Android - Snackbar vs Toast - usage and difference

Question

We have been using just Toasts in our application so far and as we are planning to adopt some new features from Support Design Library I am wondering what\'s the recommended

Answer 1

Toast:

1. Toast was added in API Level 1
2. Basically Activity is not required (Can be shown on Android home or even above other apps)
3. It can’t perform an action based on User input
4. It can’t be dismissed by swiping
5. It can’t handle user input like Swipe, Click etc.
6. Good for showing info messages to user

SnackBar:

1. SnackBar was added in API Level 23
2. It can be showed inside an activity of the Applications
3. It can perform an action
4. It can be dismissed by swiping
5. It can handle user input
6. Good for showing warning/info type messages to user that needs attention

Usage of SnackBar and Toast:

SnackBar:

SnackBar can be used in the areas where a simple popup message needs to be displayed along with an option to perform action. For Example: In GMail application, when you delete Mail, quick SnackBar display at the bottom with Message ‘1 Deleted’ with an action button ‘Undo’. On pressing the ‘Undo’ action button, the deleted mail will be restored.

Toast:

Toast can be used in the areas where System messages need to be displayed.

For Example:

When your App tries to download JSON from remote server but it fails due to Server Timeout or No resource found, you just need to display the error message saying that ‘Error Occurred’. But understand the Toast message cannot be dismissed by swiping. If you still want to have the capability of dismissing it in your App, go for SnackBar.