Notification bar icon turns white in Android 5 Lollipop

Question

I have an app showing custom notifications  The problem is that when running in Android 5 the small icon in the Notification bar is shown in white  How can I fix this

User · Answer

According to the Android design guidelines you must use a silhouette for builder.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.some_notification_icon); But if you still wants to show a colorful icon as a notification icon here is the trick for lollipop and above use below code. The largeIcon will act as a primary notification icon and you also need to provide a silhouette for smallIcon as it will be shown over the bottom right of the largeIcon.

if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
{
     builder.setColor(context.getResources().getColor(R.color.red));
     builder.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.some_notification_icon);
     builder.setLargeIcon(BitmapFactory.decodeResource(context.getResources(), R.mipmap.ic_launcher));
}

And pre-lollipop use only .setSmallIcon(R.mipmap.ic_launcher) with your builder.

User · Answer

alpha-channel is the only data of the image that Android uses for notification icons    alpha    1  pixels show white alpha    0  pixels show as the color you chose at Notification Builder setColor int    This is mentioned at https   developer android com about versions android-5 0-changes html       The system ignores all non-alpha channels in action icons and in the main notification icon  You should assume that these icons will be alpha-only    Almost all built-in drawables seem to be suitable alpha images for this  so you might use something like   Notification Builder setColor Color RED                       setSmallIcon android R drawable star on    but I m still looking for the API doc that officially confirms that   Tested on Android 22

User · Answer

Another option is to take advantage of version-specific drawable  mipmap  directories to supply different graphics for Lollipop and above    In my app  the  v21  directories contain icons with transparent text while the other directories contain non-transparent version  for versions of Android older than Lollipop      Which should look something like this     This way  you don t need to check for version numbers in code  e g   PendingIntent pendingIntent   PendingIntent getActivity this  0    Request code     intent              PendingIntent FLAG ONE SHOT    Uri defaultSoundUri   RingtoneManager getDefaultUri RingtoneManager TYPE NOTIFICATION   NotificationCompat Builder notificationBuilder   new NotificationCompat Builder this           setSmallIcon R mipmap ic notification           setContentTitle title           setContentText message           setAutoCancel true           setSound defaultSoundUri               setContentIntent pendingIntent     Likewise  you can reference  ic notification   or whatever you choose to call it  in your GCM payload if you use the  icon  attribute   https   developers google com cloud-messaging http-server-ref notification-payload-support

User · Answer

Now android studio is provide a plugin  Image Asset  which will be generate icon in all required drawbale folder   Image Asset Studio helps you create various types of icons at different densities and shows you exactly where they ll be placed in your project  It includes tools for adjusting your icons and adding backdrops  all while displaying the result in a preview pane  so they appear exactly as you intended  These tools can dramatically streamline the icon design and import process   You can access  Image Asset by click new  click on Image Asset option and it will  be show window like this  -

User · Answer

The accepted answer is not  entirely  correct  Sure  it makes notification icons show in color  but does so with a BIG drawback - by setting the target SDK to lower than Android Lollipop   If you solve your white icon problem by setting your target SDK to 20  as suggested  your app will not target Android Lollipop  which means that you cannot use Lollipop-specific features   Have a look at http   developer android com design style iconography html  and you ll see that the white style is how notifications are meant to be displayed in Android Lollipop   In Lollipop  Google also suggest that you use a color that will be displayed behind the  white  notification icon - https   developer android com about versions android-5 0-changes html  So  I think that a better solution is to add a silhouette icon to the app and use it if the device is running Android Lollipop   For instance   Notification notification   new Notification Builder context               setAutoCancel true               setContentTitle  My notification                setContentText  Look  white in Lollipop  else color                 setSmallIcon getNotificationIcon                 build         return notification    And  in the getNotificationIcon method   private int getNotificationIcon         boolean useWhiteIcon    android os Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   android os Build VERSION CODES LOLLIPOP       return useWhiteIcon   R drawable icon silhouette   R drawable ic launcher

