323

How do I change the default CheckBox color in Android?
By default the CheckBox color is green, and I want to change this color.
If it is not possible please tell me how to make a custom CheckBox?

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7
  • 1
    Are you trying to change the font's color? Or the color of the actual box? Commented May 2, 2011 at 6:28
  • 1
    actual box color i change Commented Jul 30, 2014 at 6:46
  • 93
    Setting the android:buttonTint="@color/mybrown" is an easy way to change the box color. Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 22:53
  • 6
    @Shauvik it just working on material design :) Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 13:30
  • 12
    @shauvik it's better to use app:buttonTint="@color/mybrown" instead, this way it can work on API < 21 Commented Aug 6, 2017 at 12:52

29 Answers 29

Reset to default
440

You can change the color directly in XML. Use buttonTint for the box: (as of API level 23)

<CheckBox android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:buttonTint="@color/CHECK_COLOR" />

You can also do this using appCompatCheckbox v7 for older API levels:

<android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatCheckBox android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" app:buttonTint="@color/COLOR_HERE" />
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5 Comments

Nice, thanks! And don't forget to add xmlns:app="schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" to your main/parent layout
Not working for me using 'android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatCheckBox'
This will automatically be used when you use CheckBox in your layouts. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views.
How about setting 2 different colors for checked and unchecked states?
This only changes the entire checkbox, but not the "checked" color.
305

If your minSdkVersion is 21+ use android:buttonTint attribute to update the color of a checkbox:

<CheckBox ... android:buttonTint="@color/tint_color" />

In projects that use AppCompat library and support Android versions below 21 you can use a compat version of the buttonTint attribute:

<CheckBox ... app:buttonTint="@color/tint_color" />

In this case if you want to subclass a CheckBox don't forget to use AppCompatCheckBox instead.

PREVIOUS ANSWER:

You can change CheckBoxs drawable using android:button="@drawable/your_check_drawable" attribute.

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4 Comments

You'd have to create your own drawable. There's gotta be a more straight-forward way...
Changing buttonTint colour is a more straight forward way. We have to use the native elements instead customising it unnecessarily.
The value of buttonTint seems to override the textColor value. Any ideas how to work around this?
In order to dynamically change the color later via setButtonTintList(ColorStateList tint) I needed to use app:buttonTint even beyond API 21 (API 24 in my case), otherwise the method call seemed to have no effect.
153

you can set android theme of the checkbox to get the color you want in your styles.xml add : 

<style name="checkBoxStyle" parent="Base.Theme.AppCompat"> <item name="colorAccent">CHECKEDHIGHLIGHTCOLOR</item> <item name="android:textColorSecondary">UNCHECKEDCOLOR</item> </style>

then in your layout file : 

<CheckBox android:theme="@style/checkBoxStyle" android:id="@+id/chooseItemCheckBox" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

unlike using android:buttonTint="@color/CHECK_COLOR" this method works under Api 23

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13 Comments

TEXTCOLORSECONDARY!!!! THank you man! That's it. I searched for ages to just change the unselected background color and did not want to work with custom drawables. This is it!
@Mulgard glad I can help !
Worked for me, but needed to add to the CheckBox xml to be able to see the text - android:textColor="@color/textColor"
How do I do it also programmatically?
@Zvi I am not sure you can do this programatically
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82

Use buttonTint to change color of button and color selector for above 21+ api version. 

