I wanted to disable the back button in a game I was making with Ionic.

This code must go in your apps .run function, it will not work in your controllers.

/* www/js/app.js */

// To Disable Back in Entire App
$ionicPlatform.registerBackButtonAction(function(){
  event.preventDefault();
}, 100);

// To Conditionally Disable Back
$ionicPlatform.registerBackButtonAction(function(){
  if($ionicHistory.currentStateName === 'someStateName'){
    event.preventDefault();
  }else{
    $ionicHistory.goBack();
  }
}, 100);

Related External Links:

• Stack Overflow - disable-hardware-back-button-in-ionic-application