Add a splash screen

If your app implements a custom splash screen or uses a launcher theme, migrate your app to the SplashScreen library, available in Jetpack, to ensure it displays correctly on all Wear OS versions.

See step by step implementation instructions on this page to learn how to add a splash screen using the SplashScreen library such that the screen meets design guidelines.

Add dependencies

Add the following dependency to your app module's build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    implementation "androidx.core:core-splashscreen:1.2.0-alpha02"
}

dependencies {
    implementation("androidx.core:core-splashscreen:1.2.0-alpha02")
}

Make sure you are using version 1.0.1 or higher, to get support for default Wear OS dimensions.

Add a theme

Create a splash screen theme in res/values/styles.xml. The parent element depends on the icon's shape:

• If the icon is round, use Theme.SplashScreen.
• If the icon is a different shape, use Theme.SplashScreen.IconBackground.

Use windowSplashScreenBackground to fill the background with a single black color. Set the values of postSplashScreenTheme to the theme that the Activity should use and windowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon to a drawable or animated drawable:

<resources>
    <style name="Theme.App" parent="@android:style/Theme.DeviceDefault" />

    <style name="Theme.App.Starting" parent="Theme.SplashScreen">
        <!-- Set the splash screen background to black -->
        <item name="windowSplashScreenBackground">@android:color/black</item>
        <!-- Use windowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon to add a drawable or an animated
             drawable. -->
        <item name="windowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon">@drawable/splash_screen</item>
        <!-- Set the theme of the Activity that follows your splash screen. -->
        <item name="postSplashScreenTheme">@style/Theme.App</item>
    </style>
</resources>

If you use a non-round icon, you need to set a white background color underneath your icon. In this case, use the Theme.SplashScreen.IconBackground as parent theme and set the windowSplashScreenIconBackgroundColor attribute:

<style name="Theme.App.Starting" parent="Theme.SplashScreen.IconBackground">
    ...
    <!-- Set a white background behind the splash screen icon. -->
    <item name="windowSplashScreenIconBackgroundColor">@android:color/white</item>
</style>

The other attributes are optional.

Create a drawable for the theme

Splash screen themes requires a drawable to pass into the windowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon attribute. For example, you can create it by adding a new file res/drawable/splash_screen.xml and using app launcher icon and correct splash screen icon size:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item
        android:width="@dimen/splash_screen_icon_size"
        android:height="@dimen/splash_screen_icon_size"
        android:drawable="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:gravity="center" />
</layer-list>

The splash screen icon size is defined in res/values/dimens.xml and differs depending whether the icon is round:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <!-- Round app icon can take all of default space -->
    <dimen name="splash_screen_icon_size">48dp</dimen>
</resources>

...or non-round and therefore must use the icon background:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <!-- Non-round icon with background must use reduced size to fit circle -->
    <dimen name="splash_screen_icon_size">36dp</dimen>
</resources>

Specify the theme

In your app's manifest file (AndroidManifest.xml), replace the theme of the starting activity -- usually the ones that define a launcher item or are otherwise exported -- to the theme you created in the previous step:

<manifest>
    <application android:theme="@style/Theme.App.Starting">
       <!-- or -->
       <activity android:theme="@style/Theme.App.Starting">
          <!-- ... -->
</manifest>

Update your starting activity

Install your splash screen in the starting activity before calling super.onCreate():

class MainActivity : ComponentActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        // Handle the splash screen transition.
        installSplashScreen()

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContent {
            WearApp("Wear OS app")
        }
    }
}

Additional resources

Learn more about splash screens in general and how you can use them in your app.