Search

Search is a navigation method that allows people to quickly find information across an app. Users input a query into the search bar or text field of the search view and then see related results.

1. Search bar
2. Search view

Search bar is a persistent and prominent search field at the top of the screen and search view is a full-screen modal typically opened by selecting a search icon.

Note: Images use various dynamic color schemes.

Design & API documentation

• Material 3 (M3) spec
• API reference

Anatomy

Search bar

1. Container
2. Leading icon button
3. Supporting text
4. Avatar or trailing icon (optional)

Search view

1. Container
2. Header
3. Leading icon button
4. Supporting text
5. Trailing icon button
6. Input text
7. Divider

More details on anatomy items in the component guidelines.

M3 Expressive

M3 Expressive updates

SearchBar updates

• New Centered Search Text attribute
• New Maximum Width
• New Lift on Scroll Color attribute
• Padding and inset updates

SearchView updates

• New contained style and animation where SearchBar persists visually within the SearchView

M3 Expressive styles

The default style for SearchBar is:

<item name="materialSearchBarStyle">@style/Widget.Material3Expressive.SearchBar</item>

You can also set a centered style with:

<item name="materialSearchBarStyle">@style/Widget.Material3Expressive.SearchBar.CenteredText</item>

The recommended way to display a SearchBar is now inside of an AppBarLayout. You can specify android:theme="ThemeOverlay.Material3Expressive.AppBarWithSearch" on your AppBarLayout to style your AppBarLayout and SearchBar automatically as an AppBar with Search.

The default SearchBar style for this theme overlay is the centered text configuration. If you would like to specify a start-aligned text SearchBar, you must additionally set the following style explicitly on the SearchBar: @style/Widget.Material3Expressive.SearchBar.AppBarWithSearch.

If migrating your SearchBar layout to the AppBar with Search configuration is difficult due to the manual addition of MaterialButtons, there is a mitigation in place to keep the same inputs. See SearchBar in MaterialToolbar.

SearchBar in MaterialToolbar

As the new AppBar with Search configuration moves icons from inside of the SearchBar to outside of it, clients are expected to add their own MaterialButtons replacing these icons inside of the AppBarLayout.

As this may not always be easy for existing clients, an approach using a MaterialToolbar is supported to add icons outside of the SearchBar with the same inputs.

Simply wrap the SearchBar inside of a MaterialToolbar and apply the leading and trailing icons to the MaterialToolbar instead of the SearchBar in the same manner.

For example:

  <com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout
      android:id="@+id/app_bar_layout"
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
      app:materialThemeOverlay="@style/ThemeOverlay.Material3Expressive.AppBarWithSearch"
      app:statusBarForeground="?attr/colorSurface">
    <com.google.android.material.appbar.MaterialToolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:navigationIcon="@drawable/ic_home_checkable_24px"
        app:layout_scrollFlags="enterAlways|scroll|snap"
        app:navigationContentDescription="@string/home_icon_description"
        app:menu="@menu/search_menu">
      <com.google.android.material.search.SearchBar
          android:id="@+id/search_bar"
          android:layout_width="match_parent"
          android:layout_height="wrap_content"
          android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"
          android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
          android:hint="@string/searchbar_hint">
      </com.google.android.material.search.SearchBar>
    </com.google.android.material.appbar.MaterialToolbar>
  </com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout>

Contained style SearchView

A new contained style for SearchView is available, if SearchBar is placed inside an AppBarLayout, as recommended above. This new style makes a visual appearance that the SearchBar persists visually within the SearchView, creating a more expressive and visually cohesive experience.

You can opt-in this new style by setting the materialSearchViewStyle in your theme (in addition to the typical AppBarWithSearch setup above):

<item name="materialSearchViewStyle">@style/Widget.Material3Expressive.SearchView.AppBarWithSearch</item>

SearchBar icons animation

During the contained style expansion of SearchBar into SearchView, sibling views, like icon buttons, are animated off-screen to clear the visual space.

If the SearchBar is a direct child of a Toolbar, the navigation button and action menu view are treated as sibling views automatically.

