What is the difference between AsyncTask and Thread in Android?

In Android development, AsyncTask and Thread are both used for performing background tasks, but they have some key differences:

1. AsyncTask: AsyncTask is a class provided by Android that allows you to perform background operations and publish results on the UI thread without having to manipulate threads and handlers directly. It provides methods like onPreExecute, doInBackground, onProgressUpdate, and onPostExecute to easily handle background tasks and UI updates.
2. Thread: Thread is a low-level concurrency API in Java that can be used in Android for running tasks in the background. Threads require more manual handling of synchronization and communication between the background and UI threads. They do not have built-in methods like AsyncTask for interacting with the UI thread.

Overall, AsyncTask is generally preferred over Thread in Android development for its ease of use and integrated UI thread interaction.