Stylus input in text fields

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Stylus input in text fields →

Android 14 (API level 34) and higher enable users to write into any text input field in any app using a stylus. Android text entry fields, including EditText components and WebView text widgets, support stylus input by default.

However, if your app requires custom text input fields (see Custom text editors) or has a complex layout with text entry fields overlaying a drawing surface, you'll need to customize your app.

Figure 1. Handwritten input with a stylus.

EditText

Stylus handwriting is enabled for all EditText fields by default on Android 14 and higher. Handwriting mode is started for an EditText when a stylus motion event is detected within the handwriting bounds of the view.

The handwriting bounds include 40 dp of vertical padding and 10 dp of horizontal padding around the view. Adjust the handwriting bounds with setHandwritingBoundsOffsets(). Disable handwriting with setAutoHandwritingEnabled(false).

Input field with surrounding rectangle indicating the bounds for detection of stylus motion events.
Figure 2. Handwriting bounds of EditText fields.

Input delegation

Apps can display placeholder UI elements that appear to be text input fields but are actually just static UI elements with no text input capability. Search fields are a common example. Tapping the static UI element triggers a transition to a new UI that contains a functional text input field focused for input.

Figure 3. Input delegation from static UI element to text input field.

Stylus input delegation

Use the handwriting delegation APIs to support stylus handwriting input for placeholder input fields (see setHandwritingDelegatorCallback() and setIsHandwritingDelegate()). The placeholder UI element is configured to delegate handwriting to a functional input field, for example:

Kotlin

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 34) {  placeholderInputField.setHandwritingDelegatorCallback {  showAndFocusDelegateInputField()  }  delegateInputField.setIsHandwritingDelegate(true) }

Java

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 34) {  placeholderInputField.setHandwritingDelegatorCallback(this::showAndFocusInputFieldDelegate);  delegateInputField.setIsHandwritingDelegate(true); }

Stylus motion over the placeholder text input field view invokes the callback. The callback triggers the UI transition to show and focus the functional input field. The callback implementation is typically the same as the implementation for a click listener on the placeholder element. When the functional input field creates an InputConnection, stylus handwriting mode starts.

Figure 4. Stylus input delegation from static UI element to text input field.

Material Design

The com.google.android.material.search library provides the SearchBar and SearchView classes to facilitate implementation of the placeholder UI pattern.

Placeholder and functional search views are linked with setUpWithSearchBar().

Handwriting delegation is configured in the Material library with no additional development required in your app.

Overlap with drawing surfaces

If your app has a drawing surface with a text field overlaying the surface, you may need to disable stylus handwriting to allow the user to draw. See setAutoHandwritingEnabled().

Testing

Stylus handwriting is supported on Android 14 and higher devices with a compatible stylus input device and an input method editor (IME) that supports the Android 14 stylus handwriting APIs.

If you don't have a stylus input device, simulate stylus input on any device with root access (including emulators) using the following Android Debug Bridge (adb) commands:

 // Android 14 adb shell setprop persist.debug.input.simulate_stylus_with_touch true && adb shell stop && adb shell start // Android 15 and higher // Property takes effect after screen reconfiguration such as orientation change. adb shell setprop debug.input.simulate_stylus_with_touch true

Use the Gboard beta for testing if you are using a device that doesn't support stylus.

Additional resources