Why does my android activity always start scrolled to the bottom?

You can try this code:

scroller.post(new Runnable() { 
    public void run() { 
        scroller.fullScroll(ScrollView.FOCUS_DOWN); 
    } 
}); 

[N:B] [referance link]1

When Android starts an activity, some control needs to take focus. When there's no designated control to take focus, the system chooses the first eligible control that wants focus. If you set the following property in your LinearLayout - android:focusableInTouchMode="true" your LinearLayout will be focused on start and your activity won't scroll to EditText in the bottom.

Instead of polluting items in your layout, you can add this into your Activity/Class:

    ScrollView scrollView = (ScrollView) findViewById(R.id.scrollView);
    scrollView.setFocusableInTouchMode(true); 
    scrollView.setDescendantFocusability(ViewGroup.FOCUS_BEFORE_DESCENDANTS);

This way it isn't an element within your scrollView getting focus, it's your scrollView as a container which get's the first focus, moving onto the child view's after this.

Add these two lines in your ScrollView

 android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
 android:descendantFocusability="blocksDescendants"