How do I create a transparent Activity on Android?
Asked Answered
C

24

1020

I want to create a transparent Activity on top of another activity.

How can I achieve this?

Cathcart answered 1/2, 2010 at 13:28 Comment(0)
C
1491

Add the following style in your res/values/styles.xml file (if you don’t have one, create it.) Here’s a complete file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <style name="Theme.Transparent" parent="android:Theme">
    <item name="android:windowIsTranslucent">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>
    <item name="android:windowContentOverlay">@null</item>
    <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowIsFloating">true</item>
    <item name="android:backgroundDimEnabled">false</item>
  </style>
</resources>

(The value @color/transparent is the color value #00000000 which I put in the res/values/color.xml file. You can also use @android:color/transparent in later Android versions.)

Then apply the style to your activity, for example:

<activity android:name=".SampleActivity" android:theme="@style/Theme.Transparent">
...
</activity>
Cuda answered 23/4, 2010 at 17:37 Comment(33)
I used <item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>Sometimes
Great! Just one improvement: If you use parent="@android:style/Theme.Dialog" you will get the exactly behaviour of a dialog. That means fading in/out instead of sliding in/out (like an activity)Jankowski
Will the background be clickable? can I click on the former activity that is shown?Malefaction
As @Emilio mentioned this will behave like a dialog, mainly because of android:windowIsFloating set to true. Remove this property to behave like a normal activity (in this case it will match android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar)Backpedal
How do I also make it so it's behind the current Activity? It's transparent on top of an Activity at the moment and it can't respond to touch events..Emogeneemollient
@Neeta, I don't understand your request. This is an activity even though it's transparent, so it gets its own touch events. Also, what is the benefit of having a transparent activity behind the current one? I think you might be looking for something else. You should probably post what you would like to do as a different question.Cuda
@Malefaction Did you ever figure out the answer to your problem? I'm having the same issue..Emogeneemollient
How can I round the corners of the activity screen? @marek-seberaUnctuous
I removed <item name="android:windowIsFloating">true</item> to have a fullscreen & transparent activityStovepipe
@KiemDuong If I remember correctly on older devices android:windowIsFloating was required in order to not show the title of the window. I'm not sure, though. You should test any changes to this code on older devices/emulators if you care about them.Cuda
When I try this code on an android 4.2 device, the entire background is black, instead of transparent. Anyone had that issue?Shantelleshantha
@Shantelleshantha You're doing something wrong. It definitely works for me on my 4.2 Galaxy Nexus. Maybe your theme is overriding the color values, or maybe you entered wrong values for colors.Cuda
The problem was that I was trying to set the theme programmatically using this.SetTheme(..) in onCreate. For this particular transparent theme, that doesn't work-- you get all black. Once you set the theme in XML, then it works.Shantelleshantha
@gnobal: I was following this question answer to create a transparent activity, My buttons, textviews which I have placed in the top of the xml file which I want to be transparent it comes to the center of the screen when I test it on the device.Drais
@Dibya sorry, but I can't help. You should probably open a new question showing your layout and a screenshot of the issueCuda
Why not just simply use android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar ?Kilo
@xmenW.K. This isn't the same as a transparent activityCuda
@Cuda I used this and it worked great. But I need my screen to be "WAKE UP" which was working fine, but if I apply this style my flags doesn't seems to work: (WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_DISMISS_KEYGUARD | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SHOW_WHEN_LOCKED | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_TURN_SCREEN_ON)Lyman
@Lyman Sorry, but I can't explain what you're seeing. Maybe see Emilio and aromero comments aboveCuda
@Cuda I just commented "<item name="android:windowIsFloating">true</item>" and the screen is waking up again.Lyman
this indeed makes the activity transparent but also changes the appearance of the views...for example an EditText which normally is an invisible box with a blue line at the bottom becomes a distinct rectangle without the blue line. How do i keep the original style of the views ?Saracen
I just created a simple project based on this solution on GitHub. You can check it here: github.com/jiahaoliuliu/TransparentActivityCowhide
My activity was derived from AppCompatActivity. So parent="android:Theme" was crashing my app. I just removed it and it worked like charm. Thanks!Aulea
I can't get a ProgressDialog to appear when I use this... Does anybody know why? I am not calling setContentView either... could that be it?Thulium
it would appear that the actual key is setting <item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>Xanthene
It is useful too: <item name="android:backgroundDimAmount">0.9</item>Butcherbird
@Aulea You need to use parent="Theme.AppCompat" if your activity extends AppCompatActivityJournalism
I removed <item name="android:windowIsFloating">true</item> to have a fullscreen & transparent activity and if your activity is AppCompactActivity then use Theme.AppCompact if don't want ActionBar then Theme.AppCompact.NoActionBarPromote
@vishalpatel as you can see, the original answer was written in 2010. It's amazing that it managed to stay relevant for so many years. Why don't you post whatever works for you as the answer. But... make sure it works backwards on all previous versions that are still used by, let's say.. more than 5 percent of the people (like I did :). Good luck!Cuda
If you're using the AppCompatActivity extend Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar otherwise you'll get a title indicating the title in the middle of the screen.Overprize
For AppCompatActivity, parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar"Neogene
need help here stackoverflow.com/q/66533461/14046751Gomez
@Room13 Comment we have to incorporate along with the suggested changes.Pestalozzi
S
206

