Animate between destinations

NavDisplay provides built-in animation capabilities to create smooth visual transitions as users navigate through your app. You can customize these animations globally for the NavDisplay or on a per-NavEntry basis using metadata.

Override default transitions

NavDisplay uses ContentTransforms to define how content animates during navigation. You can override the default animation behaviors by providing transition parameters to NavDisplay.

  • transitionSpec: This parameter defines the ContentTransform to apply when content is added to the back stack (i.e., when navigating forward).
  • popTransitionSpec: This parameter defines the ContentTransform to apply when content is removed from the back stack (i.e., when navigating back).
  • predictivePopTransitionSpec: This parameter defines the ContentTransform to apply when content is popped using a predictive back gesture.

Override transitions at the individual NavEntry level

You can also define custom animations for specific NavEntrys using their metadata. NavDisplay recognizes special metadata keys to apply per-entry transitions:

  • NavDisplay.transitionSpec: Use this helper function to define the forward navigation animation.
  • NavDisplay.popTransitionSpec: Use this helper function to define the backward navigation animation for a specific NavEntry.
  • NavDisplay.predictivePopTransitionSpec: Use this helper function to define the animation for predictive back gestures for a specific NavEntry.

These per-entry metadata transitions override the NavDisplay's global transitions of the same name.

The following snippet demonstrates both global NavDisplay transitions and an override at the individual NavEntry level:

@Serializable
data object ScreenA : NavKey

@Serializable
data object ScreenB : NavKey

@Serializable
data object ScreenC : NavKey

class AnimatedNavDisplayActivity : ComponentActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContent {

            Scaffold { paddingValues ->

                val backStack = rememberNavBackStack(ScreenA)

                NavDisplay(
                    backStack = backStack,
                    onBack = { backStack.removeLastOrNull() },
                    entryProvider = entryProvider {
                        entry<ScreenA> {
                            ContentOrange("This is Screen A") {
                                Button(onClick = { backStack.add(ScreenB) }) {
                                    Text("Go to Screen B")
                                }
                            }
                        }
                        entry<ScreenB> {
                            ContentMauve("This is Screen B") {
                                Button(onClick = { backStack.add(ScreenC) }) {
                                    Text("Go to Screen C")
                                }
                            }
                        }
                        entry<ScreenC>(
                            metadata = NavDisplay.transitionSpec {
                                // Slide new content up, keeping the old content in place underneath
                                slideInVertically(
                                    initialOffsetY = { it },
                                    animationSpec = tween(1000)
                                ) togetherWith ExitTransition.KeepUntilTransitionsFinished
                            } + NavDisplay.popTransitionSpec {
                                // Slide old content down, revealing the new content in place underneath
                                EnterTransition.None togetherWith
                                    slideOutVertically(
                                        targetOffsetY = { it },
                                        animationSpec = tween(1000)
                                    )
                            } + NavDisplay.predictivePopTransitionSpec {
                                // Slide old content down, revealing the new content in place underneath
                                EnterTransition.None togetherWith
                                    slideOutVertically(
                                        targetOffsetY = { it },
                                        animationSpec = tween(1000)
                                    )
                            }
                        ) {
                            ContentGreen("This is Screen C")
                        }
                    },
                    transitionSpec = {
                        // Slide in from right when navigating forward
                        slideInHorizontally(initialOffsetX = { it }) togetherWith
                            slideOutHorizontally(targetOffsetX = { -it })
                    },
                    popTransitionSpec = {
                        // Slide in from left when navigating back
                        slideInHorizontally(initialOffsetX = { -it }) togetherWith
                            slideOutHorizontally(targetOffsetX = { it })
                    },
                    predictivePopTransitionSpec = {
                        // Slide in from left when navigating back
                        slideInHorizontally(initialOffsetX = { -it }) togetherWith
                            slideOutHorizontally(targetOffsetX = { it })
                    },
                    modifier = Modifier.padding(paddingValues)
                )
            }
        }
    }
}
AnimationSnippets.kt

Figure 1. App with custom animations.