Control and animate the software keyboard

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Using WindowInsetsCompat, your app can query and control the on-screen keyboard (also called the IME) similar to the way it interacts with the system bars. Your app can also use WindowInsetsAnimationCompat to create seamless transitions when the software keyboard is opened or closed.

Figure 1. Two examples of the software keyboard open-closed transition.

Prerequisites

Before setting up control and animation for the software keyboard, configure your app to display edge-to-edge. This lets it handle system window insets such as the system bars and the on-screen keyboard.

Default synchronized insets animation

From API level 37.2 and higher, applications that use the default window layout adjustments (such as SOFT_INPUT_ADJUST_RESIZE or SOFT_INPUT_ADJUST_PAN when showing the IME using WindowInsetsController.show(WindowInsets.Type.ime())) without implementing a custom WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.Callback can benefit from system-level synchronized frame-by-frame animations. When enabled, this feature automatically applies the insets on every frame and triggers a layout pass, creating a smooth transition as the keyboard moves.

To enable this behavior, add the following <property> tag to your activity or application in the AndroidManifest.xml file:

<property
    android:name="android.window.PROPERTY_COMPAT_ALLOW_SYNCHRONIZED_INSETS_ANIMATION"
    android:value="true" />

Perform insets animations off the main thread

By default, registering a WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.Callback enforces that the window inset animation runs on the app's main thread. This is necessary if your app is continuously updating and synchronizing its view layout during the animation (such as in the onProgress method). However, if your app only needs to listen to lifecycle transitions (such as when the IME starts or ends animating) and doesn't need to update views frame-by-frame, running on the main thread can cause unnecessary overhead and animation stutter—especially if the main thread is otherwise busy.

From API level 37.2 and higher, you can use ViewTreeObserver.WindowInsetsAnimationListener to observe these transitions instead. Because this listener doesn't receive frame-by-frame progress updates (no onProgress callback), the system can run the inset animation on a dedicated animation thread rather than the main thread, resulting in a smoother transition.

Kotlin

val listener = object : ViewTreeObserver.WindowInsetsAnimationListener {
  override fun onPrepare(animation: WindowInsetsAnimation) {
    // Handle preparation before animation starts
  }

  override fun onEnd(animation: WindowInsetsAnimation) {
    // Clean up temporary changes
  }
}

// Add the listener
view.viewTreeObserver.addWindowInsetsAnimationListener(listener)

// Remove the listener when no longer needed
view.viewTreeObserver.removeWindowInsetsAnimationListener(listener)

Java

ViewTreeObserver.WindowInsetsAnimationListener listener =
    new ViewTreeObserver.WindowInsetsAnimationListener() {
      @Override
      public void onPrepare(@NonNull WindowInsetsAnimation animation) {
        // Handle preparation before animation starts
      }

      @Override
      public void onEnd(@NonNull WindowInsetsAnimation animation) {
        // Clean up temporary changes
      }
    };

// Add the listener
view.getViewTreeObserver().addWindowInsetsAnimationListener(listener);

// Remove the listener when no longer needed
view.getViewTreeObserver().removeWindowInsetsAnimationListener(listener);

Check keyboard software visibility

Use WindowInsets to check the software keyboard visibility.

Kotlin

val insets = ViewCompat.getRootWindowInsets(view) ?: return
val imeVisible = insets.isVisible(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime())
val imeHeight = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime()).bottom

Java

WindowInsetsCompat insets = ViewCompat.getRootWindowInsets(view);
boolean imeVisible = insets.isVisible(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime());
int imeHeight = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime()).bottom;

Alternatively, you can use ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener to observe changes to software keyboard visibility.

Kotlin

ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(view) { _, insets ->
  val imeVisible = insets.isVisible(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime())
  val imeHeight = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime()).bottom
  insets
}

Java

ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(view, (v, insets) -> {
  boolean imeVisible = insets.isVisible(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime());
  int imeHeight = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime()).bottom;
  return insets;
});

Synchronize animation with the software keyboard

A user tapping a text input field causes the keyboard to slide into place from the bottom of the screen, as shown in the following example:

Figure 2. Synchronized keyboard animation.

  • The example labeled "Unsynchronized" in figure 2 shows the default behavior in Android 10 (API level 29), in which the text field and content of the app snap into place instead of synchronizing with the keyboard's animation—behavior that can be visually jarring.

