How to stop EditText from gaining focus when an activity starts in Android?

Question

I have an Activity in Android, with two elements:

EditText
ListView

When my Activity starts, the EditText immediately has the input focus (flashing cursor). I don't want any control to have input focus at startup. I tried:

EditText.setSelected(false); EditText.setFocusable(false);

No luck. How can I convince the EditText to not select itself when the Activity starts?

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-13 14:31:50Z

Adding the tags android:focusableInTouchMode="true" and android:focusable="true" to the parent layout (e.g. LinearLayout or ConstraintLayout) like in the following example, will fix the problem.

<!-- Dummy item to prevent AutoCompleteTextView from receiving focus --> <LinearLayout android:focusable="true" android:focusableInTouchMode="true" android:layout_width="0px" android:layout_height="0px"/> <!-- :nextFocusUp and :nextFocusLeft have been set to the id of this component to prevent the dummy from receiving focus again --> <AutoCompleteTextView android:id="@+id/autotext" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:nextFocusUp="@id/autotext" android:nextFocusLeft="@id/autotext"/>

What about setting the parent layout to android:focusableInTouchMode="true"!
@MuhammadBabar android:focusableInTouchMode="true" create a zoom view in emulator
if SO allow me to upvote questions multiple times then i will upvote this answer twice. Thank you brother

Rahul · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-11 07:31:43Z

Is the actual problem that you just don't want it to have focus at all? Or you don't want it to show the virtual keyboard as a result of focusing on the EditText? I don't really see an issue with the EditText having a focus on the start, but it's definitely a problem to have the softInput window open when the user did not explicitly request to focus on the EditText (and open the keyboard as a result).

If it's the problem of the virtual keyboard, see the AndroidManifest.xml <activity> element documentation.

android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden" - always hide it when entering the activity.

or android:windowSoftInputMode="stateUnchanged" - don't change it (e.g. don't show it if it isn't already shown, but if it was open when entering the activity, leave it open).

yet still the cursor is in the first EditText in the layout - even though the keyboard is not shown
@Anderson: Nothing about the answer implied that it would prevent the EditText from obtaining focus. It actually clearly states that this is how you prevent the software keyboard IME from opening automatically on focus; because it is more likely that the bigger concern is the soft keyboard popping up unexpectedly, not the focus itself. If your issue is with the EditText actually having focus at all, then use someone else's answer.

Silver · Accepted Answer · 2024-01-17 17:17:00Z

A simpler solution exists. Set these attributes in your parent layout:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:id="@+id/mainLayout" android:descendantFocusability="beforeDescendants" android:focusableInTouchMode="true" >

And now, when the activity starts this main layout will get focus by default.

Also, we can remove focus from child views at runtime (e.g., after finishing child editing) by giving the focus to the main layout again, like this:

findViewById(R.id.mainLayout).requestFocus();

Good comment from Guillaume Perrot:

android:descendantFocusability="beforeDescendants" seems to be the default (integer value is 0). It works just by adding android:focusableInTouchMode="true".

Really, we can see that the beforeDescendants is set as default in the ViewGroup.initViewGroup() method (Android 2.2.2). But not equal to 0. ViewGroup.FOCUS_BEFORE_DESCENDANTS = 0x20000;

Thanks to Guillaume.

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:30:53Z

456

The only solution I've found is:

Create a LinearLayout (I don't know if other kinds of Layout will work)
Set the attributes android:focusable="true" and android:focusableInTouchMode="true"

And the EditText won't get the focus after starting the activity

edited Jul 25, 2022 at 11:30

Ramesh R

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answered Oct 23, 2009 at 8:12

Luc

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2 Comments

iamnaran Over a year ago

thanks, works on other layouts too. tested on constraint layout.

Konstantin Konopko Over a year ago

You can also set root layout as focusable

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:38:17Z

The problem seems to come from a property that I can only see in the XML form of the layout.