It goes like this:

<activity android:name=".usual.activity.Declaration" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar" />
Sixpack answered 1/2, 2010 at 14:47 Comment(8)
could you please guide in bit detail???? i am new to android... where to place it in manifest file and other java files i will create as it is how will i associate it???Cathcart
You just add the theme as alex has posted to your activity declaration in the manifest - this bit android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar, for each Activity you can assign it the Translucent themeOphiolatry
can you tell me how can i transparent activity 50%? becase this is 100% and i need 50%Armful
In the layout xml of the activity that goes on top just use the alpha channel of the color part to set the transparancey level. Ie. #ff000000 would be 100% black and #AA000000 would make it slightly transparent.Hognut
@user1129443: 50% black should be #7f000000. Each component (A, R, G, B) can take values from 0-255. 50% of 255 = 127. 127 in Hex = 7F That how to calculate transparency (opacity)Dentition
This method kind of locks the UI as the activity is running but since it is set to translucent,One cannot do anything.Is there a way to avoid this UI locking.Amieva
@Sixpack Unfortunately this is not a good solution. As Akhil says, it locks up the UI!Wanitawanneeickel
This is confusing. what its actually dose is making the activity transparent and block the ui ! If some one looking for activity without ui at all then use this: android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoDisplay"Brady
S
151

In the styles.xml:

<style name="Theme.AppCompat.Translucent" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">
    <item name="android:background">#33000000</item> <!-- Or any transparency or color you need -->
    <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>
    <item name="android:colorBackgroundCacheHint">@null</item>
    <item name="android:windowIsTranslucent">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowAnimationStyle">@android:style/Animation</item>
</style>

In the AndroidManifest.xml:

<activity
    android:name=".WhateverNameOfTheActivityIs"
    android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Translucent">
    ...
</activity>
Selfjustifying answered 28/7, 2015 at 21:26 Comment(5)
If you are planning on actually displaying something on this Activity (say a Dialog or DialogFragment), you'll notice that everything is Dark themed. So you may want your theme to inherit from Theme.Appcompat.Light.NoActionBar instead.Dowland
in my case it showing black background.I have parent theme set something else but on one particular activity I am changing theme as mentioned.Any help?Kkt
Works great when I remove "android:background"Enameling
i think you want to remove background and put your preferred semi transparent colour in windowBackgroundVesiculate
This should be the answer if your activity is using AppCompatActivity in contrast to @gnobal's answer.Overprize
V
39

Declare your activity in the manifest like this:

 <activity   
     android:name=".yourActivity"    
     android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar.Fullscreen"/>

And add a transparent background to your layout.