<android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatCheckBox android:id="@+id/check" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" app:buttonTint="@color/checkbox_filter_tint" tools:targetApi="21"/>

res/colors/checkbox_filter_tint.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <item android:color="@color/light_gray_checkbox" android:state_checked="false"/> <item android:color="@color/common_red" android:state_checked="true"/> </selector>
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5 Comments

Can you speak English and explain your answer plse
Always stick with English in SO.
It is a better answer
This seems to be the only simple approach for setting both the checked and unchecked colors that works on all devices.
This should be the accepted answer. Although it should be noted that it doesnt work when the selector is declared as a values resource. As indicated by the path shown above, it has to be inside the colors resource folder.
58

Programmatic version:

int [][] states = {{android.R.attr.state_checked}, {}}; int [] colors = {color_for_state_checked, color_for_state_normal} CompoundButtonCompat.setButtonTintList(checkbox, new ColorStateList(states, colors));
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5 Comments

it gave me unexpected result with colors, are you sure you didn't confuse anything?
@Carlos This is not a "better" solution, because in android you should always try to set all the layout stuff in the xml file and not programmatically except when you need to change it dynamically
@kyay Not "always" ... the Android resource system is a mess and often doing it programmatically is far easier and more maintainable.
It sort of helps separation of concerns
@kyay10 that's absolutely a wrong statement. If you think the opposite then take a look about what's happening with Jetpack Compose.
21

I would suggest to use he style approach in android as the way to configure built-in android views, add new style in your project:

<style name="yourStyle" parent="Base.Theme.AppCompat"> <item name="colorAccent">your_color</item> <!-- for uncheck state --> <item name="android:textColorSecondary">your color</item> <!-- for check state --> </style>

and add assign this style to the theme of the checkbox: android:theme="@style/youStyle"

hope this helps.

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3 Comments

agree with this solution, those attributes should work better with the default built-in android component without hassle on the drawable like the upvoted answer.
This is a repeat of Amro elaswar's answer from 9 months earlier.
This is the kind of solution that is A REAL SOLUTION.
21

Add buttonTint in your xml

<CheckBox android:id="@+id/chk_remember_signup" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:buttonTint="@android:color/white" android:text="@string/hint_chk_remember_me" />
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1 Comment

The content of this answer already exists in afathman's answer.
11

Add this line in your styles.xml file:

<style> <item name="android:colorAccent">@android:color/holo_green_dark</item> </style>
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4 Comments

Please edit your answer with your example and don't post it as a comment
Slight correction: It's <item name="android:colorAccent></item>. Also, this is only available from API 21 and up.
this changes the colorAccent, it's not what it was asked
On Galaxy S3 it changes only checked state of a CheckBox. But unchecked state is still the same.
8

Me faced same problem, I got a solution using below technic. Copy the btn_check.xml from android-sdk/platforms/android-#(version)/data/res/drawable to your project's drawable folder and change the 'on' and 'off' image states to your custom images.
Then your xml will just need android:button="@drawable/btn_check"

<CheckBox android:button="@drawable/btn_check" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:checked="true" />

If you want to use different default Android icons, you can use:

android:button="@android:drawable/..."
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2 Comments

Great answer - much easier than creating custom xml .. thanks! For me, I have a gray background and the checkbox border was not visible. I added this and you can see it now: android:button="@android:drawable/checkbox_off_background"
There's actually a bit more to using this approach than I realized .. but still a nice option. I have added details below stackoverflow.com/a/29831532/2162226
8

buttonTint worked for me try

android:buttonTint="@color/white"

<CheckBox android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" android:id="@+id/agreeCheckBox" android:text="@string/i_agree_to_terms_s" android:buttonTint="@color/white" android:layout_below="@+id/avoid_spam_text"/>
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6

create an xml Drawable resource file under res->drawable and name it, for example, checkbox_custom_01.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <item android:state_checked="true" android:drawable="@drawable/checkbox_custom_01_checked_white_green_32" /> <item android:state_checked="false" android:drawable="@drawable/checkbox_custom_01_unchecked_gray_32" /> </selector>

Upload your custom checkbox image files (i recommend png) to your res->drawable folder.

Then go in your layout file and change your checkbox to

<CheckBox android:id="@+id/checkBox1" android:button="@drawable/checkbox_custom_01" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_alignParentLeft="true" android:focusable="false" android:focusableInTouchMode="false" android:text="CheckBox" android:textSize="32dip"/>

you may customize anything, as long as android:button points to the correct XML file you created before.

