IssueTracker

Summary:
I’m using a LazyColumn (or LazyRow) with the default prefetch strategy (DefaultLazyListPrefetchStrategy from androidx.compose.foundation.lazy). When I programmatically scroll to item N (using animateScrollToItem(N)), the item N-1 is disposed. If the user quickly drags the list back to N-1, there is a flicker because that item has to be recreated from scratch. No backward prefetch occurs for N-1, and there is no mechanism to keep it in memory.

Steps to Reproduce:
        1.      Create a LazyColumn (or LazyRow) and enable the default prefetch strategy (DefaultLazyListPrefetchStrategy).
        2.      Have a sequence of items, for example, indices from 0 to 19.
        3.      Programmatically scroll to item N (e.g., 10) using lazyListState.animateScrollToItem(10).
        4.      Verify that item 9 (N-1) is disposed (check logs or other indicators).
        5.      As soon as the animation completes, quickly fling the list back up to item 9.
        6.      Observe the flicker: item 9 is briefly missing and then re-composed, because it wasn’t prefetched and had already been disposed.

Actual Behavior:
When returning to item 9, a flicker occurs because the item is re-created from scratch. DefaultLazyListPrefetchStrategy does not initiate a backward prefetch on a forward programmatic scroll, and LazyColumn disposes any items that move off-screen.

Expected Behavior:
        •       Item 9 would remain in memory for a short period (effectively “pinned”)
OR
        •       Item 9 (and possibly a few previous items) would be prefetched when scrolling programmatically to item 10, so there’s no delay or flicker on a quick return to N-1.

Additional Notes:
        •       DefaultLazyListPrefetchStrategy does not handle scrolling backward for programmatic calls to animateScrollToItem, and onScroll(delta, layoutInfo) is not triggered in the same way as manual scrolling.
        •       As soon as item 9 is off-screen, it’s disposed with no mechanism to keep it around.
        •       This causes flickering when the user quickly scrolls back to item 9.

Possible Solutions:
        1.      Extend prefetch logic (or add item pinning) to handle programmatic scrolling.
        2.      Provide short-term retention for items that have just scrolled off-screen (beyond-bounds layout or pinned items approach).
        3.      Add a way to prefetch items that might be immediately needed again when scrolling backward.