User · Answer

Post android Lollipop release android has changed the guidelines for displaying notification icons in the Notification bar  The official documentation says  Update or remove assets that involve color  The system ignores all non-alpha channels in action icons and in the main notification icon  You should assume that these icons will be alpha-only  The system draws notification icons in white and action icons in dark gray     Now what that means in lay man terms is  Convert all parts of the image that you don   t want to show to transparent pixels  All colors and non transparent pixels are displayed in white   You can see how to do this in detail with screenshots here https   blog clevertap com fixing-notification-icon-for-android-lollipop-and-above   Hope that helps

User · Answer

This is the code Android uses to display notification icons       android frameworks base packages SystemUI src com android systemui       statusbar BaseStatusBar java  if  entry targetSdk  gt   Build VERSION CODES LOLLIPOP        entry icon setColorFilter mContext getResources   getColor android R color white      else       entry icon setColorFilter null       So you need to set the target sdk version to something  lt 21 and the icons will stay colored  This is an ugly workaround but it does what it is expected to do  Anyway  I really suggest following Google s Design Guidelines   Notification icons must be entirely white    Here is how you can implement it   If you are using Gradle Android Studio to build your apps  use build gradle   defaultConfig       targetSdkVersion 20     Otherwise  Eclipse etc  use AndroidManifest xml    lt uses-sdk android minSdkVersion       android targetSdkVersion  20    gt

User · Answer

I think it s too late to talk about API 21  but I found a easy way   When using  Custom Notification custom layout  s   RemoteView s  setImageViewResource int viewId  int srcId     and  setImageViewUri int viewId  Uri uri      makes those image white on Lollipop  API 21    But when using  setImageViewBitmap int viewId  Bitmap bitmap     Image doesn t become white-masked

User · Answer

You Need to import the single color transparent PNG image  So You can set the Icon color of the  small icon  Otherwise it will be shown white in some devices like MOTO

User · Answer

To avoid Notification icons to turn white  use  Silhouette  icons for them  ie  white-on-transparent background images  You may use Irfanview to build them    choose a picture  open in IrfanView  press F12 for the painting tools  clean picture if necessary  remove unwanted parts  smooth and polish  Image   Decrease Color Depth to 2   for a black  amp  white picture  Image   Negative                    for a white on black picture  Image   Resize Resample to 144 x 144  use Size Method  Resize  not  Resample   otherwise picture is increased to 24 color bits per pixel  24 BPP  again File   Save as PNG  check Show option dialog  check Save Transparent Color  click Save  then click on the black color in the image to set the transparent color   Android seems to be using the drawable-xxhdpi picture resolution  144 x 144  only  so copy your resulting ic notification png file to  AndroidStudio Projects     app src main res drawable-xxhdpi  Use  setSmallIcon R drawable ic notification  in your code  or use getNotificationIcon   as Daniel Saidi suggested above   You may also use Roman Nurik s Android Asset Studio

User · Answer

Completely agree with user Daniel Saidi  In Order to have Color for NotificationIcon I m writing this answer   For that you ve to make icon like Silhouette and make some section Transparent wherever you wants to add your Colors  i e     You can add your color using    setColor your color resource here   NOTE   setColor is only available in Lollipop so  you ve to check OSVersion  if  android os Build VERSION SDK INT  lt  Build VERSION CODES LOLLIPOP        Notification notification   new Notification Builder context            else          Lollipop specific setColor method goes here      Notification notification   new Notification Builder context              notification setColor your color                          You can also achieve this using Lollipop as the target SDK   All instruction regarding NotificationIcon given at Google Developer Console Notification Guide Lines   Preferred Notification Icon Size 24x24dp  mdpi      24 00dp     24 00px hdpi      24 00dp     36 00px xhdpi     24 00dp     48 00px   And also refer this link for Notification Icon Sizes for more info

User · Answer

mix  these two things in app gradle   defaultConfig       applicationId  com example abdulwahidvi notificationproblem      minSdkVersion 16       This is the version that was added by project by default     targetSdkVersion 26  lt ------ default        Changed it to version 20     targetSdkVersion 20  lt ------ mine      versionCode 1     versionName  1 0      testInstrumentationRunner  android support test runner AndroidJUnitRunner

User · Answer

If you re using GoogleFireBaseMessaging  you can set  icon id  in the  notification  payload  it helps me to solve the white bar icon problem           to    lt fb id gt         priority     high        notification                    title     title            body     body             sound     default            icon     ic notification            set ic notification to your own id from R drawable

