heirarchy Fragment frag; FragmentTransaction transaction; //Create The first fragment [1], add it to the view, BUT Dont add the transaction to the backstack frag = new Fragment1(); transaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction(); transaction.replace(R.id.detailFragment, frag); transaction.commit(); //Create the second [2] fragment, add it to the view and add the transaction that replaces the first fragment to the backstack frag = new Fragment2(); transaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction(); transaction.replace(R.id.detailFragment, frag); transaction.addToBackStack(null); transaction.commit(); //Create third fragment frag = new Fragment3(); transaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction(); transaction.replace(R.id.detailFragment, frag); transaction.commit(); //END OF SETUP CODE------------------------- //NOW: //Press back once and then issue the following code: frag = new Fragment2(); transaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction(); transaction.replace(R.id.detailFragment, frag); transaction.addToBackStack(null); transaction.commit(); //Now press back again and you end up at fragment [3] not [1] Many thanks