Android 5.0: how to change recent apps title color?

Question

I'm using AppCompat and my theme is extending Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar.

When in Android 5 Lollipop and I press the recent apps button, my app appears with a dark title instead of a white title in the ActionBar.

When I'm inside the app everything looks fine.

What can I do to change the title color in the recent apps view?

EDIT: just figured out that if I use a darker colorPrimary, the title becomes white. I still need a way to force the white title with the original color.

enter image description here

Instead of using a darker color as colorPrimary, I set the recents color as colorPrimaryDark. Just like the status bar color is darker, recents color is also darker for me and the title became white. I think it is the best way to do it. Thank you for the question and the great app unclouded — tasomaniac, Apr 14 '15 at 18:01

score 53 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 30 '14 at 09:56

53

You can't force the text color, it is auto generated (either white/black) based on your colorPrimary color.

answered Dec 30 '14 at 09:56

Chris Banes

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Here's the code in question if you're interested: https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/lollipop-release/packages/SystemUI/src/com/android/systemui/recents/model/Task.java#L147 – Chris Banes Dec 30 '14 at 10:07
I would add that this colorPrimary which affects the color of the text is defined in your app theme as an item. Like: `@color/colorPrimary` – Timo Albert Sep 12 '17 at 09:21

score 39 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 30 '14 at 09:52

I also looked into this and the best way I could find was (suggestion from MrEngineer13) setting my recents app color to the 600-value of my primary color:

Bitmap bm = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(getResources(), app_icon);
TaskDescription taskDesc = new TaskDescription(getString(R.string.app_name), bm, getResources().getColor(R.color.primary_600));
MainActivity.setTaskDescription(taskDesc);

If you look closely at the Android 5.0 contacts app, you can see that Google themselves is also doing something similar:

Screenshot Android contacts

Therefore I believe it is impossible to change the title color yourself, but Android will choose a good one for you. (which will also allow Android to change it for accessibility reasons,...)

In spite of I would like to set my own blue, this suit on the app as well. Thanks! — David Corral, Aug 11 '16 at 10:46
Thank you! This is the **real** answer. I used the "white text" on the palette. For example, Light Blue 600 - #039BE5, the palette shows white label for it on the website. — Jared Burrows, Sep 27 '16 at 05:13

score 25 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 13 '14 at 01:58

25

To change the color/title/icon you just need to use the following:

TaskDescription tDesc = new TaskDescription(mTitle, mIcon, mColor);
MainActivity.setTaskDescription(tDesc);

answered Nov 13 '14 at 01:58

MrEngineer13

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That only allows you to change the background/primary color, not the title. It's still useful because I can pick a slightly darker background color and the title automatically becomes white, but I would still like to be able to change the title color directly. – Christian Göllner Nov 13 '14 at 02:08
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This article talks about TaskDescription and shows an example https://www.bignerdranch.com/blog/polishing-your-Android-overview-screen-entry/ – Maragues Apr 06 '15 at 13:35
where do I put this code? In the oncreate of my main activity? – Marshall Jun 11 '15 at 07:08
@Marshall: A good place for this code is in `onResume()`. Just figured out the hard way that it won't work in `onCreate()`. – user149408 Nov 09 '15 at 19:34
can i set `Typeface` for this? – Sathish Kumar J Nov 24 '16 at 13:04
What about before api-level 21? – us2956 Mar 23 '18 at 12:34

Android 5.0: how to change recent apps title color?

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