Set EditText cursor color

Question

I am having this issue where I am using the Android's Holo theme on a tablet project. However, I have a fragment on screen which has a white background. I am adding an EditText component on this fragment. I've tried to override the theme by setting the background of the Holo.Light theme resources. However, my text cursor (carat) remains white and hence, invisible on screen (I can spot it faintly in the edittext field..).

Does anyone know how I can get EditText to use a darker cursor color? I've tried setting the style of the EditText to "@android:style/Widget.Holo.Light.EditText" with no positive result.

score 1249 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 28 '15 at 09:11

1249

Setting the android:textCursorDrawable attribute to @null should result in the use of android:textColor as the cursor color.

Attribute "textCursorDrawable" is available in API level 12 and higher

edited Jan 28 '15 at 09:11

Paul Verest

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answered Feb 06 '12 at 18:29

Dean

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oh man that is SO much more efficient than conjuring up a drawable for the cursor to be black!! I love Android to death but this is such an incredibly bad default behavior... someone really needs to be smacked for it. – Yevgeny Simkin Mar 13 '12 at 21:14
27

android 3.2 and above .. sucks – Blundell May 21 '12 at 08:40
7

Although if you `target` >3.2 in your manifest you can use it and it will be ignored for lower versions – Blundell Aug 08 '12 at 08:07
3

in fact I have just noticed that JellyBean 4.2 does not show the cursor if you use the drawable cursor option ! @null is the way to go! – Aiden Fry Nov 26 '12 at 16:39
@AidenFry This seems to work for me on 4.2 JB just fine at the themes level. – mkuech Mar 30 '13 at 09:33
5

Seems to use the hint color instead if you set it. At least on 4.2. The cursor option has no problems for me from 2.3.3-4.4 – MinceMan Dec 07 '13 at 18:25
I'm using Android 4.3 on a tablet and it has 2 lines of different color on the sdies of where the blinking should be, that are always visible. Not sure what's up. Looks like it's retaining some of the hint color as a shadow or something. – Mgamerz Mar 01 '14 at 06:29
That worked OK, but on MEIZU (Android 4.4.2) the cursor became unblinking and grey like frozen or disabled. – Paul Verest Jan 28 '15 at 08:53
1

When the EditText has `android:hint` (and `android:gravity="center_horizontal"`), using (`@null`) causes the cursor to show up in the wrong place (in the middle of the hint text). Using [custom drawable](http://stackoverflow.com/a/15431107/56285) works better. – Jonik Dec 05 '16 at 13:38
8

This does not work in more recent versions of android. Instead it shows a gray cursor and messes with highlight functionality. Use @star18bit 's answer instead. – Matthew Bahr Jun 29 '17 at 18:30
result of android:textColorHint="" as the cursor color – Ashwin H Jul 26 '18 at 07:03
1

It also changes the text color – sativa Nov 16 '18 at 10:02
Thank You. It's working for me on Android 8.0 (Orio) – Mandeep Yadav Apr 05 '19 at 12:38
1

well, it makes the cursor extremely thin, I would go for the custom shape! – ueen May 23 '19 at 09:11

star18bit · Answer 2 · 2020-04-15T03:49:45.790

534

In Layout

<EditText  
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:textCursorDrawable="@drawable/color_cursor"
    />

Then create drawalble xml: color_cursor

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <size android:width="3dp" />
    <solid android:color="#FFFFFF"  />
</shape>

You have a white color cursor on EditText property.

edited Apr 15 '20 at 03:49

answered Mar 15 '13 at 11:22

star18bit

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Attribute "textCursorDrawable" is only used in API level 12 and higher – mr.boyfox Sep 30 '14 at 05:50
73

This is the correct answer. Not sure why so many people out there think that setting cursor to "@null" seems like a good idea – Greg Ennis May 19 '15 at 12:32
1

above answer, set textCursorDrawable as @null results look fine, but cursor's orientation does not make sense, however, this answer works really great. Really Thanks – iroiroys Jun 22 '16 at 06:04
Can we use same excel with different colors for cursor? – VVB Oct 14 '16 at 10:43
What if background is white? – Yog Guru Feb 13 '17 at 07:34
also you can set any width you want – Leo Droidcoder Nov 24 '17 at 16:00
1

