Key Features of Material You in Jetpack Compose Explained

Jetpack Compose has revolutionized Android UI development with its declarative approach, and Material You further elevates this experience. Introduced with Android 12, Material You represents a significant evolution of Material Design, focusing on personalization, dynamic theming, and accessibility. This blog explores the key features of Material You in Jetpack Compose and provides advanced insights into how you can leverage them in modern Android app development.

What is Material You?

Material You (Material Design 3) emphasizes user customization and personal expression by dynamically adapting to user preferences and device themes. Unlike traditional design systems, Material You enables apps to feel more personal, with features like dynamic color extraction, updated typography, and responsive layouts that seamlessly adapt across devices.

In Jetpack Compose, Material You is integrated via the MaterialTheme system, enabling developers to adopt these features with minimal effort.

Key Features of Material You in Jetpack Compose

1. Dynamic Color

Dynamic Color allows apps to extract and apply colors from the user's wallpaper, creating a harmonious and personalized theme. This feature automatically adjusts primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, ensuring consistency throughout the app.

Implementing Dynamic Color in Jetpack Compose

To enable dynamic colors in your Jetpack Compose app, you can use the dynamicColors API available in the Material library:

@Composable
fun MyApp() {
    val dynamicColors = dynamicLightColorScheme(LocalContext.current)

    MaterialTheme(
        colorScheme = dynamicColors,
        typography = Typography,
        shapes = Shapes
    ) {
        // Content
    }
}

Best Practices:

  • Fallback Colors: Always provide a fallback color scheme for devices running Android 11 or lower.

  • Testing: Test your app’s appearance with various wallpapers to ensure proper contrast and readability.

2. Typography and Shape Customization

Material You introduces updated typography and shape styles for a modern look and improved readability. The Jetpack Compose MaterialTheme makes it simple to implement and customize these updates.

Typography Updates

Material You’s typography system introduces variable font weights and responsive type scaling for accessibility.

val Typography = Typography(
    displayLarge = TextStyle(
        fontWeight = FontWeight.Bold,
        fontSize = 36.sp,
        letterSpacing = 0.5.sp
    ),
    bodyMedium = TextStyle(
        fontWeight = FontWeight.Normal,
        fontSize = 16.sp,
        letterSpacing = 0.25.sp
    )
)

Shape Customization

Shapes in Material You are designed with larger corner radii for a softer appearance, aligning with the overall aesthetic.

val Shapes = Shapes(
    small = RoundedCornerShape(8.dp),
    medium = RoundedCornerShape(16.dp),
    large = RoundedCornerShape(24.dp)
)

Best Practices:

  • Use typography styles from the MaterialTheme for consistency.

  • Ensure text sizes are adjustable based on user preferences (e.g., font scaling).

3. Material You Components in Jetpack Compose

Material You introduces updated UI components like buttons, checkboxes, and sliders, with designs that dynamically adapt to the theme.

Example: Elevated Button

The Button composable in Jetpack Compose adopts Material You styles by default. Here’s an example:

Button(
    onClick = { /* Handle click */ },
    colors = ButtonDefaults.buttonColors(
        containerColor = MaterialTheme.colorScheme.primary
    )
) {
    Text("Material You Button")
}

Best Practices:

  • Use ButtonDefaults and other component defaults to ensure seamless adaptation to dynamic themes.

  • Customize components sparingly to maintain compatibility with Material You guidelines.

4. Elevation and Shadow Updates

Material You adopts a more natural approach to elevation and shadows, relying on color overlays rather than traditional shadow effects. This ensures better integration with dynamic themes.

Implementing Elevation in Compose

Jetpack Compose uses Surface and Elevation APIs to manage elevation effects. Here’s an example:

Surface(
    tonalElevation = 4.dp,
    color = MaterialTheme.colorScheme.surface
) {
    Text("Elevated Surface", style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyMedium)
}

Best Practices:

  • Use tonalElevation to match Material You’s elevation guidelines.

  • Avoid excessive elevation for a cleaner, modern look.

5. Adaptive Layouts

Material You emphasizes responsive and adaptive layouts that work seamlessly across different screen sizes and orientations.

Using Constraint Layout with Compose

Compose’s ConstraintLayout allows you to create adaptive layouts efficiently:

ConstraintLayout {
    val (button, text) = createRefs()

    Button(
        onClick = { /* Handle click */ },
        modifier = Modifier.constrainAs(button) {
            top.linkTo(parent.top, margin = 16.dp)
        }
    ) {
        Text("Button")
    }

    Text(
        text = "Adaptive Layout",
        modifier = Modifier.constrainAs(text) {
            top.linkTo(button.bottom, margin = 8.dp)
        }
    )
}

Best Practices:

  • Combine Box or LazyColumn for simpler layouts with ConstraintLayout for more complex designs.

  • Test your app on various devices and screen sizes.

Performance and Optimization Tips

While adopting Material You features, keep the following tips in mind to ensure your app’s performance remains optimal:

  1. Minimize Recomposition: Use state hoisting and remember to avoid unnecessary recompositions.

  2. Use Preview Annotations: Leverage @Preview to test different themes and layouts in Android Studio.

  3. Optimize Themes: Reduce redundant theme overrides to simplify your codebase.

  4. Accessibility Testing: Ensure color contrast and text sizes comply with accessibility standards.

Conclusion

Material You brings a new level of personalization, adaptability, and modern design to Android apps, and Jetpack Compose makes it easier than ever to integrate these features. By leveraging dynamic color, updated components, adaptive layouts, and modern typography, you can create apps that are visually stunning and user-focused.

Take full advantage of these features in your next project to deliver an exceptional user experience. Remember, the future of Android design is here—and it’s all about you.

Additional Resources