NOTE TO NEWBIES: though it is not mandatory, it is nevertheless good practice to name your checkbox with a unique id throughout your whole layout tree.

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6

100% robust approach.

In my case, I didn't have access to the XML layout source file, since I get Checkbox from a 3-rd party MaterialDialog lib. So I have to solve this programmatically.

  1. Create a ColorStateList in xml:

res/color/checkbox_tinit_dark_theme.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <item android:color="@color/white" android:state_checked="false"/> <item android:color="@color/positiveButtonBg" android:state_checked="true"/> </selector>

  1. Then apply it to the checkbox:

    ColorStateList darkStateList = ContextCompat.getColorStateList(getContext(), R.color.checkbox_tint_dark_theme); CompoundButtonCompat.setButtonTintList(checkbox, darkStateList);

P.S. In addition if someone is interested, here is how you can get your checkbox from MaterialDialog dialog (if you set it with .checkBoxPromptRes(...)):

CheckBox checkbox = (CheckBox) dialog.getView().findViewById(R.id.md_promptCheckbox);

Hope this helps.

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6

There is a much easier way to set the color programmatically by setting ColorStateList.

 Checkbox.setButtonTintList(ColorStateList.valueOf(getContext().getColor(R.color.yourcolor)))
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5

You can change checkbox color using singe line of code

android:buttonTint="@color/app_color" //whatever color

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5

If textColorSecondary does not work for you, you might have defined colorControlNormal in your theme to be a different color. If so, just use

<style name="yourStyle" parent="Base.Theme.AppCompat"> <item name="colorAccent">your_checked_color</item> <!-- for checked state --> <item name="colorControlNormal">your_unchecked_color</item> <!-- for unchecked state --> </style>
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4

Most answers go through the xml file. If you find an active answer for most Android versions and are just one color for the two statuses Check an UnCheck: here is my solution:

Kotlin:

val colorFilter = PorterDuffColorFilter(Color.CYAN, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_ATOP) CompoundButtonCompat.getButtonDrawable(checkBox)?.colorFilter = colorFilter

Java: 

ColorFilter colorFilter = new PorterDuffColorFilter(Color.CYAN, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_ATOP); Drawable drawable = CompoundButtonCompat.getButtonDrawable(checkBox); if (drawable != null) { drawable.setColorFilter(colorFilter); }
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3

You can use the following two properties in "colors.xml"

<color name="colorControlNormal">#eeeeee</color> <color name="colorControlActivated">#eeeeee</color>

colorControlNormal is for the normal view of checkbox, and colorControlActivated is for when the checkbox is checked.

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3

Hi This is the theme code for both Dark Theme and Light Theme.

<attr name="buttonsearch_picture" format="reference"/> <attr name="buttonrefresh_picture" format="reference"/> <style name="Theme.Light" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar"> <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item> <item name="android:windowBackground">@color/white</item> <item name="android:windowActionBar">false</item> <item name="android:textColorPrimary">@color/black</item> <item name="android:textColorSecondary">@color/black</item> <item name="android:textColor">@color/material_gray_800</item> <item name="actionOverflowButtonStyle">@style/LightOverflowButtonStyle</item> <item name="buttonsearch_picture">@drawable/ic_search_black</item> <item name="buttonrefresh_picture">@drawable/ic_refresh_black</item> </style> <style name="Theme.Dark" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar"> <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item> <item name="android:windowBackground">@color/white</item> <item name="android:windowActionBar">false</item> <item name="android:textColorPrimary">@color/white</item> <item name="android:textColorSecondary">@color/material_gray_500</item> <item name="android:textColor">@color/material_gray_800</item> <item name="actionOverflowButtonStyle">@style/DarkOverflowButtonStyle</item> <item name="buttonsearch_picture">@drawable/ic_search_white</item> <item name="buttonrefresh_picture">@drawable/ic_refresh_white</item> <item name="android:colorBackground">#ffffff</item> <item name="android:alertDialogTheme">@style/LightDialogTheme</item> <item name="android:alertDialogStyle">@style/LightDialogTheme</item> <!-- <item name="android:textViewStyle">@style/AppTheme.Widget.TextView</item>--> <item name="android:popupMenuStyle">@style/PopupMenu</item> </style>

