Progress indicators

Progress indicators express an unspecified wait time or display the length of a process.

Contents

• Using progress indicators
• Linear progress indicator
• Circular progress indicator
• Theming

Using progress indicators

Material Design's progress indicator component is spread across two distinct components in the Material iOS library. There are linear progress indicators, which are implemented by the ProgressView component, and circular progress indicators, which are implemented by the ActivityIndicator component.

Progress indicators inform users about the status of ongoing processes, such as loading an app, submitting a form, or saving updates. They communicate an app’s state and indicate available actions, such as whether users can navigate away from the current screen.

Note: When displaying progress for a sequence of processes, indicate overall progress rather than the progress of each activity.

Installing

Installation steps for progress indicators depend on whether you want to use the linear or circular progress indicator.

Installing linear progress indicators

To use linear progress indicators in your app, first add the ProgressView subspec to your Podfile:

pod 'MaterialComponents/ProgressView'

Then, run the following command:

pod install

From there, import the relevant target or file.

Swift

import MaterialComponents.MaterialProgressView

Objective-C

#import "MaterialProgressView.h"

Installing circular progress indicators

To use circular progress indicators in your app, first add the ActivityIndicator subspec to your Podfile:

pod 'MaterialComponents/ActivityIndicator'

Then, run the following command:

pod install

From there, import the relevant target or file.

Swift

import MaterialComponents.MaterialActivityIndicator

Objective-C

#import "MaterialActivityIndicator.h"

Making progress indicators accessible

Neither of the two progress indicators require additional setup for accessibility. They are accessible by default.

Types

As mentioned above, Material Design offers two visually distinct types of progress indicators:

1. Linear
2. Circular

Only one type should represent each kind of activity in an app. For example, if a refresh action displays a circular indicator on one screen, that same action shouldn’t use a linear indicator elsewhere in the app.

Linear progress indicator

Linear progress indicators display progress by animating an indicator along the length of a fixed, visible track. The behavior of the indicator is dependent on whether the progress of a process is known.

Linear progress indicators support both determinate and indeterminate operations.

• Determinate operations display the indicator increasing in width from 0 to 100% of the track, in sync with the process’s progress.
• Indeterminate operations display the indicator continually growing and shrinking along the track until the process is complete.

Linear progress indicator examples

MDCProgressView GitHub source.

Determinate linear progress indicator example

To generate a determinate linear progress view like the one above, do the following:

Swift

let progressView = MDCProgressView()
progressView.progress = 0.75

let progressViewHeight = CGFloat(2)
progressView.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: view.bounds.height - progressViewHeight, width: view.bounds.width, height: progressViewHeight)
view.addSubview(progressView)

Objective-C

@property(nonatomic) MDCProgressView *progressView;
...

// Progress view configuration.
self.progressView = [[MDCProgressView alloc] initWithFrame:myframe];
self.progressView.frame = CGRectMake(0, view.bounds.height - progressViewHeight, view.bounds.width, progressViewHeight);
self.progressView.progress = 0.75f;
[self.view addSubview:self.progressView];

Indeterminate linear progress indicator example

To generate an indeterminate linear progress view like the one above, set the mode property.

Swift

progressView.mode = .indeterminate

Objective-C

self.progressView.mode = MDCProgressViewModeIndeterminate;

Anatomy and key properties

A linear progress indicator consists of the following:

1. Track
2. Indicator

Linear indicator attributes

	Attribute	Related method(s)	Default value
Color	progressTintColor	-setProgressTintColor:] -progressTintColor]	Blue 500

Linear track attributes

	Attribute	Related method(s)	Default value
Color	trackTintColor	-setTrackTintColor:] -trackTintColor]	progressTintColor at 0.3 saturation

Circular progress indicator

Circular progress indicators display progress by animating an indicator along an invisible circular track in a clockwise direction. They can be applied directly to a surface, such as a button or card.

Circular progress indicators support both determinate and indeterminate processes.

• Determinate circular indicators fill the invisible, circular track with color, as the indicator moves from 0 to 360 degrees.
• Indeterminate circular indicators grow and shrink in size while moving along the invisible track.

Circular progress indicator examples

MDCActivityIndicator GitHub source.

Determinate circular progress view example

MDCActivityIndicator instances can be shown as determinate by modifying the indicatorMode property and setting a percentage progress with progress. progress must be set to a floating point number between 0 and 1. Values beyond this range will be capped within the range.

NOTE: Activity indicators are hidden unless they are animating, even if the indicator is determinate progress.

Swift

let activityIndicator = MDCActivityIndicator()
activityIndicator.sizeToFit()
activityIndicator.indicatorMode = .determinate
activityIndicator.progress = 0.5
view.addSubview(activityIndicator)

// To make the activity indicator appear:
activityIndicator.startAnimating()

// To make the activity indicator disappear:
activityIndicator.stopAnimating()

Objective-C

MDCActivityIndicator *activityIndicator = [[MDCActivityIndicator alloc] init];
[activityIndicator sizeToFit];
activityIndicator.indicatorMode = MDCActivityIndicatorModeDeterminate;
activityIndicator.progress = 0.5;
[view addSubview:activityIndicator];

// To make the activity indicator appear:
[activityIndicator startAnimating];

// To make the activity indicator disappear:
[activityIndicator stopAnimating];

Indeterminate circular progress view example

MDCActivityIndicator instances are indeterminate by default.

Swift

let activityIndicator = MDCActivityIndicator()
activityIndicator.sizeToFit()
view.addSubview(activityIndicator)

// To make the activity indicator appear:
activityIndicator.startAnimating()

// To make the activity indicator disappear:
activityIndicator.stopAnimating()

Objective-C

MDCActivityIndicator *activityIndicator = [[MDCActivityIndicator alloc] init];
[activityIndicator sizeToFit];
[view addSubview:activityIndicator];

// To make the activity indicator appear:
[activityIndicator startAnimating];

// To make the activity indicator disappear:
[activityIndicator stopAnimating];

Theming

Theming is only available for linear progress indicators on iOS. The following is an example of an MDCProgressView with a Shrine theme:

To theme an MDCProgressView with a theming extension and a container scheme, first add the following to your Podfile:

pod 'MaterialComponents/ProgressView+Theming'

Then run the installer:

pod install

Then, import the relevant target or file and call the theming method.

Swift

// Import the ProgressView theming module
import MaterialComponents.MaterialProgressView_Theming
...
// Create or use your app's Container Scheme
let containerScheme = MDCContainerScheme()
// Theme the progress view with either default theme
progressView.applyTheme(withScheme: containerScheme)

Objective-C

// Import the ProgressView Theming Extensions header
#import <MaterialComponents/MaterialProgressView+Theming.h>
...
 // Create or use your app's Container Scheme
MDCContainerScheme *containerScheme = [[MDCContainerScheme alloc] init];
 // Theme the progress view with either default theme
[self.progressView applyThemeWithScheme:containerScheme];