An activity represents a single screen in an Android application that allows users to interact with the app. There can be multiple activities in an app, with the main activity starting first. Key activity methods include onCreate() to initialize the activity and onPause() to handle leaving the activity. An intent is a message that allows activities and other app components to request actions from each other. Intents can be explicit, specifying the exact component, or implicit, allowing the system to choose the best match. Implicit intents are matched to apps using intent filters declared in the manifest.