What's the point of using LiveData in ViewModel if I can use Flow and StateFlow with lifecycleScope \ viewLifecycleOwner.lifecycleScope

Issue

Flow has a lot of operators, LiveData has only 3 (Transformations). Is there any reason to keep using LiveData except StateFlow is still experimental?

UPD. StateFlow, SharedFlow and corresponding operators are promoted to stable API in kotlinx.coroutines 1.4.0

Solution

There is not much reason to use LiveData nowadays. (State)Flow/Coroutines also brings new possibilites via lifecycleScope.launchWhenCreated/Started/Resumed, hard to do with LiveData.

But there is one reason when LiveData is needed - DataBinding. It currently doesn't support observing Flow.

EDIT: there is going to be support for StateFlow in DataBinding in Android Studio 4.3: https://twitter.com/manuelvicnt/status/1314621067831521282

Answered By - hrach