Make sure to remove this line at the end of the declaration within the EditText XML tags:

<requestFocus />

That should give something like that :

<EditText android:id="@+id/emailField" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:inputType="textEmailAddress"> //<requestFocus /> /* <-- without this line */ </EditText>

Ziem · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-24 22:21:35Z

using the information provided by other posters, I used the following solution:

in the layout XML

<!-- Dummy item to prevent AutoCompleteTextView from receiving focus --> <LinearLayout android:id="@+id/linearLayout_focus" android:focusable="true" android:focusableInTouchMode="true" android:layout_width="0px" android:layout_height="0px"/> <!-- AUTOCOMPLETE --> <AutoCompleteTextView android:id="@+id/autocomplete" android:layout_width="200dip" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_marginTop="20dip" android:inputType="textNoSuggestions|textVisiblePassword"/>

in onCreate()

private AutoCompleteTextView mAutoCompleteTextView; private LinearLayout mLinearLayout; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.mylayout); //get references to UI components mAutoCompleteTextView = (AutoCompleteTextView) findViewById(R.id.autocomplete); mLinearLayout = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.linearLayout_focus); }

and finally, in onResume()

@Override protected void onResume() { super.onResume(); //do not give the editbox focus automatically when activity starts mAutoCompleteTextView.clearFocus(); mLinearLayout.requestFocus(); }

This is actually the only answer that worked for me. Adding android:focusable="true" android:focusableInTouchMode="true" prevents the EditTexts from gaining focus on some devices, but on some devices it still doesn't work. I've been searching for a solution for a long time and this works perfectly. Thanks so much.
This works better than other techniques! E.g. having onResume() force the text field to defocus mostly works but it breaks the second and later uses of the adjustPan feature (pan the window contents to fit the text field with soft keyboard), at least on API 22-23.

Keet Sugathadasa · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-22 05:09:00Z

87

Try clearFocus() instead of setSelected(false). Every view in Android has both focusability and selectability, and I think that you want to just clear the focus.

edited Oct 22, 2017 at 5:09

Keet Sugathadasa

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answered Oct 12, 2009 at 19:02

Eric Mill

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2 Comments

Mark Over a year ago

That sounds promising, but at what point in the Activity lifecycle should it be called? If I call it in onCreate(), the EditText still has focus. Should it be called in onResume() or some other location? Thanks!

teedyay Over a year ago

I combined the accepted answer with this answer. I called myEditText.clearFocus(); myDummyLinearLayout.requestFocus(); in the onResume of the Activity. This ensured the EditText didn't keep the focus when the phone was rotated.

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:48:06Z

The following will stop EditText from taking focus when created but grab it when you touch them.

<EditText android:id="@+id/et_bonus_custom" android:focusable="false" />

So you set focusable to false in the xml, but the key is in the java, which you add the following listener:

etBonus.setOnTouchListener(new View.OnTouchListener() { @Override public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event) { v.setFocusable(true); v.setFocusableInTouchMode(true); return false; } });

Because you are returning false, i.e. not consuming the event, the focusing behavior will proceed like normal.

But this will never gain focus in future, how to just stop focus only for initial(activity start) ??
The onTouchListener is called before other touch actions. So by enabling focusable on touch the standard focus happens on the first touch. The keyboard will come up and everything.
Nice! This one works (although it seems to take the field out of the focus handling TAB sequence). This can be done all in one place without a layout XML part: if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT <= 27) {et.setFocusable(false); et.setOnTouchListener(...);}

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:36:20Z

I had tried several answers individually but the focus is still at the EditText. I only managed to solve it by using two of the below solution together.

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:id="@+id/mainLayout" android:descendantFocusability="beforeDescendants" android:focusableInTouchMode="true" >

( Reference from Silver https://stackoverflow.com/a/8639921/15695 )

and remove

<requestFocus />

at EditText

( Reference from floydaddict https://stackoverflow.com/a/9681809 )

I had to add edittext.clearFocus() in addition to the above to get it working :)

General Grievance · Accepted Answer · 2025-06-24 19:30:41Z

76

Late but simplest answer, just add this in the parent layout of the XML.

android:focusable="true" android:focusableInTouchMode="true"

edited Jun 24 at 19:30

General Grievance

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answered Apr 18, 2018 at 6:14

Rishabh Saxena

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1 Comment

Karthic Srinivasan Over a year ago

worked perfectly for me. one more thing to note is, dont add these lines to scroll view. It wont work in scroll view. But worked perfectly with linear layout.