this is the best solution. – Antônio Sérgio Ferraz Mar 24 '19 at 13:50
@GregEnnis because that answer makes them save 42 seconds compared to this one – nibbana Apr 28 '20 at 08:07
This IS the solution, thank you @star18bit. I have to mention something though, if the user doesn't care about the color of the cursor, he can set the textCursorDrawable to null and the default one will be displayed, however, for setting the color, this solution is the correct one as some users might be setting @color/cursor_color and seeing nothing, because the attribute textCursorDrawable accepts drawable and not color. – Alan Deep May 13 '20 at 06:24
setting textCursorDrawable as @null will make the color of cursor the same with textColorHint if it is defined so this is the best answer for me :) – huypham99 Jul 26 '20 at 15:13

score 80 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 31 '14 at 10:38

80

It appears as if all the answers go around the bushes.

In your EditText, use the property:

android:textCursorDrawable="@drawable/black_cursor"

and add the drawable black_cursor.xml to your resources, as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle" >
    <size android:width="1dp" />
    <solid android:color="#000000"/>
</shape>

This is also the way to create more diverse cursors, if you need.

edited Oct 31 '14 at 10:38

Lonzak

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answered May 28 '12 at 19:59

Zach-M

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This does not work on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean... The cursor disappears, @null is the way to go. – Edgar Jan 14 '13 at 12:17
@Edgar This seems to work for me on 4.2 JB just fine at the themes level. – mkuech Mar 30 '13 at 09:32
Android 4.2.2 works fine. Don't forget to add in black_cursor.xml – Andrei Aulaska May 13 '13 at 07:38
Attribute "textCursorDrawable" is only used in API level 12 and higher – mr.boyfox Sep 30 '14 at 05:49

R4j · Answer 4 · 2016-01-08T02:52:31.623

62

There is a new way to change cursor color in latest Appcompact v21
Just change colorAccent in style like this:

 <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <!-- Set theme colors from http://www.google.com/design/spec/style/color.html#color-color-palette-->

    <!-- colorPrimary is used for the default action bar background -->
    <item name="colorPrimary">#088FC9</item>

    <!-- colorPrimaryDark is used for the status bar -->
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">#088FC9</item>

    <!-- colorAccent is used as the default value for colorControlActivated
         which is used to tint widgets -->
    <!-- THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR -->
    <item name="colorAccent">#0091BC</item> 
</style>

Then apply this style on your app theme or activities.

Update: this way only works on API 21+
Update 2: I'm not sure the minimum android version that it can work.
Tested by android version:

2.3.7 - didn't work
4.4.4 - worked
5.0 - worked
5.1 - worked

edited Jan 08 '16 at 02:52

answered Mar 20 '15 at 02:53

R4j

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I'm afraid the answer is no. I tested on API 18 device and it doesn't work. – R4j May 07 '15 at 06:31
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Working on my Sony Experia. PreLollipop (4.4.4). Also using AppCompat library. :) – vida Oct 08 '15 at 10:43
Doesn't work for API 24/Android 7.0. `colorAccent` changes e.g. the line at the bottom of an `EditText` but it doesn't touch the actual cursor color. Oh, and there's no "v21" anymore of course. – Neph Feb 25 '20 at 12:59
2

you should not change the accent colour of your application because you want to change the colour of a cursor. – oziomajnr Oct 05 '20 at 14:34

score 41 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 11 '12 at 11:27

41

I found the answer :)

I've set the Theme's editText style to:

<item name="android:editTextStyle">@style/myEditText</item>

Then I've used the following drawable to set the cursor:

`

<style name="myEditText" parent="@android:style/Widget.Holo.Light.EditText">
    <item name="android:background">@android:drawable/editbox_background_normal</item>
    <item name="android:textCursorDrawable">@android:drawable/my_cursor_drawable</item>
    <item name="android:height">40sp</item>
</style>

`

android:textCursorDrawable is the key here.

edited Oct 11 '12 at 11:27

Sandeep P

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answered Aug 30 '11 at 03:57

dineth

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http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2658772/android-vertical-line-xml might be of use to anyone wanting to make a cursor drawable that is just a vertical line :) – Andrew Wyld Nov 15 '11 at 11:43
1

can you pls tell how can we set the cursor color in programmatically – Anil M H Feb 07 '14 at 10:25
I had an issue when I named the item `android:editTextStyle`, but changing it to `editTextStyle` fixed it. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/34010235/6744473 – shoe Jun 14 '18 at 12:13

score 24 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 08 '16 at 13:49

For anyone that needs to set the EditText cursor color dynamically, below you will find two ways to achieve this.

