Enhance Your App’s User Experience with These Simple and Effective Animation Techniques in Jetpack Compose
Introduction
Animations are a vital part of modern app design, providing delightful user experiences and improving the overall look and feel of your application. With Jetpack Compose, animations are simpler and more intuitive to implement, thanks to its declarative nature and built-in support for animating UI components. In this article, we will explore the top three most common animations you can use in your Jetpack Compose project and show you how to implement them effectively.
However, the purpose of this article goes beyond just demonstrating these specific animations. The goal is to illustrate how animations in Jetpack Compose work in general. Once you understand the underlying principles, you’ll find that most animations are implemented in a similar way, enabling you to adapt these techniques to fit various use cases in your projects.
1. Fade In and Fade Out Animations
When to Use:
Fade animations are ideal for transitions where UI elements need to appear or disappear smoothly. They are perfect for showing or hiding dialogs, loading indicators, or transitioning between content states.
Implementation:
Jetpack Compose provides AnimatedVisibility
and remember { mutableStateOf(true) }
to easily create fade animations.
@Composable fun FadeAnimationDemo() { var isVisible by remember { mutableStateOf(true) } Column( modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(), verticalArrangement = Arrangement.Center, horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally ) { AnimatedVisibility( visible = isVisible, enter = fadeIn(), exit = fadeOut() ) { Text("Hello Jetpack Compose!", style = MaterialTheme.typography.h4) } Spacer(modifier = Modifier.height(16.dp)) Button(onClick = { isVisible = !isVisible }) { Text("Toggle Visibility") } } }
Key Points:
fadeIn()
andfadeOut()
handle the alpha values during the animation.AnimatedVisibility
takes care of visibility changes and transitions seamlessly.
2. Scale Animation
When to Use:
Scaling animations are great for emphasizing UI elements, such as buttons or images, to grab user attention or indicate an action. Common use cases include like-buttons or splash screens.
Implementation:
You can use animateFloatAsState
to create smooth scaling animations.
@Composable fun ScaleAnimationDemo() { var isScaled by remember { mutableStateOf(false) } val scale by animateFloatAsState( targetValue = if (isScaled) 1.5f else 1f, animationSpec = tween(durationMillis = 500) ) Box( modifier = Modifier .fillMaxSize() .clickable { isScaled = !isScaled }, contentAlignment = Alignment.Center ) { Box( modifier = Modifier .size(100.dp) .graphicsLayer(scaleX = scale, scaleY = scale) .background(Color.Blue, shape = CircleShape) ) } }
Key Points:
animateFloatAsState
animates between two float values, perfect for scaling.- Use
graphicsLayer
to apply the scale transformation to UI elements.
3. Crossfade Animation
When to Use:
Crossfade animations are excellent for transitioning between two states or screens, such as changing themes, switching tabs, or updating content dynamically.
Implementation:
Jetpack Compose has a built-in Crossfade
composable to handle this type of animation.
@Composable fun CrossfadeAnimationDemo() { var isFirstState by remember { mutableStateOf(true) } val scale = remember { Animatable(1f) } val translationX = remember { Animatable(0f) } LaunchedEffect(isFirstState) { scale.animateTo( targetValue = if (isFirstState) 1.2f else 1f, animationSpec = tween(durationMillis = 400) ) translationX.animateTo( targetValue = if (isFirstState) -50f else 50f, animationSpec = tween(durationMillis = 400) ) } Column( modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(), verticalArrangement = Arrangement.Center, horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally ) { Box( modifier = Modifier.graphicsLayer( scaleX = scale.value, scaleY = scale.value, translationX = translationX.value ) ) { Crossfade(targetState = isFirstState) { isStateOne -> Text( text = if (isStateOne) "State One" else "State Two", style = MaterialTheme.typography.headlineMedium, color = if (isStateOne) Color.Red else Color.Green ) } } Spacer(modifier = Modifier.height(16.dp)) Button(onClick = { isFirstState = !isFirstState }) { Text("Switch State") } } }
Key Points:
Crossfade
manages transitions between composable states effortlessly.- It provides smooth fading and swapping of UI elements.
Job Offers
Conclusion
Animations in Jetpack Compose are not just visually appealing but also enhance user interaction. The examples above cover fade, scale, and crossfade animations, which are among the most common and effective animations in modern app development. By incorporating these animations into your Jetpack Compose project, you can elevate the user experience of your app.
Experiment with these animations and adjust their parameters to suit your app’s design language. Remember, thoughtful animations can transform a good UI into an exceptional one!Top 3 most common animations you can use in you jetpack compose project

Dobri Kostadinov
Android Consultant | Trainer
Email me | Follow me on LinkedIn | Follow me on Medium | Buy me a coffee
This article is previously published on proandroiddev.com.