If you want to change checkbox color then "colorAccent" attribute will use for checked state and "android:textColorSecondary" will use for unchecking state.

"actionOverflowButtonStyle" will use for change the color of overflow icon in the Action bar.

"buttonsearch_picture" attribute will use for change tint color of Action Button in Action Bar.This is custom Attribute in style.xml

<attr name="buttonsearch_picture" format="reference"/>

Same is for refresh button which i am using in my app.

"android:popupMenuStyle" attribute is using to get Light theme popup menu style in Dark theme. 

<style name="PopupMenu" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar"> </style>

And this is toolbar Code which I am using in my Rocks Player App.

 <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar android:id="@+id/toolbar" app:contentInsetStart="0dp" android:title="Rocks Player" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:elevation="4dp" android:layout_height="48dp" app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways" android:minHeight="48dp" app:titleTextAppearance="@style/Toolbar.TitleText" app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" android:background="?attr/colorPrimary" > </android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

Themes:-

 <style name="AppTheme0" parent="Theme.Light"> <item name="colorPrimary">#ffffff</item> <item name="colorPrimaryDark">#cccccc</item> <item name="colorAccent">#0294ff</item> </style> <style name="AppTheme1" parent="Theme.Dark"> <item name="colorPrimary">#4161b2</item> <item name="colorPrimaryDark">#4161b2</item> <item name="colorAccent">#4161b2</item> </style>
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3

My minSdkVersion is 15, my BaseAppTheme parent is Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar and I am creating my Checkboxes programmatically. The following steps worked for me.

1. In your Java code, change

CheckBox checkBox = new CheckBox(context);

to

AppCompatCheckBox checkBox = new AppCompatCheckBox(context);

2. In your styles.xml, add:

<style name="MyCheckboxStyle" parent="Widget.AppCompat.CompoundButton.CheckBox"> <item name="buttonTint">@color/primary_dark</item> </style>

3. Finally, within your BaseAppTheme (or AppTheme) style, add:

<item name="checkboxStyle">@style/MyCheckboxStyle</item> <item name="android:checkboxStyle">@style/MyCheckboxStyle</item>
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2

you can create your own xml in drawable and use this as android:background="@drawable/your_xml"

in that you can give border corner everything

<item> <shape> <gradient android:endColor="#fff" android:startColor="#fff"/> <corners android:radius="2dp"/> <stroke android:width="15dp" android:color="#0013669e"/> </shape> </item>

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1 Comment

Whilst it is noice to know about drawable vector graphics this answer does not answer the OP's question about the button tint.
2

My goal was to use a custom checkbox button and remove the accent color button tint. I tried the accepted answer but did now work instead this worked for me:

In the styles.xml file

<style name="Theme.Checkbox" parent="Widget.AppCompat.CompoundButton.CheckBox"> <item name="android:button">@drawable/theme_checkbox_button</item> <item name="android:drawableLeft">@android:color/transparent</item> <item name="android:drawablePadding">10dp</item> <item name="android:buttonTint">@android:color/transparent</item> <item name="android:buttonTintMode">screen</item> </style>

Now for this question, only required attributes are android:buttonTint and android:buttonTintMode

Now some extras:

  • I needed to use a custom drawable, hence android:button is set with a selector drawable
  • I needed some spacing between the box and the text hence I followed this SO answer and set the android:drawableLeft and android:drawablePadding
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1

You can change the background color of the <CheckBox> by embedding it inside a <LinearLayout>. Then change the background color of <LinearLayout> to the color you want.

