Angular - ui-router get previous state

ui-router doesn't track the previous state once it transitions, but the event $stateChangeSuccess is broadcast on the $rootScope when the state changes.

You should be able to catch the prior state from that event (from is the state you're leaving):

$rootScope.$on('$stateChangeSuccess', function (ev, to, toParams, from, fromParams) {
   //assign the "from" parameter to something
});

I use resolve to save the current state data before moving to the new state:

angular.module('MyModule')
.config(['$stateProvider', function ($stateProvider) {
    $stateProvider
        .state('mystate', {
            templateUrl: 'mytemplate.html',
            controller: ["PreviousState", function (PreviousState) {
                if (PreviousState.Name == "mystate") {
                    // ...
                }
            }],
            resolve: {
                PreviousState: ["$state", function ($state) {
                    var currentStateData = {
                        Name: $state.current.name,
                        Params: angular.copy($state.params),
                        URL: $state.href($state.current.name, $state.params)
                    };
                    return currentStateData;
                }]
            }
        });
}]);