How to change a Spinner text size, color or overall style

Changing the text size or color of a Spinner is not as simple as just using the android:textSize attribute on the Spinner element.

When you apply the textSize to a Spinner, like so:

<Spinner
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:id="@+id/spinner"
    android:textSize="20sp"/>

Nothing will actually change in your app.

What you need to do is create your own layout file with a custom definition for the spinner item. This is my spinner_item.xml:

<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@android:id/text1"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:textSize="20sp"
    android:textColor="#ff0000" />

And then change your declaration of the spinner to use the R.layout.spinner_item:

ArrayAdapter adapter = ArrayAdapter.createFromResource(this, R.array.planets_array, R.layout.spinner_item);
spinner.setAdapter(adapter);

This is the result:

If you want to customize the dropdown list items you will need to create a new layout file. Let’s call it spinner_dropdown_item.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CheckedTextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@android:id/text1"
    style="?android:attr/spinnerDropDownItemStyle"
    android:singleLine="true"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="?android:attr/listPreferredItemHeight"
    android:ellipsize="marquee"
    android:textColor="#aa66cc"/>

Another change in the declaration of the spinner:

ArrayAdapter adapter = ArrayAdapter.createFromResource(this, R.array.planets_array, R.layout.spinner_item);
adapter.setDropDownViewResource(R.layout.spinner_dropdown_item);
spinner.setAdapter(adapter);

And this is what we get:

Default spinner item definitions

You can check out the original android layouts definitions for the android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item resource bellow. I use that as a base definition, so I’ll only changed what I need.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
/* //device/apps/common/assets/res/any/layout/simple_spinner_item.xml
**
** Copyright 2006, The Android Open Source Project
**
** Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
** you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
** You may obtain a copy of the License at 
**
**     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
**
** Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
** distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
** WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
** See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
** limitations under the License.
*/
-->
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 
    android:id="@android:id/text1"
        style="?android:attr/spinnerItemStyle"
    android:singleLine="true"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:ellipsize="marquee" />

You can do the same to change the dropdown list item’s style. Using the simple_spinner_dropdown_item.xml definition.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
/* //device/apps/common/assets/res/any/layout/simple_spinner_item.xml
**
** Copyright 2008, The Android Open Source Project
**
** Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
** you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
** You may obtain a copy of the License at 
**
**     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
**
** Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
** distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
** WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
** See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
** limitations under the License.
*/
-->
<CheckedTextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 
    android:id="@android:id/text1"
    style="?android:attr/spinnerDropDownItemStyle"
    android:singleLine="true"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="?android:attr/listPreferredItemHeight"
    android:ellipsize="marquee" />