Otherwise, sibling views can be declared either directly in the XML or programmatically:

• XML attributes:

  • app:startSiblingViewId
  • app:endSiblingViewId

• Programmatic API:

  • SearchBar#setStartSiblingViewId(id)
  • SearchBar#setEndSiblingViewId(id)

Note that only one ID can be assigned to each side. If you need to animate multiple icons together, wrap them in a single ViewGroup (e.g. a LinearLayout) and provide the ID of that container.

Key properties

Search bar

Attributes

The following attributes can be changed for SearchBar:

Styles

Search view

Attributes

The following attributes can be changed for SearchView:

Styles

Code implementation

Before you can use the Material Search components, you need to add a dependency to the Material components for Android library. For more information, go to the Getting started page.

Note: Material Search was introduced in 1.8.0. To use Material Search, make sure you're depending on library version 1.8.0 or later.

API and source code

• Class definition

• Class source

Adding Search bar

The SearchBar component provides an implementation of the floating search field. It extends Toolbar, so it supports a navigation icon, menu items, and any other Toolbar APIs. Additionally, the SearchBar comes with a hint TextView and supports nesting a centered branding element.

Since SearchBar extends Toolbar, you can set up your SearchBar as an ActionBar via AppCompatActivity#setSupportActionBar, and inflate a menu by overriding the onCreateOptionsMenu method. However, if using the default magnifying glass navigationIcon, you may need to set app:forceDefaultNavigationOnClickListener="true" on your SearchBar so that the search icon doesn't act as a back button due to the Activity's ActionBar setup flow.

Alternatively, you can choose to not set up your SearchBar as an ActionBar, and instead just use Toolbar's inflateMenu and setOnMenuItemClickListener methods:

searchBar.inflateMenu(R.menu.searchbar_menu);
searchBar.setOnMenuItemClickListener(
    menuItem -> {
      // Handle menuItem click.
      return true;
    });

Note: SearchBar aims to provide a consistent search bar across all apps, so it does not support setting a custom background via android:background.

API and source code:

• SearchBar
  • Class definition
  • Class source

Adding Search view

The SearchView component provides an implementation of a full-screen search view which can be used to display back navigation, a search hint and text, menu items, and search suggestions and results. It also comes with a clear text button that shows and hides depending on whether the user has entered text.

To set up a menu for your SearchView, you can use the inflateMenu and setOnMenuItemClickListener methods:

searchView.inflateMenu(R.menu.search_view_menu);
searchView.setOnMenuItemClickListener(
    menuItem -> {
      // Handle menuItem click.
      return true;
    });

Additionally, SearchView exposes its main EditText via a getEditText() method, so you can use any of the traditional EditText APIs to configure the search field (setText(), addTextChangedListener(), etc.).

Here is an example of how you can carry over the search text to the SearchBar, as well as hide the SearchView when the user finishes typing and presses enter:

searchView
    .getEditText()
    .setOnEditorActionListener(
        (v, actionId, event) -> {
          searchBar.setText(searchView.getText());
          searchView.hide();
          return false;
        });

Making search components accessible

You should set a content description on a search bar and search view components via the android:contentDescription attribute or setContentDescription method so that screen readers such as TalkBack are able to announce their purpose or action. Text rendered in these components are automatically provided to accessibility services, so additional content labels are usually unnecessary.

SearchView also automatically handles its siblings' accessibility when shown, i.e., setting views that are not nested within the SearchView as not important for accessibility. These values are restored when the SearchView is hidden.

Note SearchView handles its siblings' accessibility by saving the original values when SearchView is shown, and restoring them when it's hidden. If changing the view hierarchy of the SearchView's root view, make sure to call setModalForAccessibility(false) to restore the original a11y values. Eg. if removing the SearchView when open, you must call setModalForAccessibility(false) before removal to ensure that the original a11y values are restored since SearchView.hide() will never be called.

