I quote Android Guide on Detecting Common Gestures:
Whether or not you use GestureDetector.OnGestureListener, it's best practice to implement an onDown() method that returns true. This is because all gestures begin with an onDown() message. If you return false from onDown(), as GestureDetector.SimpleOnGestureListener does by default, the system assumes that you want to ignore the rest of the gesture, and the other methods of GestureDetector.OnGestureListener never get called. This has the potential to cause unexpected problems in your app. The only time you should return false from onDown() is if you truly want to ignore an entire gesture.
The fact that you did not implement the onDown()
method was causing side effects.