User · Answer

I also faced too many problem in this but after searching all over the  internet i found different solutions for this issue Let me sum up all the solutions and explain   Note This solution is for Phonegap cordova users   Example    lt preference name  android-targetSdkVersion  value  20   gt   You need to set your android-targetSdkVersion value to less than 21   So after setting this value Notification icon image will appear till Android      6 Marshmallow   It won t work in Android 7 Nougat   This solution worked for me    Change the statusbarStyle in your config file  Example     lt preference name  StatusBarStyle  value  lightcontent    gt   But this solution will work only when your app is opened  So  I guess this solution is not the best solution but it worked for many users    Make your icon transparent  This solution worked for many people  Actually the thing is  In the development of Native aplication we need to provide them three images   a App icon   b Notification icon   c Status bar icon image  but in case of Hybrid mobile application development there is no option to do so  So make your icon transparent and this solution will solve your problem    And I am sure one of the above solution will work for your issue

User · Answer

android targetSdkVersion  20  it should be  lt  21

User · Answer

remove the android targetSdkVersion  21  from manifest xml  it will work  and from this there is no prob at all in your apk it just a trick i apply this and i found colorful icon in notification

User · Answer

According to the documentation  notification icon must be white since Android 3 0  API Level 11     https   developer android com guide practices ui guidelines icon design status bar      Status bar icons are composed simply of white pixels on a transparent   backdrop  with alpha blending used for smooth edges and internal   texture where appropriate

User · Answer

I was facing same issue and it was because of my app notification icon was not flat  For android version lollipop or even below lollipop your app notification icon should be flat  don t use icon with shadows etc   Below is the code that worked perfectly fine on all android versions   private void sendNotification String msg         NotificationManager mNotificationManager    NotificationManager  this getSystemService Context NOTIFICATION SERVICE        Intent intent   new Intent this  CheckOutActivity class        PendingIntent contentIntent   PendingIntent getActivity this  0  intent  0        NotificationCompat Builder mBuilder   new NotificationCompat Builder              this  setSmallIcon R drawable ic notification               setContentTitle getString R string app name                setStyle new NotificationCompat BigTextStyle   bigText msg                setContentText msg  setLights Color GREEN  300  300               setVibrate new long     100  250                 setDefaults Notification DEFAULT SOUND  setAutoCancel true        mBuilder setContentIntent contentIntent       mNotificationManager notify new Random   nextInt    mBuilder build         Wrong icon   Right Icon

User · Answer

Notifications are greyscale as explained below  They are not black-and-white  despite what others have written  You have probably seen icons with multiple shades  like network strength bars   Prior to API 21  Lollipop 5 0   colour icons work  You could force your application to target API 20  but that limits the features available to your application  so it is not recommended  You could test the running API level and set either a colour icon or a greyscale icon appropriately  but this is likely not worthwhile  In most cases  it is best to go with a greyscale icon   Images have four channels  RGBA  red   green   blue   alpha   For notification icons  Android ignores the R  G  and B channels  The only channel that counts is Alpha  also known as opacity  Design your icon with an editor that gives you control over the Alpha value of your drawing colours   How Alpha values generate a greyscale image    Alpha   0  transparent      These pixels are transparent  showing the background colour  Alpha   255  opaque      These pixels are white  Alpha   1     254     These pixels are exactly what you would expect  providing the shades between transparent and white    Changing it up with setColor    Call NotificationCompat Builder setColor int argb   From the documentation for Notification color      Accent color  an ARGB integer like the constants in Color  to be applied by the standard Style templates when presenting this notification  The current template design constructs a colorful header image by overlaying the icon image  stenciled in white  atop a field of this color  Alpha components are ignored    My testing with setColor shows that Alpha components are not ignored  instead  they still provide greyscale  Higher Alpha values turn a pixel white  Lower Alpha values turn a pixel to the background colour  black on my device  in the notification area  or to the specified colour in the pull-down notification   It seems others have reported slightly different behavior  so be aware

User · Answer

FYI  If the Icon doesn t appear  ensure your local or remote notification configuration contains the correct icon name  i e     largeIcon    gt   ic launcher    smallIcon    gt   ic launcher     defaults to ic launcher

[android] Notification bar icon turns white in Android 5 Lollipop

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