Transition listeners

If you want to get callbacks for when the SearchView transitions between its different animation states, you can add an SearchView.TransitionListener via the SearchView#addTransitionListener method. E.g.:

searchView.addTransitionListener(
    (searchView, previousState, newState) -> {
      if (newState == TransitionState.SHOWING) {
        // Handle search view opened.
      }
    });

Predictive back

The SearchView component automatically supports predictive back when it is set up with and connected to a SearchBar, as mentioned in the sections above. No further integration is required on the app side other than the general predictive back prerequisites and migration steps mentioned here.

Visit the predictive back design guidelines to see how the component behaves when a user swipes back.

Customizing search bar

Expand and collapse animations

One of the biggest advantages of using the SearchView in conjunction with an SearchBar is that you will get the expand and collapse animations for free. If you are just using a standalone SearchView without an SearchBar, then showing or hiding the SearchView will result in slide up and slide down transitions.

Soft input modes

The recommended windowSoftInputMode when using an SearchBar and an SearchView is adjustNothing. There are a couple reasons for this:

1. The adjustResize mode causes the screen to resize when the keyboard is shown, which can cause glitchiness during the expand and collapse animations. SearchView does address this by staggering the showing and hiding of the keyboard with the animations; however, the preferred approach is to use adjustNothing so the keyboard can be shown and hidden immediately.
2. Resizing the screen is not usually helpful to the user during search. The user can either keep typing to see more results or start scrolling, in which case the SearchView will automatically dismiss the keyboard to show the rest of the screen.

On initial render, the SearchView will get the soft input mode from the Window, so that it can set up the above behavior. If you change the soft input mode at runtime, make sure to also invoke the SearchView#setSoftInputMode method so that the SearchView can adjust its behavior accordingly.

Lastly, if you don't want the soft keyboard to show automatically when the SearchView is shown, you can set app:autoShowKeyboard="false" on your SearchView.

Translucent status bar

SearchBar and SearchView come with support for a translucent status bar.

To make sure that the SearchBar doesn't appear underneath the translucent status bar, you can wrap it in a FrameLayout which has the android:fitsSystemWindows attribute set to true.

Additionally, you should not set the android:fitsSystemWindows attribute on the SearchView. If you are using either FLAG_TRANSLUCENT_STATUS (android:windowTranslucentStatus) or FLAG_LAYOUT_NO_LIMITS, then the SearchView will automatically add an extra spacer surface so that it fills the space underneath the translucent status bar.

Menu to back arrow animation

If you are using the SearchBar with a NavigationDrawer, you can set the app:useDrawerArrowDrawable attribute to true on your SearchView to enable the "hamburger" menu to back arrow icon animation. This animation will happen during the expand and collapse of the SearchView.

Search prefix

If you would like to show some prefix text before the main search EditText, you can make use of the app:searchPrefixText attribute. For example, setting app:searchPrefixText="To:" on your SearchView will result in the fixed text label, "To:", being shown before the search EditText.

Additionally, with this pattern it is common to hide the back button to reduce clutter, as navigation can be handled outside of the search view. This can be accomplished by setting app:hideNavigationIcon="true" on your SearchView.

Search history, suggestions, and results

SearchView is a view group component, meaning you can nest content inside of it such as:

• Search history when the SearchView is first expanded
• Search suggestions when the user is typing
• Search results once the user submits the search

  <com.google.android.material.search.SearchView
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="match_parent"
      android:hint="@string/searchbar_hint"
      app:layout_anchor="@id/search_bar">

    <!-- Search suggestions/results go here (ScrollView, RecyclerView, etc.). -->

  </com.google.android.material.search.SearchView>

Scrolling behavior

The SearchBar can either be used as a fixed, scroll-away, or lift on scroll search field.

Fixed mode

To set up the fixed mode, simply position the SearchBar on top of the rest of your layout's contents and do not set up any scrolling behaviors or AppBarLayout. The SearchBar will remain fixed in place as the content is scrolled beneath it.

