What is the return type of TextView.getText() in android?

Question

Why does TextView.getText() return a CharSequence instead of a String?
(String is the implementation of the CharSequence)

Answer 1

Because it might contain a Spannable object. From the doc:

If setText() was called with an argument of BufferType.SPANNABLE or BufferType.EDITABLE, you can cast the return value from this method to Spannable or Editable, respectively.

Answer 2

it actually returns Editable and not CharSequence but you can store it in a String variable by calling toString() on it.