SparseArrays map integers to Objects. Unlike a normal array of Objects, there can be gaps in the indices. It is intended to be more memory efficient than using a HashMap to map Integers to Objects, both because it avoids auto-boxing keys and its data structure doesn't rely on an extra entry object for each mapping.

Note that this container keeps its mappings in an array data structure, using a binary search to find keys. The implementation is not intended to be appropriate for data structures that may contain large numbers of items. It is generally slower than a traditional HashMap, since lookups require a binary search and adds and removes require inserting and deleting entries in the array. For containers holding up to hundreds of items, the performance difference is not significant, less than 50%.

To help with performance, the container includes an optimization when removing keys: instead of compacting its array immediately, it leaves the removed entry marked as deleted. The entry can then be re-used for the same key, or compacted later in a single garbage collection step of all removed entries. This garbage collection will need to be performed at any time the array needs to be grown or the the map size or entry values are retrieved.

It is possible to iterate over the items in this container using SparseArray`1.keyAt(int) and SparseArray`1.ValueAt(int). Iterating over the keys using keyAt(int) with ascending values of the index will return the keys in ascending order, or the values corresponding to the keys in ascending order in the case of valueAt(int).

[Android Documentation]