I also had this very same problem for a long time. The solution turns out to be very simple, and you don’t need any hacks with the ViewPager Visibility. I is described in this other SO related question: Fragment in ViewPager not restored after popBackStack
However, to make it simple, all you need is to use getChildFragmentManager() in your ViewPager adapter, instead of getSupportFragmentManager(). So, instead of this:
/** Getting fragment manager */
FragmentManager fm = getSupportFragmentManager();
/** Instantiating FragmentPagerAdapter */
MyFragmentPagerAdapter pagerAdapter = new MyFragmentPagerAdapter(fm);
/** Setting the pagerAdapter to the pager object */
mViewPager.setAdapter(pagerAdapter);
You do this:
/** Getting fragment manager */
FragmentManager fm = getChildFragmentManager();
/** Instantiating FragmentPagerAdapter */
MyFragmentPagerAdapter pagerAdapter = new MyFragmentPagerAdapter(fm);
/** Setting the pagerAdapter to the pager object */
mViewPager.setAdapter(pagerAdapter);