Android: Can I use Design Support Library instead of AppCompat for Material Design UI?

Question

I think I may have misunderstood online documentation, but there are many on implementing Material Design for Android Apps using Android Design Support Library.

I have an app with minimum SDK of 14, that I am ok with increasing to 16. I don't use Coordinator Layout or anything, but have the following dependencies for Material Design Theme and Snackbar.

compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.3.1'
compile 'com.android.support:design:25.3.1'

I was wondering whether I could remove dependency to AppCompat, and instead just use Design Support Library, to implement the Material Design Theme, but am unable to find how to get this. Or have I understood this incorrectly?

Answer 1

You can ommit the appcompat dependency since design has a dependency on it. To verify that you can use the gradle dependency tree. Here it how it looks like. I am using com.android.support:design:24.2.1

+--- com.android.support:design:24.2.1
|    +--- com.android.support:support-v4:24.2.1
|    |    +--- com.android.support:support-compat:24.2.1
|    |    |    \--- com.android.support:support-annotations:24.2.1
|    |    +--- com.android.support:support-media-compat:24.2.1
|    |    |    \--- com.android.support:support-compat:24.2.1 (*)
|    |    +--- com.android.support:support-core-utils:24.2.1
|    |    |    \--- com.android.support:support-compat:24.2.1 (*)
|    |    +--- com.android.support:support-core-ui:24.2.1
|    |    |    \--- com.android.support:support-compat:24.2.1 (*)
|    |    \--- com.android.support:support-fragment:24.2.1
|    |         +--- com.android.support:support-compat:24.2.1 (*)
|    |         +--- com.android.support:support-media-compat:24.2.1 (*)
|    |         +--- com.android.support:support-core-ui:24.2.1 (*)
|    |         \--- com.android.support:support-core-utils:24.2.1 (*)
|    +--- com.android.support:appcompat-v7:24.2.1
|    |    +--- com.android.support:support-v4:24.2.1 (*)
|    |    +--- com.android.support:support-vector-drawable:24.2.1
|    |    |    \--- com.android.support:support-compat:24.2.1 (*)
|    |    \--- com.android.support:animated-vector-drawable:24.2.1
|    |         \--- com.android.support:support-vector-drawable:24.2.1 (*)
|    \--- com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:24.2.1
|         +--- com.android.support:support-annotations:24.2.1
|         +--- com.android.support:support-compat:24.2.1 (*)
|         \--- com.android.support:support-core-ui:24.2.1 (*)

To use it yourself

Gradle (top-right-tab) -> Execute Gradle Task (gradle symbol) -> make sure you are in :app -> run app:dependencies

So com.android.support:design:25.3.1 will have com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.3.1 as a dependency.

Answer 2

It is better to use AppCompat , as it will adapt everything in older versions of Android. It also depends on the View s you are going to use. If it is an ordinary Button or EditText , there is no need for AppCompat , since all Android versions support them.