No toolbar elevation shadow on Android 9

Question

I'm struggling to make toolbar shadow appear on Android 28+. I tried multiple solutions suggested, but none worked. Following styles work well for all devices below 28:

toolbar.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
    style="@style/Widget.App.Toolbar"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
/>

styles.xml

<style name="Widget.App.Toolbar.V1" parent="Widget.AppCompat.Toolbar">
    <item name="android:layout_height">?attr/actionBarSize</item>
    <item name="android:layout_width">match_parent</item>
    <item name="android:background">?attr/colorPrimary</item>
    <item name="popupTheme">@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light</item>
    <item name="android:theme">@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar</item>
</style>

styles.xml (v21)

<style name="Widget.App.Toolbar" parent="Widget.App.Toolbar.V1">
    <item name="android:elevation">4dp</item>
</style>

I also tried to set elevation programmatically, using ViewCompat.setElevation with no success.

Does anyone has an idea how to make it work?

UPD: I know you can create custom shadow drawable, but I would like to avoid this solution if possible. Just can't understand why such basic functionality requires additional drawable and views in layout. Also, I wonder why it works on previous Android versions. Didn't found any proofs that this behavior has changed.

Answer 1

I ended up setting my own drop shadow for the toolbar, thought it might helpful for anyone looking for it:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
              xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
              android:layout_width="wrap_content"
              android:layout_height="wrap_content"
              android:layout_gravity="top"
              android:orientation="vertical">

    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar android:id="@+id/toolbar"
                                       android:layout_width="match_parent"
                                       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                                       android:background="@color/color_alizarin"
                                       android:titleTextAppearance="@color/White"
                                       app:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"/>

    <FrameLayout android:layout_width="match_parent"
                 android:layout_height="match_parent">

        <!-- **** Place Your Content Here **** -->

        <View android:layout_width="match_parent"
              android:layout_height="5dp"
              android:background="@drawable/toolbar_dropshadow"/>

    </FrameLayout>

</LinearLayout>

@drawable/toolbar_dropshadow:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 
       android:shape="rectangle">

    <gradient android:startColor="@android:color/transparent"
              android:endColor="#88333333"
              android:angle="90"/>

</shape>

@color/color_alizarin

<color name="color_alizarin">#e74c3c</color>

Answer 2

I don't know why it doesn't work for many of the people, adding:

android:elevation="5dp"

Directly to the toolbar works fine for me.