ListView: what it is, simple lists in Android applications

What is ListView in Android?

ListView is a ViewGroup from the android.widget package designed for displaying a scrollable list of items. ListView implements the AdapterView pattern: data is passed through an adapter (Adapter), which converts data items into Views displayed on the screen. ListView has existed in Android SDK since the first version (API 1) and does not require additional libraries.

Architecture of ListView is simpler than RecyclerView: LayoutManager is built-in (only vertical scrolling), change animations are absent, dividers are set via the android:divider XML attribute. ListView automatically adds OverScrollView and focus highlighting, which simplifies prototyping. According to Statista (2025), about 15% of Android apps in the Play Store top 100 still contain ListView — mainly legacy projects with minimal support.

History and Relevance

ListView was the main list component in Android from 2008 to 2014, when RecyclerView was introduced at Google I/O 2014. Despite being partially deprecated (soft-deprecated), ListView remains available in all versions of Android and is not marked as @Deprecated in SDK API 35. If your project supports Android 4.4 (API 19) and below, ListView is the only built-in choice, as RecyclerView requires AndroidX and Gradle dependencies.

Adapter Types: ArrayAdapter and SimpleAdapter

ArrayAdapter is the most popular adapter for ListView. It accepts List<T> and a layout for each item. By default, ArrayAdapter calls toString() on each object and displays text in simple_list_item_1 (one TextView). For custom display, you need to override getView() or pass a custom layout in the constructor.

// ListView with ArrayAdapter (simple text)
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding
    private val countries = listOf(
        "Russia", "USA", "Germany",
        "France", "Japan", "China", "Brazil"
    )

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
        setContentView(binding.root)

        val adapter = ArrayAdapter<String>(
            this,
            android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,
            countries
        )
        binding.listView.adapter = adapter

        // Click handling
        binding.listView.onItemClickListener =
            AdapterView.OnItemClickListener { _, _, position, _ ->
                Toast.makeText(this, countries[position], Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
            }
    }
}

SimpleAdapter is designed for lists from Map data. It accepts List<Map<String, Any>> and a from/to array for binding Map keys to widget IDs in the layout. SimpleAdapter is convenient for quick prototypes when a separate adapter class is not needed. The downside is the lack of type-safe typing and complexity with custom logic.

<!-- ListView layout -->
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/listView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:divider="@color/divider"
        android:dividerHeight="1px"
        android:scrollbars="vertical" />
</LinearLayout>

Creating a Custom Adapter with ViewHolder

Custom adapter for ListView overrides the getView() method, which RecyclerView splits into onCreateViewHolder + onBindViewHolder. In ListView, both steps are combined, so the developer must independently implement the ViewHolder pattern using convertView (reusable View) and the setTag() method.

// Data model
data class Product(
    name: String,
    price: String,
    imageResId: Int
)

// Custom adapter with ViewHolder
class ProductAdapter(
    context: Context,
    private val products: List<Product>
) : ArrayAdapter<Product>(context, 0, products) {

    // ViewHolder for caching
    private class ViewHolder(view: View) {
        val nameText: TextView = view.findViewById(R.id.tvName)
        val priceText: TextView = view.findViewById(R.id.tvPrice)
        val imageView: ImageView = view.findViewById(R.id.ivProduct)
    }

    override fun getView(position: Int, convertView: View?, parent: ViewGroup): View {
        val view = convertView ?: LayoutInflater.from(context)
            .inflate(R.layout.item_product, parent, false)
            .also { it.tag = ViewHolder(it) }

        val holder = view.tag as ViewHolder
        val product = getItem(position)

        holder.nameText.text = product.name
        holder.priceText.text = product.price
        holder.imageView.setImageResource(product.imageResId)

        return view
    }
}

Key difference from RecyclerView: in ListView, the getView() method is called every time an item appears on the screen. If you do not use convertView and ViewHolder, each scroll creates a new View object, leading to memory leaks and lag on lists with 50+ items. ViewHolder with view.tag is a mandatory optimization for ListView with custom layouts.

ListView Limitations: Why Google Recommends RecyclerView

ListView has four architectural limitations that Google fixed in RecyclerView: (1) only vertical orientation — no grids, horizontal lists, or staggered layouts; (2) no granular notifications — any data change causes a full redraw via notifyDataSetChanged(), which creates jank; (3) no built-in animation for adding/removing items; (4) no separation of concerns — LayoutManager is built-in, ItemAnimator is absent.

<!-- item_product.xml — ListView item layout -->
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:padding="12dp">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/ivProduct"
        android:layout_width="56dp"
        android:layout_height="56dp"
        android:scaleType="centerCrop" />

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:paddingStart="12dp">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvName"
            android:textSize="16sp"
            android:textStyle="bold" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvPrice"
            android:textSize="14sp"
            android:textColor="@color/price" />
    </LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Practical implications: on lists up to 20 items, ListView works as fast as RecyclerView. With 100+ items, the difference becomes noticeable: ListView starts to drop FPS due to the lack of diff calculations and forced ViewHolder. For lists with frequent updates (chat, feed, logs), ListView is not suitable — use RecyclerView with Paging 3. At IT Sectr, we migrate ListView to RecyclerView whenever working on legacy screens with more than 50 items.

Configuring ListView via XML Attributes

ListView provides a set of XML attributes for quick configuration without code: android:divider (color/drawable of divider), android:dividerHeight (thickness), android:scrollbars (scroll bars), android:fastScrollEnabled (fast scrolling via handle), android:choiceMode (selection mode: singleChoice, multipleChoice). The android:entries attribute allows populating the list from a resource array (string-array) without an adapter.

Selection mode: choiceMode="singleChoice" enables RadioButton-style where the selected item is highlighted. choiceMode="multipleChoice" — checkboxes for multiple items. Selection data is available via listView.checkedItemPosition or listView.checkedItemIds. Important: when using choiceMode, ListView uses StateListDrawable for the background — set your own selector if the default blue does not match the design.

ListView vs RecyclerView: Feature Comparison

Choice between ListView and RecyclerView depends on project requirements. RecyclerView is the modern standard, but ListView can be justified for simple screens with minimal maintenance costs for legacy code. Comparison across all key parameters:

Conclusion: for new projects, use RecyclerView. Keep ListView only in legacy code where migration is unreasonably expensive. According to Material Design 3 guidelines (2026), lists of any complexity should use RecyclerView to meet modern performance and accessibility standards.