Scroll-away mode

To set up the scroll-away mode, use a top-level CoordinatorLayout and place the SearchBar within an AppBarLayout. Then, place the AppBarLayout below the scrolling view (usually a RecyclerView or NestedScrollView) in the CoordinatorLayout, and set app:layout_behavior="@string/searchbar_scrolling_view_behavior" on the scrolling view. This scrolling behavior makes the AppBarLayout transparent and not elevated so there are no undesirable shadows. It also adjusts the scrolling child so that the SearchBar will overlap the rest of your content and appear to be floating above it. See the putting it all together section below for an example of how to set up this behavior.

Additionally, if your app is going edge-to-edge, consider adding app:statusBarForeground="?attr/colorSurface" to your AppBarLayout in order to avoid overlap between the SearchBar and status bar content on scroll.

Lift on scroll mode

To set up the lift on scroll mode, use a top-level CoordinatorLayout and place the SearchBar within an AppBarLayout. Then, place the AppBarLayout below the scrolling view (usually a RecyclerView or NestedScrollView) in the CoordinatorLayout, and set app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior" on the scrolling view. On the SearchBar, set app:liftOnScroll=true and set a app:liftOnScrollColor to change the color of the SearchBar as the AppBarLayout is lifting.

See the putting it all together section below for an example of how to set up this behavior.

Putting it all together

Putting it all together and using the scroll-away mode, the SearchBar and SearchView widgets can be used in your layout as such:

<androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

  <!-- NestedScrollingChild goes here (NestedScrollView, RecyclerView, etc.). -->
  <androidx.core.widget.NestedScrollView
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="match_parent"
      app:layout_behavior="@string/searchbar_scrolling_view_behavior">
    <!-- Screen content goes here. -->
  </androidx.core.widget.NestedScrollView>

  <com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content">
    <com.google.android.material.search.SearchBar
        android:id="@+id/search_bar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="@string/searchbar_hint" />
  </com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout>

  <com.google.android.material.search.SearchView
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="match_parent"
      android:hint="@string/searchbar_hint"
      app:layout_anchor="@id/search_bar">

    <!-- Search suggestions/results go here (ScrollView, RecyclerView, etc.). -->

  </com.google.android.material.search.SearchView>
</androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

By placing the SearchBar and SearchView within a CoordinatorLayout and using the app:layout_anchor tag, they will get automatically hooked up. This sets up the behavior of showing the SearchView when the SearchBar is tapped, as well as the expand and collapse animations. If you can't use a CoordinatorLayout, instead you can call the SearchView#setUpWithSearchBar method to achieve the same result.

Alternatively, an example of the lift on scroll mode is below:

<androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

  <!-- NestedScrollingChild goes here (NestedScrollView, RecyclerView, etc.). -->
  <androidx.core.widget.NestedScrollView
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="match_parent"
      app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior">
    <!-- Screen content goes here. -->
  </androidx.core.widget.NestedScrollView>

  <com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content">
    <com.google.android.material.search.SearchBar
        android:id="@+id/search_bar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="@string/searchbar_hint"
        app:liftOnScroll="true"
        app:liftOnScrollColor="?attr/colorSurfaceContainerHighest"/>
  </com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout>

  <com.google.android.material.search.SearchView
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="match_parent"
      android:hint="@string/searchbar_hint"
      app:layout_anchor="@id/search_bar">

    <!-- Search suggestions/results go here (ScrollView, RecyclerView, etc.). -->

  </com.google.android.material.search.SearchView>
</androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

Toolbar transitions

The SearchBar component also provides transitions to and from a Toolbar, e.g., for a contextual multi-select flow. These transitions are implemented as expand and collapse animations, and can be started by calling SearchBar#expand and SearchBar#collapse, respectively. Additionally, if you are using an AppBarLayout in conjunction with the SearchBar, you may pass in a reference to your AppBarLayout to these methods so that its visibility and offset can be taken into account for the animations.

Lastly, make sure to add the following to your back pressed handling method, in order to collapse the contextual Toolbar into the SearchBar when the user presses the system back button:

if (searchBar.collapse(contextualToolbar, appBarLayout)) {
  // Clear selection.
  return;
}