How to Create a Transparent Activity in Android?

Many times we have to display a feature in our app where we have to use transparent activity inside our android app. In this article, we will take a look at creating a Transparent Activity in Android. 

What we are going to build in this article? 

We will be building a simple application in which we will be displaying a simple TextView inside a transparent activity. For creating a transparent activity we will be adding a different style to our activity. A sample video is given below to get an idea about what we are going to do in this article. Note that we are going to implement this project using the Java language. 

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. Note that select Java as the programming language.

Step 2: Working with the activity_main.xml file

Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file. 

XML

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

    <!--text view for displaying textview-->
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="4dp"
        android:padding="10dp"
        android:text="Welcome to Geeks for Geeks"
        android:textAlignment="center"
        android:textColor="@color/purple_200"
        android:textSize="25sp"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Step 3: Adding a custom style for this activity 

Navigate to the app > res > values > themes.xml and add the below code to it. 

XML

<resources xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
    <!-- Base application theme. -->
    <style name="Theme.TransparentActivity" parent="Theme.MaterialComponents.DayNight.DarkActionBar">
        <!-- Primary brand color. -->
        <item name="colorPrimary">@color/purple_500</item>
        <item name="colorPrimaryVariant">@color/purple_700</item>
        <item name="colorOnPrimary">@color/white</item>
        <!-- Secondary brand color. -->
        <item name="colorSecondary">@color/teal_200</item>
        <item name="colorSecondaryVariant">@color/teal_700</item>
        <item name="colorOnSecondary">@color/black</item>
        <!-- Status bar color. -->
        <item name="android:statusBarColor" tools:targetApi="l">?attr/colorPrimaryVariant</item>
        <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
    </style>

    <!--add below code in themes.xml file-->
    <!--below is the style for transparent activity and here we are using no action bar.-->
    <style name="Theme.AppCompat.Translucent" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">
        <!--on below line we are setting background as transparent color-->
        <item name="android:background">@android:color/transparent</item>
        <!--on below line we are displaying the windowNotitle as true as we are not displaying our status bar-->
        <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
        <!--on below line we are setting our window background as transparent color-->
        <item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>
        <!--on below line we are setting color background cache hint as null-->
        <item name="android:colorBackgroundCacheHint">@null</item>
        <!--on below line we are adding a window translucent as true-->
        <item name="android:windowIsTranslucent">true</item>
        <!--on below line we are adding a window animationstyle-->
        <item name="android:windowAnimationStyle">@android:style/Animation</item>
    </style>

</resources>

Step 4: Changing the theme in the AndroidManifest.xml file 

Navigate to the app > AndroidManifest.xml inside application tag in theme tag add this style in it. 

XML

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

Now run your app and see the output of the app. 

Output: