Creating Custom Item Animators in Android

This guide is for creating custom animations for items in a RecyclerView. Start by reviewing the RecyclerView guide animation section here.

RecyclerView.ItemAnimator and DefaultItemAnimator

Animation starts with the RecyclerView.ItemAnimator abstract class. The DefaultItemAnimator (see source code) extends SimpleItemAnimator which then itself extends RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.

SimpleItemAnimator

SimpleItemAnimator (see source code) is a wrapper class for ItemAnimator that makes animation easier.

Custom Animator Examples

There are a few examples of how to customize animations using this class:

• Custom ItemAnimator
• SlideUpItemAnimator
• SlideInDownAnimator

Check the following custom animators defined:

• Mike Penz's Item Animators
• Wasabeef Animators

Further References

Stackoverflow Posts

• How to create insert animation effect?
• How to animate RecyclerView items when they appear?

Tutorials

• Creating custom item animator implementation for RecyclerView
• Mastering Complex Lists with the Android RecyclerView