How to change color of Toolbar back button in Android?

I could not change the color of back button. I am using toolbar material design. In my app I am applying black background of tool bar but the back design is being black by default that's why I just want to change the color of this back button. Please give me solutions.

Thank You

You can add a style to your styles.xml,

<style name="ToolbarTheme" parent="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.ActionBar">
  <!-- Customize color of navigation drawer icon and back arrow --> 
  <item name="colorControlNormal">@color/toolbar_color_control_normal</item>
</style>

and add this as theme to your toolbar in toolbar layout.xml using app:theme, check below

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    app:theme="@style/ToolbarTheme" >
</android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

use this style

<style name="Theme.MyFancyTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo">
    <item name="android:homeAsUpIndicator">@drawable/back_button_image</item>
</style>

Here is the simplest way of achieving Light and Dark Theme for Toolbar.You have to change the value of app:theme of the Toolbar tag

• For Black Toolbar Title and Black Up arrow, your toolbar should implement following theme:

>app:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"

• For White Toolbar Title and White Up arrow, your toolbar should implement following theme:

> app:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat"

Use this:

<style name="BaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
  <item name="colorControlNormal">@color/white</item> 
</style>

For white Toolbar Title and White Up arrow, use following theme:

android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"

Try this,

final Drawable upArrow = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.abc_ic_ab_back_mtrl_am_alpha);
upArrow.setColorFilter(getResources().getColor(R.color.grey), PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_ATOP);
getSupportActionBar().setHomeAsUpIndicator(upArrow);

Just use the MaterialToolbar and override the default colors:

    <com.google.android.material.appbar.MaterialToolbar
        style="@style/Widget.MaterialComponents.Toolbar.Primary"
        android:theme="@style/MyThemeOverlay_Toolbar"
        ..>

with:

  <style name="MyThemeOverlay_Toolbar" parent="ThemeOverlay.MaterialComponents.Toolbar.Primary">
    <!-- color used by navigation icon and overflow icon -->
    <item name="colorOnPrimary">@color/...</item>
  </style>

If you are using the androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar or the MaterialToolbar with the default style (Widget.MaterialComponents.Toolbar) you can use:

<androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
    android:theme="@style/MyThemeOverlay_Toolbar2"

with:

  <style name="MyThemeOverlay_Toolbar2" parent="ThemeOverlay.MaterialComponents.Toolbar.Primary">
    <!-- This attributes is used by title -->
    <item name="android:textColorPrimary">@color/white</item>

    <!-- This attributes is used by navigation icon and overflow icon -->
    <item name="colorOnPrimary">@color/secondaryColor</item>
  </style>

You don't have to change style for it. After setting up your toolbar as actionbar, You can code like this

android.getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
android.getSupportActionBar().setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.drawable.back);
//here back is your drawable image

But You cannot change color of back arrow by this method

You can use your own icon by using app:navigationIcon and for the title color app:titleTextColor

Example:

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?actionBarSize"
        android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
        app:navigationIcon="@drawable/ic_arrow_back_white_24dp"
        app:titleTextColor="@color/white" />

I think if theme should be generated some problem but its dynamically set black arrow.So i Suggested try this one.

Drawable backArrow = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.abc_ic_ab_back_mtrl_am_alpha);
backArrow.setColorFilter(getResources().getColor(R.color.md_grey_900), PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_ATOP);
getSupportActionBar().setHomeAsUpIndicator(backArrow);

If you want white back button (←) and white toolbar title, follow this:

<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:id="@+id/app_bar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
            app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />
    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

Change theme from Dark to Light if you want black back button (←) and black toolbar title.

To style the Toolbar on Android 21+ it's a bit different.

<style name="DarkTheme.v21" parent="DarkTheme.v19">
        <!-- toolbar background color -->
        <item name="android:navigationBarColor">@color/color_primary_blue_dark</item>
        <!-- toolbar back button color -->
        <item name="toolbarNavigationButtonStyle">@style/Toolbar.Button.Navigation.Tinted</item>
    </style>

    <style name="Toolbar.Button.Navigation.Tinted" parent="Widget.AppCompat.Toolbar.Button.Navigation">
        <item name="tint">@color/color_white</item>
    </style>

I did it this way using the Material Components library:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.MaterialComponents.DayNight.NoActionBar">
    <item name="drawerArrowStyle">@style/AppTheme.DrawerArrowToggle</item>
</style>

<style name="AppTheme.DrawerArrowToggle" parent="Widget.AppCompat.DrawerArrowToggle">
    <item name="color">@android:color/white</item>
</style>

I am using <style name="BaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar> theme in my android application and in NoActionBar theme, colorControlNormal property is used to change the color of navigation icon default Back button arrow in my toolbar

styles.xml

<style name="BaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
  <item name="colorControlNormal">@color/your_color</item> 
</style>

You can add this code into your java class. But you must create a vector asset before, so you can customize your arrow back.

actionBar.setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.drawable.ic_arrow_back_black_24dp);

Simple and no Worries

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout 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">
    
        <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">
    
            <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                android:id="@+id/toolbar"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
                android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
                app:titleTextColor="@color/white"
                app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />
    
        </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>
    
        <include layout="@layout/testing" />
    
    </android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

Programmatically we can achieve using below code. No need to add our own back icon as suggested by many others.

private void initToolBar(String title) {
    toolbar = findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
    toolbar.setTitle(title);
    toolbar.setTitleTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.gold));
    setSupportActionBar(toolbar);


    // add back arrow to toolbar
    if (getSupportActionBar() != null) {
        getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
        getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(true);
        Drawable nav = toolbar.getNavigationIcon();
        if(nav != null) {
            nav.setTint(getResources().getColor(R.color.gold));
        }
    }
}

Please note toolbar.getNavigationIcon() if requested before getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true); it won't work.

For white Toolbar Title and White Up arrow, use following theme:

android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"

If you want system back color in white then you can use this code

<com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout
        android:id="@+id/appbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:elevation="0dp"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent">

        <androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar_notification"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            app:contentInsetLeft="0dp"
            app:contentInsetStart="0dp"
            app:contentInsetStartWithNavigation="0dp">

            <include layout="@layout/action_bar_notification" />
        </androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar>
    </com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout>

Note:- android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar" is key

The paste is in your activity where you want to show back button on action bar

final Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar_notification);
setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(false);