First, create your cursor drawable:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="rectangle" >

    <solid android:color="#ff000000" />

    <size android:width="1dp" />

</shape>

Set the cursor drawable resource id to the drawable you created (https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/kitkat-release/core/java/android/widget/TextView.java#L562-564">source)):

try {
    Field f = TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawableRes");
    f.setAccessible(true);
    f.set(yourEditText, R.drawable.cursor);
} catch (Exception ignored) {
}

To just change the color of the default cursor drawable, you can use the following method:

public static void setCursorDrawableColor(EditText editText, int color) {
    try {
        Field fCursorDrawableRes = 
            TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawableRes");
        fCursorDrawableRes.setAccessible(true);
        int mCursorDrawableRes = fCursorDrawableRes.getInt(editText);
        Field fEditor = TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mEditor");
        fEditor.setAccessible(true);
        Object editor = fEditor.get(editText);
        Class<?> clazz = editor.getClass();
        Field fCursorDrawable = clazz.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawable");
        fCursorDrawable.setAccessible(true);

        Drawable[] drawables = new Drawable[2];
        Resources res = editText.getContext().getResources();
        drawables[0] = res.getDrawable(mCursorDrawableRes);
        drawables[1] = res.getDrawable(mCursorDrawableRes);
        drawables[0].setColorFilter(color, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);
        drawables[1].setColorFilter(color, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);
        fCursorDrawable.set(editor, drawables);
    } catch (final Throwable ignored) {
    }
}

It really bothers me that this works. `AppCompatEditText` already has `setSupportBackgroundTintList`, so wouldn’t it be fairly simple to add something like `setSupportCursorTintList`? — Joseph Piché, Jan 20 '16 at 19:51
@Jared Rummler your solution worked for the cursor, but the droplet that appears below the cursor (when you select the text it appears two of them) are still of the original color. Can you help me with this? — Felipe Ribeiro R. Magalhaes, Jun 08 '16 at 21:07
Your 3. approach did not work in Android 9 but fine for below versions. — Muhammed Yalçın Kuru, Nov 23 '18 at 12:29

Charuක · Answer 7 · 2017-02-02T14:13:31.107

Late to the party,Here's is my answer,

This is for the people who are not looking to change the colorAccent in their parent theme,but wants to change EditText attributes!

This answer demos how to change ......

Bottom line color

Cursor color

Cursor pointer color (I used my custom image).......... of EditText using style applied to the Activity theme.

<android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatEditText
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Hey" />

Example:

<style name="AppTheme.EditText" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.EditText">
    <item name="android:textColor">@color/white</item>
    <item name="android:textColorHint">#8AFFFFFF</item>
    <item name="android:background">@drawable/edit_text_background</item> // background (bottom line at this case)
    <item name="android:textCursorDrawable">@color/white</item>  // Cursor
    <item name="android:textSelectHandle">@drawable/my_white_icon</item> // For pointer normal state and copy text state
    <item name="android:textSelectHandleLeft">@drawable/my_white_icon</item>
    <item name="android:textSelectHandleRight">@drawable/my_white_icon</item>
</style>

Now create a drawable(edit_text_background) add a resource xml for the background!You can customize as you want!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item
        android:bottom="0dp"
        android:left="-3dp"   
        android:right="-3dp"
        android:top="-3dp">

        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <stroke
                android:width="1dp"
                android:color="@color/white"/>
        </shape>
    </item>
    </layer-list>

Now as you did set this style in your Activity theme.

Example :

In your Activity you have a theme,set this custom editText theme to that.

