Ultimate Guide to Material 3 Sliders in Android: Tutorial & Examples for 2025 🚀

Overview 📖

Material 3 Sliders allow users to select values from a range, available as single-thumb (Slider) or dual-thumb (RangeSlider) in Continuous or Discrete variants. This guide covers their implementation, accessibility, and theming for 2025. 🎚️

Design and API Documentation 🔗

Using Sliders 🤖

Add the Material Components for Android library dependency to use Material 3 Sliders. See the Get Started guide. Use Slider for single-value selection or RangeSlider for range selection, with a Theme.Material3.* theme. 🛠️

Making Sliders Accessible ♿

Set android:contentDescription for TalkBack to announce the slider’s purpose. Use android:labelFor on associated value-displaying TextViews. Ensure 48dp minimum touch target size for thumbs. See the Android accessibility guide. 🗣️

Behavior and Configuration 🎬

Configure range with valueFrom/valueTo, set stepSize for Discrete sliders, and use LabelFormatter for custom labels. Handle value changes with listeners. Example:

      
val slider = findViewById(R.id.slider)
slider.addOnChangeListener { _, value, fromUser ->
    // Handle value change
}
slider.setLabelFormatter { value -> "$${value.toInt()}" }

Slider Variants 🌟

Material 3 Sliders come in two variants: Continuous (any value in range) and Discrete (specific steps), available as Slider or RangeSlider. 🎚️

Continuous Slider: Smooth value selection.
Discrete Slider: Fixed steps with tick marks.

Continuous Slider 📏

Continuous Sliders allow flexible value selection without fixed steps. 📏

Continuous Slider Example 💻

API and source code:

Slider
- Class description
- Class source

The following example shows a continuous slider.

      
val slider = findViewById(R.id.slider)
slider.addOnChangeListener { _, value, fromUser ->
    // Update UI with value
}

Discrete Slider 🔢

Discrete Sliders restrict selection to specific steps, displaying tick marks and value labels. 🔢

Discrete Slider Example 💻

The following example shows a discrete range slider.

      
val rangeSlider = findViewById(R.id.range_slider)
rangeSlider.setLabelFormatter { value -> "${value.toInt()}" }
rangeSlider.addOnChangeListener { _, _, _ ->
    // Update UI with rangeSlider.values
}

Anatomy and Key Properties 📏

A slider includes a track, thumb(s), optional value label, and tick marks (discrete). 🎚️

Track: Active/inactive segments, 16dp height.
Thumb: Movable selector, 44dp high.
Value Label: Displays current value. ✍️
Tick Marks: Indicate steps (discrete only). 🔢

Attributes 📋

Element	Attribute	Related method(s)	Default value
Track	`app:trackColorActive`	`setTrackActiveTintList`	`?attr/colorPrimary`
Thumb	`app:thumbColor`	`setThumbTintList`	`?attr/colorPrimary`
Step Size	`android:stepSize`	`setStepSize`	N/A (continuous)
Label Behavior	`app:labelBehavior`	`setLabelBehavior`	`floating`

Styles 🎨

Default style: Widget.Material3.Slider
Default theme attribute: ?attr/sliderStyle

See the full list of styles and attrs. 🔗

Theming Sliders 🖌️

Material Theming customizes slider colors and typography. 🎨

Theming Example 💻

Theming example for sliders:

Specific styles for sliders without affecting other components:

FAQ ❓

What are Material 3 Sliders? 🤔

Controls for selecting values from a range. ✅

How many variants are there? 🔢

Two variants: Continuous and Discrete, as Slider or RangeSlider. 🎚️

When to use Discrete Sliders? 🖋️

Use for exact value selection with fixed steps. 🔢

How to make them accessible? ♿

Set contentDescription and labelFor; ensure 48dp thumb size. 🗣️

Can I customize appearance? 🎨

Yes, theme colors and typography via res/values/styles.xml. 🖌️

How to add the Material 3 library? 📦

Include the Material Components for Android library. See the Get Started guide. 🛠️

Are there updates for 2025? 🗓️

This guide reflects 2025 Material 3 standards for sliders. 🚀

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