Originally published on Medium:
https://medium.com/@supsabhi/lazycolumn-vs-recyclerview-a-developers-guide-to-modern-android-lists-aecae66c3356
Making the right choice for your Android app’s scrollable content
Just imagine, you’re building an Android app that needs to display a list of items — maybe it’s a social media feed, a shopping cart, or a contact list. Practically, there will be very few apps which will not have any kind of list. While developing an app when a developer needs to choose between the tried-and-true RecyclerView or embrace Jetpack Compose’s LazyColumn, the real struggle starts.
This decision isn’t just about following the latest trends. It’s about choosing the right tool that will make your code cleaner, your app more performant, and your development experience smoother.
For years, RecyclerView was the standard. With Jetpack Compose, LazyColumn brings a new, more human-friendly approach. But what really sets them apart?
Let’s dive deep into both approaches and help you make an informed decision.
Traditional Tried RecyclerView
RecyclerView has been the backbone of Android list displays since 2014. It replaced ListView with a more flexible and efficient design, introducing the ViewHolder pattern and giving developers granular control over how items are displayed and recycled.
Basically, RecyclerView is nothing but a robust, flexible way of showing long lists or grids of views. It acts as a sophisticated recycling system. Instead of creating a new view for every item in your list (which would be memory-intensive), it creates just enough views to fill the screen plus a few extras, saving both memory and processor work. As you scroll, views that disappear from the top are recycled and reused for new items appearing at the bottom.
But as they say, “everything comes with a price.” RecyclerView too has its own challenges; we will look into it in detail. First, let’s see how one can set up RecyclerView in an application:
// Data class
data class Task(val id: Int, val title: String, val isCompleted: Boolean)
// ViewHolder
class TaskViewHolder(itemView: View) : RecyclerView.ViewHolder(itemView) {
private val titleText: TextView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.task_title)
private val checkbox: CheckBox = itemView.findViewById(R.id.task_checkbox)
fun bind(task: Task, onTaskToggle: (Task) -> Unit) {
titleText.text = task.title
checkbox.isChecked = task.isCompleted
checkbox.setOnCheckedChangeListener { _, isChecked ->
onTaskToggle(task.copy(isCompleted = isChecked))
}
}
}
// Adapter
class TaskAdapter(
private var tasks: List<Task>,
private val onTaskToggle: (Task) -> Unit
) : RecyclerView.Adapter<TaskViewHolder>() {
override fun onCreateViewHolder(parent: ViewGroup, viewType: Int): TaskViewHolder {
val view = LayoutInflater.from(parent.context)
.inflate(R.layout.item_task, parent, false)
return TaskViewHolder(view)
}
override fun onBindViewHolder(holder: TaskViewHolder, position: Int) {
holder.bind(tasks[position], onTaskToggle)
}
override fun getItemCount() = tasks.size
fun updateTasks(newTasks: List<Task>) {
tasks = newTasks
notifyDataSetChanged()
}
}
So basically, how RecyclerView is set up is:
Adapter: Custom code links your data to the list items
ViewHolder: Custom classes track references for each view in an item for fast updates
LayoutManager: Controls if your list is vertical, horizontal, or grid
XML layouts: Most code is separate from display — declarative UI felt far away here
Now let’s review deeper about RecyclerView’s strengths and its challenges.
RecyclerView’s Strengths
1. Battle-Tested Performance RecyclerView has been optimized over nearly a decade. It handles large datasets efficiently and provides smooth scrolling even on older devices.
2. Extensive Customization Want custom animations? Multiple view types? Complex layouts? RecyclerView gives you the tools to build almost anything. The ItemDecorator system lets you add dividers, spacing, and custom decorations with precision.
RecyclerView’s Challenges
1. Boilerplate Overload Look at that code above. For a simple list, you need a ViewHolder, an Adapter, layout files, and proper setup. That’s a lot of ceremony for displaying a list.
2. XML Layout Dependencies You’re still tied to XML layouts, which means context switching between Kotlin and XML files. Design-time previews can be limited.
3. Manual State Management Updating lists requires careful state management. Forget to call notifyItemChanged() and your UI won't update. Call notifyDataSetChanged() too often and performance suffers.
Let’s Check Out the New Player in the Market: LazyColumn
LazyColumn arrived with Jetpack Compose, representing a fundamental shift in how we build Android UIs. Instead of the imperative “how” of RecyclerView, LazyColumn focuses on the declarative “what.”
LazyColumn is the Compose-native component for vertically scrolling lists. The best part: there’s no Adapter, no XML, just Kotlin in a “what, not how” style.
@Composable
fun TaskList(
tasks: List<Task>,
onTaskToggle: (Task) -> Unit,
modifier: Modifier = Modifier
) {
LazyColumn(
modifier = modifier.fillMaxSize(),
verticalArrangement = Arrangement.spacedBy(8.dp),
contentPadding = PaddingValues(16.dp)
) {
items(tasks) { task ->
TaskItem(
task = task,
onToggle = { onTaskToggle(it) }
)
}
}
}
@Composable
fun TaskItem(
task: Task,
onToggle: (Task) -> Unit,
modifier: Modifier = Modifier
) {
Card(
modifier = modifier.fillMaxWidth(),
elevation = CardDefaults.cardElevation(defaultElevation = 2.dp)
) {
Row(
modifier = Modifier
.fillMaxWidth()
.padding(16.dp),
horizontalArrangement = Arrangement.SpaceBetween,
verticalAlignment = Alignment.CenterVertically
) {
Text(
text = task.title,
style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge,
modifier = Modifier.weight(1f)
)
Checkbox(
checked = task.isCompleted,
onCheckedChange = { onToggle(task.copy(isCompleted = it)) }
)
}
}
}
Now here, if you notice carefully, you will see that there are no adapters, no view holders, no layout inflation. Just describe what you want.
LazyColumn’s Strengths:
1. Simplicity and Code Readability LazyColumn provides a simple way to develop, increasing code readability. You can see the entire list structure at a glance without jumping between multiple files.
2. Automatic State Management When your state changes, Compose automatically recomposes only the affected items. No need to manually manage notify calls.
3. Built-in Modern Features Spacing, padding, and arrangements are built-in. Need sticky headers? Just use stickyHeader {}. Want different item types? Use multiple items {} blocks.
4. Type Safety Everything is strongly typed. No more casting views or dealing with position-based lookups that might fail at runtime.
Performance Comparison
In case of memory usage, both LazyColumn and RecyclerView use similar lazy loading strategies. They only create and maintain views/composables for visible items plus a small buffer.
If we want to compare scrolling performance, then RecyclerView has a slight edge in raw scrolling performance due to its mature optimizations and lower-level control. However, LazyColumn’s performance is excellent and continues to improve with each Compose release.
The Verdict
The verdict can be sorted down as:
Both RecyclerView and LazyColumn are excellent tools for different contexts.
LazyColumn is the future for new projects, teams embracing modern Android development, and applications prioritizing development velocity and maintainability.
RecyclerView remains the right choice for projects with established View-based architectures, teams with deep RecyclerView expertise, or applications with extremely demanding performance requirements.
For lists with frequent state changes or dynamic data: LazyColumn’s model makes these scenarios less error-prone, and animations come much easier.
The key is making an informed decision based on your specific context rather than following trends blindly. Both tools can help you build great Android apps — choose the one that fits your project best.
What’s your experience with LazyColumn vs RecyclerView? Have you made the switch, or are you still evaluating? Share your thoughts and challenges in the comments below.
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