Visayan answered 2/7, 2012 at 5:7 Comment(1)
You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with this activity.Salivate
D
29

Assign the translucent theme to the activity that you want to make transparent in the Android manifest file of your project:

<activity
    android:name="YOUR COMPLETE ACTIVITY NAME WITH PACKAGE"
    android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar" />
Droplet answered 29/10, 2013 at 5:36 Comment(1)
this gives IllegalStateException: You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with this activity.Toggle
X
20

2021 facts

Just add

<item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>

You're done.

windowIsFloating wrong, this makes an INSET floating window.

windowContentOverlay only relates to shadows.

windowIsTranslucent is WRONG, it DOES NOT make it so you can see the activity behind. windowIsTranslucent is only relevant if animating transitions.

backgroundDimEnabled dims the activity below, BUT, it is completely buggy on different devices. (In some cases, it does nothing unless you are using windowIsFloating; in general the behavior is totally buggy/indeterminate.)

colorBackgroundCacheHint is irrelevant except on extremely old devices, the default is null anyway.

Xanthene answered 11/4, 2021 at 1:42 Comment(8)
"extremely old devices" - Written 10 years ago, only 2 years after Android launched. I guess devices from 2011 in 2021 must be considered "ancient". lolMadgemadhouse
Your solution doesn't do the thing actually. The accepted answer, it's 10 years old but it works find.. just need to extend AppCompat theme instead of Theme..Hedwighedwiga
The accepted answer is quite wrong, for the reasons explained in the five bullet points here. (You can, simply, read the doco for each point to get the facts.)Xanthene
didn't work, the window ended up with black background.Colubrid
@Colubrid , I have no idea why it doesn't work for some folks. In Android there's an incredible variety of ways you can "start" a project in terms of themes and setup. So unfortunately I cannot say, and I don't think anyone could; the fact that other approaches work (or don't work) for other people unfortunately is also due to a myriad reasons. Android is tough :/ Nevertheless, the five points mentioned here (straight from the recent doco) are factually correct.Xanthene
nvm, it had to do with the theme name not extending Theme. on the first placeColubrid
Best answer still in 2024. Works like sharm with Theme.MaterialComponents as base theme. Do not forget set transparent backround also to activity_layout.xml.Flasher
@Colubrid so in fact it works perfectly (as the doco says it would). perhaps you should tap to delete your old comment as it may confuse newcomersXanthene
F
19

In my case, i have to set the theme on the runtime in java based on some conditions. So I created one theme in style (similar to other answers):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <style name="Theme.Transparent" parent="android:Theme">
    <item name="android:windowIsTranslucent">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>
    <item name="android:windowContentOverlay">@null</item>
    <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowIsFloating">true</item>
    <item name="android:backgroundDimEnabled">false</item>
  </style>
</resources>

Then in Java I applied it to my activity:

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    String email = getIntent().getStringExtra(AppConstants.REGISTER_EMAIL_INTENT_KEY);
    if (email != null && !email.isEmpty()) {
        // We have the valid email ID, no need to take it from user,
        // prepare transparent activity just to perform bg tasks required for login
        setTheme(R.style.Theme_Transparent);
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_login);

    } else
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        setContentView(R.layout.activity_dummy);
}

Remember one Important point here: You must call the setTheme() function before super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);. I missed this point and stucked for 2 hours, thinking why my theme is not reflected at run time.

Figurative answered 26/10, 2015 at 14:15 Comment(1)
java.lang.IllegalStateException: You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with this activity.Podolsk
A
16

I wanted to add to this a little bit as I am a new Android developer as well. The accepted answer is great, but I did run into some trouble. I wasn't sure how to add in the color to the colors.xml file. Here is how it should be done:

colors.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
     <color name="class_zero_background">#7f040000</color>
     <color name="transparent">#00000000</color>
</resources>

In my original colors.xml file I had the tag "drawable":

<drawable name="class_zero_background">#7f040000</drawable>

And so I did that for the color as well, but I didn't understand that the "@color/" reference meant look for the tag "color" in the XML. I thought that I should mention this as well to help anyone else out.