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1 Comment

The question is about the color of the checkbox and not the background
1

You should try below code. It is working for me.

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <item android:drawable="@drawable/checked" android:state_checked="true"> <color android:color="@color/yello" /> </item> <!-- checked --> <item android:drawable="@drawable/unchecked" android:state_checked="false"> <color android:color="@color/black"></color> </item> <!-- unchecked --> <item android:drawable="@drawable/checked" android:state_focused="true"> <color android:color="@color/yello"></color> </item> <!-- on focus --> <item android:drawable="@drawable/unchecked"> <color android:color="@color/black"></color> </item> <!-- default --> </selector>

and CheckBox 

<CheckBox Button="@style/currentcy_check_box_style" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:paddingLeft="20dp" android:text="@string/step_one_currency_aud" />
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1 Comment

Where is currentcy_check_box_style defined in your selector or theme? Where do you place the selector?
1

If you are going to use the android icons, as described above ..

android:button="@android:drawable/..."

.. it's a nice option, but for this to work - I found you need to add toggle logic to show/hide the check mark, like this:

 checkBoxShowPwd.setOnCheckedChangeListener(new CompoundButton.OnCheckedChangeListener() { // checkbox status is changed from uncheck to checked. public void onCheckedChanged(CompoundButton buttonView, boolean isChecked) { int btnDrawable = android.R.drawable.checkbox_off_background; if (isChecked) { btnDrawable = android.R.drawable.checkbox_on_background; } checkBoxShowPwd.setButtonDrawable(btnDrawable); } });
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1 Comment

Well, this is extra work that really isn't necessary. In the drawable's xml file you supply references to on or off drawable resources for the selector. This automatically puts the correct drawable according to the checkbox's state.
1

I prefer this extension function I've created:

fun CheckBox.setTint(@ColorInt color: Int?) { if (color == null) { CompoundButtonCompat.setButtonTintList(this, null) return } CompoundButtonCompat.setButtonTintMode(this, Mode.SRC_ATOP) CompoundButtonCompat.setButtonTintList(this, ColorStateList.valueOf(color)) }

It's very similar to what I have for ImageView, in case anyone wants it too:

fun ImageView.setTint(@ColorInt color: Int?) { if (color == null) { ImageViewCompat.setImageTintList(this, null) return } ImageViewCompat.setImageTintMode(this, Mode.SRC_ATOP) ImageViewCompat.setImageTintList(this, ColorStateList.valueOf(color)) }
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1

I know I am late, but if you want to use different colors for checked and unchecked state, you can use material check box instead of normal check box, and set buttonTint and buttonIconTint

 <com.google.android.material.checkbox.MaterialCheckBox android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" app:buttonIconTint="@color/black" app:buttonTint="@color/white" />
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0

To change tint color using ColorStateList.

fun CheckBox.tint(colors: ColorStateList) { buttonTintList = colors } fun CheckBox.tint(@ColorInt color: Int) = tint(context.colorStateList(color))

For other general material views.

fun SeekBar.tint(@ColorInt color: Int) { val s1 = ColorStateList.valueOf(color) thumbTintList = s1 progressTintList = s1 } fun ProgressBar.tint(@ColorInt color: Int, skipIndeterminate: Boolean = false) { val sl = ColorStateList.valueOf(color) progressTintList = sl secondaryProgressTintList = sl if (!skipIndeterminate) indeterminateTintList = sl }
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-1

Changing the theme to parent="Theme.MaterialComponents.DayNight.NoActionBar" I make sure it works quite well

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-3

You can use the below lines of code to change the background of the Checkbox dynamically in your java code.

//Setting up background color on checkbox. checkbox.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#00e2a5"));

This answer was from this site. You can also use this site to convert your RGB color to the Hex value, you need to feed the parseColor

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