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:57:12Z

None of these solutions worked for me. The way I fix the autofocus was:

<activity android:name=".android.InviteFriendsActivity" android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustPan"> <intent-filter > </intent-filter> </activity>

android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustPan" on any activity in the Android Manifest

Piyush · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-27 10:05:40Z

52

Simple solution: In AndroidManifest in Activity tag use

android:windowSoftInputMode="stateAlwaysHidden"

edited Sep 27, 2016 at 10:05

Piyush

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answered Mar 17, 2014 at 15:42

Sergey Sheleg

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3 Comments

katzenhut Over a year ago

Strictly speaking, this does not solve the issue. the OP said: "I don't want any control to have input focus at startup." Your solution only hides the keyboard, theres a sublte difference.

Zach Over a year ago

@katzenhut yep, thats my issue with this answer exactly. Focusing on my edittext opens up a PlaceAutoComplete activity, so this answer is incomplete

Martin Marconcini Over a year ago

This answer would be complete if the question was: How do I always ensure my activity never shows a keyboard. Which is not.

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:53:22Z

You can just set "focusable" and "focusable in touch mode" to value true on the first TextView of the layout. In this way when the activity starts the TextView will be focused but, due to its nature, you will see nothing focused on the screen and, of course, there will be no keyboard displayed...

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:44:44Z

43

The following worked for me in Manifest. Write,

<activity android:name=".MyActivity" android:windowSoftInputMode="stateAlwaysHidden"/>

edited Jul 25, 2022 at 11:44

Ramesh R

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answered Apr 8, 2014 at 11:48

Babar Sanah

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1 Comment

A. Rager Over a year ago

This doesn't un-focus the text field: it merely hides the keyboard. You'll still get a hint that's pushed out of the field, and any color state selectors will display the "focused=true" state.

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:56:49Z

I needed to clearly focus on all fields programmatically. I just added the following two statements to my main layout definition.

myLayout.setDescendantFocusability(ViewGroup.FOCUS_BEFORE_DESCENDANTS); myLayout.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);

That's it. Fixed my problem instantly. Thanks, Silver, for pointing me in the right direction.

Piyush · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-27 10:04:40Z

33

Add android:windowSoftInputMode="stateAlwaysHidden" in the activity tag of the Manifest.xml file.

Source

edited Sep 27, 2016 at 10:04

Piyush

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answered Jun 24, 2015 at 9:19

prgmrDev

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1 Comment

A. Rager Over a year ago

This doesn't un-focus the text field: it merely hides the keyboard. You'll still get a hint that's pushed out of the field, and any color state selectors will display the "focused=true" state.

bofredo · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-27 18:11:18Z

If you have another view on your activity like a ListView, you can also do:

ListView.requestFocus();

in your onResume() to grab focus from the editText.

I know this question has been answered but just providing an alternative solution that worked for me :)

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:58:21Z

Try this before your first editable field:

<TextView android:id="@+id/dummyfocus" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="@string/foo" />

findViewById(R.id.dummyfocus).setFocusableInTouchMode(true); findViewById(R.id.dummyfocus).requestFocus();

Piyush · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-27 10:04:26Z

24

Add following in onCreate method:

this.getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_HIDDEN);

edited Sep 27, 2016 at 10:04

Piyush

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answered Dec 21, 2015 at 15:33

Vishal Raj

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1 Comment

A. Rager Over a year ago

This doesn't un-focus the text field: it merely hides the keyboard. You'll still get a hint that's pushed out of the field, and any color state selectors will display the "focused=true" state.

Vishal Vaishnav · Accepted Answer · 2022-08-16 12:39:10Z

22

Write this line in your Parent Layout...

 android:focusableInTouchMode="true"

edited Aug 16, 2022 at 12:39

answered Jul 26, 2017 at 9:52

Vishal Vaishnav

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1 Comment

Ricardo A. Over a year ago

duplicated answer

workingkills · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-24 13:26:14Z

Being that I don't like to pollute the XML with something that is related to functionality, I created this method that "transparently" steals the focus from the first focusable view and then makes sure to remove itself when necessary!