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <!-- Your Theme data -->
    <item name="editTextStyle">@style/AppTheme.EditText</item> // inculude this
</style>

oh,I'am wrong. I wrote wrong attr `android:editTextSteyle` ,right attr is `editTextStyle` — act262, Apr 13 '17 at 06:02

score 8 · Answer 8 · edited Jan 06 '17 at 18:09

Edittext cursor color you want changes your color.
   <EditText  
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:textCursorDrawable="@drawable/color_cursor"
    />

Then create drawalble xml: color_cursor

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <size android:width="3dp" />
    <solid android:color="#FFFFFF"  />
</shape>

score 8 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 27 '17 at 00:39

Wow I am real late to this party but it has had activity 17 days ago It would seam we need to consider posting what version of Android we are using for an answer so as of now this answer works with Android 2.1 and above Go to RES/VALUES/STYLES and add the lines of code below and your cursor will be black

    <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">
    <!--<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">-->
    <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
    <item name="colorControlActivated">@color/color_Black</item>
    <!--Sets COLOR for the Cursor in EditText  -->
</style>

You will need a this line of code in your RES/COLOR folder

<color name="color_Black">#000000</color>

Why post this late ? It might be nice to consider some form of categories for the many headed monster Android has become!

Attribute requires API level 21 not 7 (2.1) – shoe Jun 14 '18 at 06:25 — shoe, Jun 14 '18 at 06:25

score 7 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 22 '16 at 16:53

For me I modified both the AppTheme and a value colors.xml

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
    <item name="colorControlNormal">@color/yellow</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/yellow</item>
</style>

Here is the colors.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <color name="yellow">#B7EC2A</color>
</resources>

I took out the android:textCursorDrawable attribute to @null that I placed inside the editText style. When I tried using this, the colors would not change.

Yes that works but then you also change other theme elements when all you might need is to change the cursor color. — AlanKley, Mar 01 '19 at 00:57

score 5 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 06 '20 at 01:57

<resources>

<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
    <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
    <item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorPrimary</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/colorAccent</item> -- change this one
</style>

Go to styles.xml and change the color accent and this will influence the cursor from the edittext box

score 4 · Answer 12 · answered Mar 09 '19 at 20:21

Here @Jared Rummler's programatic setCursorDrawableColor() version adapted to work also on Android 9 Pie.

@SuppressWarnings({"JavaReflectionMemberAccess", "deprecation"})
public static void setCursorDrawableColor(EditText editText, int color) {

    try {
        Field cursorDrawableResField = TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawableRes");
        cursorDrawableResField.setAccessible(true);
        int cursorDrawableRes = cursorDrawableResField.getInt(editText);
        Field editorField = TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mEditor");
        editorField.setAccessible(true);
        Object editor = editorField.get(editText);
        Class<?> clazz = editor.getClass();
        Resources res = editText.getContext().getResources();
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.P) {
            Field drawableForCursorField = clazz.getDeclaredField("mDrawableForCursor");
            drawableForCursorField.setAccessible(true);
            Drawable drawable = res.getDrawable(cursorDrawableRes);
            drawable.setColorFilter(color, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);
            drawableForCursorField.set(editor, drawable);
        } else {
            Field cursorDrawableField = clazz.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawable");
            cursorDrawableField.setAccessible(true);
            Drawable[] drawables = new Drawable[2];
            drawables[0] = res.getDrawable(cursorDrawableRes);
            drawables[1] = res.getDrawable(cursorDrawableRes);
            drawables[0].setColorFilter(color, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);
            drawables[1].setColorFilter(color, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);
            cursorDrawableField.set(editor, drawables);
        }
    } catch (Throwable t) {
        Log.w(TAG, t);
    }
}

`java.lang.NoSuchFieldException: No field mDrawableForCursor ` on Android 9. — zakjma, Oct 09 '19 at 10:45
This solution doesn't work anymore. See https://developer.android.com/about/versions/pie/restrictions-non-sdk-interfaces — Rafael Pereira Ramos, Jul 01 '20 at 20:44

score 4 · Answer 13 · answered Jul 09 '19 at 23:01

4

that's called colorAccent in Android.

go to res -> values -> styles.xml add

<item name="colorAccent">#FFFFFF</item>

if not exists.

answered Jul 09 '19 at 23:01

Niamatullah Bakhshi

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score 3 · Answer 14 · edited Apr 28 '17 at 06:45

3

editcolor.xml

android:textCursorDrawable="@drawable/editcolor"

In xml file set color code of edittext background color

edited Apr 28 '17 at 06:45

John Joe

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answered Apr 28 '17 at 05:20

Avnish Titoriya

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Just remove the corsor which is blinking in edittext – Avnish Titoriya Apr 28 '17 at 05:24

score 3 · Answer 15 · answered Oct 16 '17 at 12:05

The only valid answer should be to change the theme of the activity: <item name="colorAccent">#000000</item> You should not use the android:textCursorDrawable to @null because this only concerns the cursor itself but not the pin below the cursor if you want to drag that cursor. The theming solution is the most serious one.

