Android: How to Center title in ToolBar

The problem with simply adding a TextView in the Toolbar aligned center is adding menu items in the toolbar which will offset the centered text.

To get around this, I've layered the text on top of the Toolbar, not inside it. This way it doesn't matter how many icons you add, it will not offset the centered text:

<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
    android:id="@+id/appbar_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">
    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content">

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.ActionBar">
        </android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

        <TextView
            android:layout_centerInParent="true"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/app_name"/>

    </RelativeLayout>
</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

This way there is no need for any extra logic to compensate for the offset spacing of back buttons/overflow menu/search icons etc. on the toolbar, because the centered text is above it, not in it.

Remember that Toolbar is just a ViewGroup like the others. So you can stuff Views into it. In your case, you need a TextView inside a Toolbar.

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_width="match_parent">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:text="Some Fancy Title"
        android:gravity = "center"
        android:id="@+id/toolbar_title" />

</android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

Now, set the Toolbar as your action bar by first retrieving it and then using the setSupportActionBar().

Since the gravity of the TextView is set to center, the text must be centered.

You can force the toolbar to the center by wrapping title and level right padding which has default left padding for title. Then put background color to the parent of toolbar and that way part which is cut out by wrapping title is in the same color(white in my example):

<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
    android:id="@+id/appbar_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@color/white">

            <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
               android:id="@+id/toolbar"
               android:layout_width="wrap_content"
               android:layout_height="56dp"
               android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
               android:paddingEnd="15dp"
               android:paddingRight="15dp"
               android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.ActionBar"
               app:titleTextColor="@color/black"/>

</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

ToolBar is a View Group. so To Center Align The text Use

app_bar.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/in.chabu"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    app:theme="@style/ToolBarTheme" 
    android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize">

     <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/title_activity_sign_up"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        android:id="@+id/toolbar_title" 
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:textColor="@android:color/white"/>

</android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

activity_sign_up

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context="in.chabu.activities.SignUpActivity" >

    <include 
        android:id="@+id/tool_bar"
        layout="@layout/app_bar"/>

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_below="@+id/tool_bar"
        android:text="@string/hello_world" />

</RelativeLayout>

Avtivity

public class SignUpActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_sign_up);

        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.tool_bar);

        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

        getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);
    }


}

Just putting another TextView inside Toolbar is not enough to get title centered relative to the screen, its position will be dependent on other items in a toolbar (back button, menu items).

To make title centred you can manually set its position:

Extend android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar class and make following changes:

add TextView
override onLayout() and set TextView location to centre it (titleView.setX((getWidth() - titleView.getWidth())/2))
override setTitle() where set title text to new text view

    public class CenteredToolbar extends Toolbar {

        private TextView titleView;

        public CenteredToolbar(Context context) {
            this(context, null);
        }

        public CenteredToolbar(Context context, @Nullable AttributeSet attrs) {
            this(context, attrs, android.support.v7.appcompat.R.attr.toolbarStyle);
        }

        public CenteredToolbar(Context context, @Nullable AttributeSet attrs, int defStyleAttr) {
            super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr);

            titleView = new TextView(getContext());

            int textAppearanceStyleResId;
            TypedArray a = context.getTheme().obtainStyledAttributes(attrs,
                    new int[] { android.support.v7.appcompat.R.attr.titleTextAppearance }, defStyleAttr, 0);
            try {
                textAppearanceStyleResId = a.getResourceId(0, 0);
            } finally {
                a.recycle();
            }
            if (textAppearanceStyleResId > 0) {
                titleView.setTextAppearance(context, textAppearanceStyleResId);
            }

            addView(titleView, new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
        }

        @Override
        protected void onLayout(boolean changed, int l, int t, int r, int b) {
            super.onLayout(changed, l, t, r, b);
            titleView.setX((getWidth() - titleView.getWidth())/2);
        }

        @Override
        public void setTitle(CharSequence title) {
            titleView.setText(title);
        }
    }

In layout you can use this class like this:

<com.example.CenteredToolbar xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    android:elevation="4dp"
    android:theme="@style/ToolbarTheme"/>

Also, to make new title text look like standard title you should apply titleTextAppearance style to new TextView (titleView.setTextAppearance(context, textAppearanceStyleResId)).

Android: How to Center title in ToolBar

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