  • In Android 11 (API level 30) and higher, you can use WindowInsetsAnimationCompat to synchronize the transition of the app with the keyboard sliding up and down from the bottom of the screen. This looks smoother, as shown in the example labeled "Synchronized" in figure 2.

Configure WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.Callback with the view to be synchronized with the keyboard animation.

Kotlin

ViewCompat.setWindowInsetsAnimationCallback(
  view,
  object : WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.Callback(DISPATCH_MODE_STOP) {
    // Override methods.
  }
)

Java

ViewCompat.setWindowInsetsAnimationCallback(
    view,
    new WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.Callback(
        WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.Callback.DISPATCH_MODE_STOP
    ) {
      // Override methods.
    });

There are several methods to override in WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.Callback, namely onPrepare(), onStart(), onProgress(), and onEnd(). Start with calling onPrepare() before any of the layout changes.

onPrepare is called when an insets animation is starting and before the views are re-laid out due to an animation. You can use it to save the start state, which in this case is the bottom coordinate of the view.

An image showing the start state bottom coordinate of the root view.
Figure 3. Using onPrepare() to record the start state.

The following snippet shows a sample call to onPrepare:

Kotlin

var startBottom = 0f

override fun onPrepare(
  animation: WindowInsetsAnimationCompat
) {
  startBottom = view.bottom.toFloat()
}

Java

float startBottom;

@Override
public void onPrepare(
    @NonNull WindowInsetsAnimationCompat animation
) {
  startBottom = view.getBottom();
}

onStart is called when an insets animation starts. You can use it to set all the view properties to the end state of the layout changes. If you have an OnApplyWindowInsetsListener callback set to any of the views, it is already called at this point. This is a good time to save the end state of the view properties.

An image showing the end state bottom coordinate of the view
Figure 4. Using onStart() to record the end state.

The following snippet shows a sample call to onStart:

Kotlin

var endBottom = 0f

override fun onStart(
  animation: WindowInsetsAnimationCompat,
  bounds: WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.BoundsCompat
): WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.BoundsCompat {
  // Record the position of the view after the IME transition.
  endBottom = view.bottom.toFloat()

  return bounds
}

Java

float endBottom;

@NonNull
@Override
public WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.BoundsCompat onStart(
    @NonNull WindowInsetsAnimationCompat animation,
    @NonNull WindowInsetsAnimationCompat.BoundsCompat bounds
) {
  endBottom = view.getBottom();
  return bounds;
}

onProgress is called when the insets change as part of running an animation, so you can override it and be notified on every frame during the keyboard animation. Update the view properties so that the view animates in synchronization with the keyboard.

All the layout changes are complete at this point. For example, if you use View.translationY to shift the view, the value gradually decreases for every call of this method and eventually reaches 0 to the original layout position.

Figure 5. Using onProgress() to synchronize the animations.

The following snippet shows a sample call to onProgress:

Kotlin

override fun onProgress(
  insets: WindowInsetsCompat,
  runningAnimations: MutableList<WindowInsetsAnimationCompat>
): WindowInsetsCompat {
  // Find an IME animation.
  val imeAnimation = runningAnimations.find {
    it.typeMask and WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime() != 0
  } ?: return insets

  // Offset the view based on the interpolated fraction of the IME animation.
  view.translationY =
    (startBottom - endBottom) * (1 - imeAnimation.interpolatedFraction)

  return insets
}

Java

@NonNull
@Override
public WindowInsetsCompat onProgress(
    @NonNull WindowInsetsCompat insets,
    @NonNull List<WindowInsetsAnimationCompat> runningAnimations
) {
  // Find an IME animation.
  WindowInsetsAnimationCompat imeAnimation = null;
  for (WindowInsetsAnimationCompat animation : runningAnimations) {
    if ((animation.getTypeMask() & WindowInsetsCompat.Type.ime()) != 0) {
      imeAnimation = animation;
      break;
    }
  }
  if (imeAnimation != null) {
    // Offset the view based on the interpolated fraction of the IME animation.
    view.setTranslationY((startBottom - endBottom)

        *   (1 - imeAnimation.getInterpolatedFraction()));
  }
  return insets;
}

Optionally, you can override onEnd. This method is called after the animation is over. This is a good time to clean up any temporary changes.

Additional resources