score 3 · Answer 16 · answered Jan 31 '19 at 06:46

3

Another simple solution would be to go to res>values>colors.xml in your project folder and edit the value of the color accent to the color you prefer

<color name="colorAccent">#000000</color>

The code above changes your cursor to black.

answered Jan 31 '19 at 06:46

xwaxes

188
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Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for – Shivam Jha Jun 12 '19 at 12:44

score 2 · Answer 17 · edited Mar 02 '20 at 07:54

2

Use this

android:textCursorDrawable="@color/white"

edited Mar 02 '20 at 07:54

Kishan Viramgama

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answered Aug 09 '17 at 11:40

Mohammed Alzoubi

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The cursor disappears in my device, so use a drawable instead of direct set the color. – Fruit Jun 22 '18 at 11:04

score 2 · Answer 18 · answered Apr 10 '20 at 14:44

After a lot of time spent trying all these technique in a Dialog, I finally had this idea : attach the theme to the Dialog itself and not to the TextInputLayout.

<style name="AppTheme_Dialog" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Dialog">

    <item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorWhite</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/colorPrimary</item>

</style>

inside onCreate :

public class myDialog extends Dialog {

private Activity activity;
private someVars;

public PopupFeedBack(Activity activity){
    super(activity, R.style.AppTheme_Dialog);
    setContentView(R.layout.myView);
    ....}}

cheers :)

score 2 · Answer 19 · answered Apr 10 '20 at 14:48

2

Pay attention to your colorAccent in your current Activity/fragment/Dialog, defined in Styles... ;) cursor color is related to it.

answered Apr 10 '20 at 14:48

Arnaud

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score 1 · Answer 20 · answered Jun 11 '13 at 23:05

1

Its even easier than that.

<style name="MyTextStyle">
    <item name="android:textCursorDrawable">#000000</item>
</style>

This works in ICS and beyond. I haven't tested it in other versions.

answered Jun 11 '13 at 23:05

Clark Will Battle

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beware, if you are going to apply this style to your EditText(this does not have a parent style, which should be the default pertaining to your theme), you will loose all other styling that comes from the Holo Theme. – Varun Jun 11 '13 at 23:26
Isn't it the same as "@null" value ? – Paul Verest Jan 28 '15 at 09:15
you can add a style juste to a view, which overrides the activity's theme. – JPhi Denis Dec 07 '17 at 08:10

score 1 · Answer 21 · answered Dec 19 '18 at 07:56

1

are you want specific color you must use AppCompatEditText then backround set null

works for me

<android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatEditText
    android:background="@null"
    android:textCursorDrawable="@color/cursorColor"/>

See this gist

answered Dec 19 '18 at 07:56

denizs

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score 1 · Answer 22 · answered Apr 23 '21 at 15:45

We can do it in meterial theme as following:

<style name="Theme.App" parent="Theme.MaterialComponents.DayNight.NoActionBar">
    ...
    <item name="android:colorControlNormal">#ff0000</item>
    <item name="android:colorControlActivated">#ff0000</item>
    <item name="android:colorControlHighlight">#ff0000</item>
    ...
</style>

And if you want to change checkbox and radio colors too, add the following line:

<item name="colorAccent">#ff0000</item>

I've tested in Android API 21+

score 0 · Answer 23 · answered Aug 25 '16 at 14:26

<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
    <item name="colorPrimary">#36f0ff</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">#007781</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">#000</item>
</style>

<style name="AppTheme.NoActionBar">
    <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
    <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
</style>

<style name="AppTheme.AppBarOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar" />

<style name="AppTheme.PopupOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />

change t he color of colorAccent in styles.xm, that's it simple

score 0 · Answer 24 · answered Sep 19 '19 at 01:19

0

If using style and implement

colorControlActivate

replace its value other that color/white.

answered Sep 19 '19 at 01:19

latifalbr

133
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score -1 · Answer 25 · answered Sep 27 '19 at 16:05

-1

you can use code below in layout

android:textCursorDrawable="@color/red"
        android:textColor="@color/black

answered Sep 27 '19 at 16:05

Tienanhvn

31
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Set EditText cursor color

25 Answers25

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