Archive answered 22/4, 2011 at 12:55 Comment(0)
A
16

I achieved it on 2.3.3 by just adding android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent" in the activity tag in the manifest.

I don't know about lower versions...

Amalgam answered 21/9, 2011 at 12:7 Comment(4)
This works fine for 2.2 also. I just created a simple activity with a listview and it floats ontop of the last activity.Hognut
It was added in API 1, that's not a problem :)Kilo
Do not use AppCompatActivity if you're using this.Maleficence
works in 7.0 also so its good approach. I modified it to @android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar.FullscreenLagas
A
9

In the onCreate function, below the setContentView, add this line:

getWindow().setBackgroundDrawable(new ColorDrawable(Color.TRANSPARENT));
Ara answered 14/10, 2014 at 20:18 Comment(2)
Makes the background to completely BLACK for some reason.Tess
mine too @SubinSebastian, did anyone find a fix to that?Eldin
V
8

Just let the activity background image be transparent. Or add the theme in the XML file:

<activity android:name=".usual.activity.Declaration" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar" />
Vladamir answered 19/2, 2012 at 14:12 Comment(0)
F
7

The easiest way that I have found is to set the activity's theme in the AndroidManifest to android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo.Dialog".

Then in the activity's onCreate method, call getWindow().setBackgroundDrawable(new ColorDrawable(0));.

Footpound answered 12/6, 2013 at 10:54 Comment(0)
E
7

in addition to the above answers:

to avoid android Oreo related crash on activity

<style name="AppTheme.Transparent" parent="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Dialog">
    <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowCloseOnTouchOutside">false</item>
</style>

<activity
     android:name="xActivity"
     android:theme="@style/AppTheme.Transparent" />
Elishaelision answered 26/9, 2018 at 9:55 Comment(5)
As of 2018, this should be the best answerNitroparaffin
gave me a black background on emulator with API 28Sometimes
I tried this to fix crash related to setting orientation in android 8.0 but I am still getting IllegalStateException: Only fullscreen opaque activities request orientationSaks
Works really well. Tested on Samsung S20 on Android 11. It still shows a black screen on the emulator, but just a slightly dimmed screen otherwise.Fairy
Adding the code below should remove the dim that you get with it being a dialog theme. window.clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_DIM_BEHIND)Fairy
V
6

For dialog activity I use this:

getWindow().getDecorView().setBackgroundResource(android.R.color.transparent);

But you also need to set your main View in the activity to invisible. Otherwise the background will be invisible while all views in it will be visible.

Vicenary answered 25/4, 2017 at 17:14 Comment(1)
Makes the background to completely BLACKQuinby
G
5

If you are using AppCompatActivity then add this in styles.xml

<style name="TransparentCompat" parent="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>
    <item name="android:colorBackgroundCacheHint">@null</item>
    <item name="android:windowIsTranslucent">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowAnimationStyle">@android:style/Animation</item>
</style>

In manifest file you can add this theme to activity tag like this

android:theme="@style/TransparentCompat"

for more details read this article

Grubman answered 26/11, 2018 at 3:45 Comment(2)
bro When i use the Above Code the transparent was Working Perfect But it doesnt display the opacity of the previous Artboard it Display the Bg of my Home Screen ( wallpeper Screen ) [![i.stack.imgur.com/rQzd2.jpg][1]][1] [1]:Swisher
here is my code #63326691Swisher
J
3

I just did two things, and it made my activity transparent. They are below.

  1. In the manifest file I just added the below code in the activity tag.

    android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar.Fullscreen"
    
  2. And I just set the background of the main layout for that activity as "#80000000". Like

    android:background="#80000000"
    

It perfectly works for me.