public static View preventInitialFocus(final Activity activity) { final ViewGroup content = (ViewGroup)activity.findViewById(android.R.id.content); final View root = content.getChildAt(0); if (root == null) return null; final View focusDummy = new View(activity); final View.OnFocusChangeListener onFocusChangeListener = new View.OnFocusChangeListener() { @Override public void onFocusChange(View view, boolean b) { view.setOnFocusChangeListener(null); content.removeView(focusDummy); } }; focusDummy.setFocusable(true); focusDummy.setFocusableInTouchMode(true); content.addView(focusDummy, 0, new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(0, 0)); if (root instanceof ViewGroup) { final ViewGroup _root = (ViewGroup)root; for (int i = 1, children = _root.getChildCount(); i < children; i++) { final View child = _root.getChildAt(i); if (child.isFocusable() || child.isFocusableInTouchMode()) { child.setOnFocusChangeListener(onFocusChangeListener); break; } } } else if (root.isFocusable() || root.isFocusableInTouchMode()) root.setOnFocusChangeListener(onFocusChangeListener); return focusDummy; }

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:58:42Z

Late, but maybe helpful. Create a dummy EditText at the top of your layout then call myDummyEditText.requestFocus() in onCreate()

<EditText android:id="@+id/dummyEditTextFocus" android:layout_width="0px" android:layout_height="0px" />

That seems to behave as I expect. No need to handle configuration changes, etc. I needed this for an Activity with a lengthy TextView (instructions).

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:54:08Z

Yeah, I did the same thing - create a 'dummy' linear layout which gets the initial focus. Furthermore, I set the 'next' focus IDs so the user can't focus it anymore after scrolling once:

<LinearLayout 'dummy'> <EditText et> dummy.setNextFocusDownId(et.getId()); dummy.setNextFocusUpId(et.getId()); et.setNextFocusUpId(et.getId());

a lot of work just to get rid of focus on a view.

Thanks

android developer · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-14 08:02:14Z

For me, what worked on all devices is this:

 <!-- fake first focusable view, to allow stealing the focus to itself when clearing the focus from others --> <View android:layout_width="0px" android:layout_height="0px" android:focusable="true" android:focusableInTouchMode="true" />

Just put this as a view before the problematic focused view, and that's it.

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:41:41Z

<TextView android:id="@+id/textView01" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_weight="1" android:singleLine="true" android:ellipsize="marquee" android:marqueeRepeatLimit="marquee_forever" android:focusable="true" android:focusableInTouchMode="true" style="@android:style/Widget.EditText"/>

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:56:06Z

The simplest thing I did is to set focus on another view in onCreate:

myView.setFocusableInTouchMode(true); myView.requestFocus();

This stopped the soft keyboard from coming up and there was no cursor flashing in the EditText.

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:51:08Z

12

This is the perfect and easiest solution. I always use this in my app.
getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_HIDDEN);

edited Jul 25, 2022 at 11:51

Ramesh R

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answered Mar 31, 2015 at 9:27

user4728480

1 Comment

A. Rager Over a year ago

This doesn't un-focus the text field: it merely hides the keyboard. You'll still get a hint that's pushed out of the field, and any color state selectors will display the "focused=true" state.

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:42:51Z

Write this code inside the Manifest file in the Activity where you do not want to open the keyboard.

android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden"

Manifest file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.example.project" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0" > <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" android:targetSdkVersion="24" /> <application android:allowBackup="true" android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher" android:label="@string/app_name" android:theme="@style/AppTheme" > <activity android:name=".Splash" android:label="@string/app_name" > <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" /> <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" /> </intent-filter> </activity> <activity android:name=".Login" **android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden"** android:label="@string/app_name" > </activity> </application> </manifest>

This doesn't un-focus the text field: it merely hides the keyboard. You'll still get a hint that's pushed out of the field, and any color state selectors will display the "focused=true" state.

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:39:43Z

The easiest way to hide the keyboard is using setSoftInputMode

getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_HIDDEN);

or you can use InputMethodManager and hide the keyboard like this.

InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE); imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(myEditText.getWindowToken(), 0);

Ramesh R · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 11:55:08Z

At onCreate of your Activity, just add use clearFocus() on your EditText element. For example,

edittext = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edittext); edittext.clearFocus();

And if you want to divert the focus to another element, use requestFocus() on that. For example,

button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button); button.requestFocus();

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