How to change status bar color to match app in Lollipop? [Android]

In the new lollipop update I noticed that with the native Google apps the color of the status bar changes to match the action bar on the app you're running. I see it's on the Twitter app also so I'm guessing it's not exclusively Google who can do it.

Does anyone know how to do this if it is possible?

To change status bar color use setStatusBarColor(int color). According the javadoc, we also need set some flags on the window.

Working snippet of code:

Window window = activity.getWindow();
window.addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_DRAWS_SYSTEM_BAR_BACKGROUNDS);
window.clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_TRANSLUCENT_STATUS);
window.setStatusBarColor(ContextCompat.getColor(activity, R.color.example_color));

Keep in mind according Material Design guidelines status bar color and action bar color should be different:

• ActionBar should use primary 500 color
• StatusBar should use primary 700 color

Look at the screenshot below:

Just add this in you styles.xml. The colorPrimary is for the action bar and the colorPrimaryDark is for the status bar.

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <item name="android:colorPrimary">@color/primary</item>
    <item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">@color/primary_dark</item>
</style>

This picture from developer android explains more about color pallete. You can read more on this link.

Another way to set the status bar color is through the style.xml.

To do that, create a style.xml file under res/values-v21 folder with this content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Material">
        <!--   darker variant for the status bar and contextual app bars -->
        <item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">@color/blue_dark</item>
    </style>
</resources>

Edit: as pointed out in comments, when using AppCompat the code is different. In file res/values/style.xml use instead:

<style name="Theme.MyTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">   
    <!-- Set AppCompat’s color theming attrs -->
    <item name="colorPrimary">@color/my_awesome_red</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/my_awesome_darker_red</item>
    <!-- Other attributes -->
</style>

To set the status bar color, create a style.xml file under res/values-v21 folder with this content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>

    <style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="AppTheme">
        <item name="android:windowDrawsSystemBarBackgrounds">true</item>
        <item name="android:statusBarColor">@color/blue</item>
    </style>

</resources>

Also if you want different status-bar color for different activity (fragments) you can do it with following steps (work on API 21 and above):

First create values21/style.xml and put following code:

 <style name="AIO" parent="AIOBase">
            <item name="android:windowDrawsSystemBarBackgrounds">true</item>
            <item name="android:windowContentTransitions">true</item>
    </style>

Then define White|Dark themes in your values/style.xml like following:

 <style name="AIOBase" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
        <item name="colorPrimary">@color/color_primary</item>
        <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/color_primary_dark</item>
        <item name="colorAccent">@color/color_accent</item>
        <item name="android:textColorPrimary">@android:color/black</item>
        <item name="android:statusBarColor" tools:targetApi="lollipop">@color/color_primary_dark
        </item>
        <item name="android:textColor">@color/gray_darkest</item>
        <item name="android:windowBackground">@color/default_bg</item>
        <item name="android:colorBackground">@color/default_bg</item>
    </style>


    <style name="AIO" parent="AIOBase" />

    <style name="AIO.Dark" parent="AIOBase">
        <item name="android:statusBarColor" tools:targetApi="lollipop">#171717
        </item>
    </style>

    <style name="AIO.White" parent="AIOBase">
        <item name="android:statusBarColor" tools:targetApi="lollipop">#bdbdbd
        </item>
    </style>

Also don't forget to apply themes in your manifest.xml.

Add this line in style of v21 if you use two style.

  <item name="android:statusBarColor">#43434f</item>

In android pre Lollipop devices you can do it from SystemBarTintManager If you are using android studio just add Systembartint lib in your gradle file.

dependencies {
    compile 'com.readystatesoftware.systembartint:systembartint:1.0.3'
    ...
}

Then in your activity

// create manager instance after the content view is set
SystemBarTintManager mTintManager = new SystemBarTintManager(this);
// enable status bar tint
mTintManager.setStatusBarTintEnabled(true);
mTintManager.setTintColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.blue));