Joletta answered 2/9, 2013 at 7:6 Comment(0)
O
2

Assign it the Translucent theme

android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar"
Operator answered 25/7, 2013 at 6:31 Comment(0)
L
2

There're two ways:

  1. Using Theme.NoDisplay
  2. Using Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar

Using Theme.NoDisplay will still work… but only on older Android devices. On Android 6.0 and higher, using Theme.NoDisplay without calling finish() in onCreate() (or, technically, before onResume()) will crash your app. This is why the recommendation is to use Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar, which does not suffer from this limitation.”

Latecomer answered 6/1, 2018 at 10:5 Comment(0)
F
1

Note 1:In Drawable folder create test.xml and copy the following code

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="rectangle" >

    <stroke android:width="2dp" />

    <gradient
        android:angle="90"
        android:endColor="#29000000"
        android:startColor="#29000000" />

    <corners
        android:bottomLeftRadius="7dp"
        android:bottomRightRadius="7dp"
        android:topLeftRadius="7dp"
        android:topRightRadius="7dp" />

</shape>

// Note: Corners and shape is as per your requirement.

// Note 2:Create xml:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:background="@drawable/test"
        android:orientation="vertical" >

        <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1.09"
            android:gravity="center"
         android:background="@drawable/transperent_shape"
            android:orientation="vertical" >
     </LinearLayout>
    </LinearLayout>
Folie answered 11/12, 2015 at 9:32 Comment(0)
B
1

All those answers might be confusing, there is a difference between Transparent activity and None UI activity.

Using this:

android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar"

Will make the activity transparent but will block the UI.

If you want a None UI activity than use this:

android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoDisplay"

Brady answered 30/7, 2019 at 11:16 Comment(1)
Interesting !. In Non UI Activity case, the UI of previous activity which is visible to the user can be interacted with like button clicks, list view swipe etc ?Fries
T
0

Just add the following line to the activity tag in your manifest file that needs to look transparent.

android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent"
Tangelatangelo answered 16/8, 2016 at 14:21 Comment(0)
H
0

You can remove setContentView(R.layout.mLayout) from your activity and set theme as android:theme="@style/AppTheme.Transparent". Check this link for more details.

Heater answered 16/9, 2019 at 18:20 Comment(0)
S
0

just put this in style.xml

<item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>

oR Add in Manifest

<activity android:name=".usual.activity.Declaration" 
 android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar" />
Spoken answered 9/7, 2021 at 15:33 Comment(0)
T
-1

Along with the gnobal's above solution, I had to set alpha to 0 in the layout file of that particular activity, because on certain phone (Redmi Narzo 20 pro running on Android 10) a dialog portion of the screen was showing with the screen that was supposed to be transparent. For some reason the windowIsFloating was causing this issue, but on removing it I wasn't getting the desired output.

Steps:

  1. Add the following in the style.xml located under res > values > styles.xml

     <style name="Theme.Transparent" parent="android:Theme">
       <item name="android:windowIsTranslucent">true</item>
       <item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>
       <item name="android:windowContentOverlay">@null</item>
       <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
       <item name="android:windowIsFloating">true</item>
       <item name="android:backgroundDimEnabled">false</item>
       <item name="android:colorBackgroundCacheHint">@null</item>
     </style>
    

  2. Set the theme of the activity with the above style in AndroidManifest.xml

    <activity
          android:name=".activityName"
          android:theme="@style/Theme.Transparent"/>
    

  3. Open your layout file of the activity on which you applied the above style and set it's alpha value to 0 (android:alpha="0") for the parent layout element.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout 
        xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:alpha="0">
    
      <WebView        
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:alpha="0"/>
    
    </androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>
    

Please Note: You'll have to extend you activity using Activity() class and not AppCompatActivity for using the above solution.
Troyes answered 15/10, 2020 at 20:11 Comment(0)

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