Test focus navigation

Automating focus navigation tests ensures your app delivers a consistent and predictable user experience across hardware keyboards, D-pads, and accessibility tools. Compose provides built-in testing APIs to simulate key input and verify focus states.

Set up focus tests

To write focus tests, use createComposeRule() from the Compose testing library:

@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4::class)
class FocusNavigationTest {
    @get:Rule
    val composeTestRule = createComposeRule()

Verify focus targets

You can verify whether a UI element can receive focus by performing a click or requesting focus, and then asserting its state using assertIsFocused() and assertIsNotFocused().

@Test
fun interactiveElement_isFocusTarget() {
    composeTestRule.setContent {
        AppTheme {
            CardListScreen()
        }
    }

    val firstCard = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("card_1")
    val secondCard = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("card_2")

    // Focus the first element
    firstCard.performClick()
    firstCard.assertIsFocused()
    secondCard.assertIsNotFocused()
}

Test one-dimensional focus traversal

Simulate Tab and Shift+Tab key presses using performKeyInput to verify that focus advances through the UI in appearance order. As a best practice, verify both forward navigation (Key.Tab) and reverse navigation (Key.Tab with Key.ShiftLeft held down) to ensure two-way traversal integrity:

@Test
fun tabKey_navigatesInAppearanceOrder() {
    composeTestRule.setContent {
        AppTheme {
            CardListScreen()
        }
    }

    val firstCard = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("card_1")
    val secondCard = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("card_2")
    val thirdCard = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("card_3")

    firstCard.performClick()
    firstCard.assertIsFocused()

    // Press Tab -> Moves to second card
    firstCard.performKeyInput {
        pressKey(Key.Tab)
    }
    secondCard.assertIsFocused()
    firstCard.assertIsNotFocused()

    // Press Tab -> Moves to third card
    secondCard.performKeyInput {
        pressKey(Key.Tab)
    }
    thirdCard.assertIsFocused()

    // Press Shift + Tab -> Moves backward to second card
    thirdCard.performKeyInput {
        withKeyDown(Key.ShiftLeft) {
            pressKey(Key.Tab)
        }
    }
    secondCard.assertIsFocused()
}

Test two-dimensional directional traversal

Simulate arrow keys or D-pad directional keys using Key.DirectionDown, Key.DirectionUp, Key.DirectionRight, and Key.DirectionLeft.

@Test
fun arrowKeys_moveFocusTwoDimensionallyWithoutWrap() {
    composeTestRule.setContent {
        AppTheme {
            GridLayoutScreen()
        }
    }

    val topLeftButton = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("btn_top_left")
    val bottomLeftButton = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("btn_bottom_left")

    topLeftButton.performClick()
    topLeftButton.assertIsFocused()

    // Down arrow moves focus downward to bottom-left button
    topLeftButton.performKeyInput {
        pressKey(Key.DirectionDown)
    }
    bottomLeftButton.assertIsFocused()

    // Directional keys do not wrap around: pressing Down on bottom element stays focused
    bottomLeftButton.performKeyInput {
        pressKey(Key.DirectionDown)
    }
    bottomLeftButton.assertIsFocused()
}

Test text field focus behavior

Verify that single-line text fields advance focus on Tab, while multi-line text fields retain focus:

@Test
fun textField_handlesTabAccordingToLineLimits() {
    composeTestRule.setContent {
        AppTheme {
            FormScreen()
        }
    }

    val singleLineNode = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("single_line_field")
    val multiLineNode = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("multi_line_field")
    val submitButtonNode = composeTestRule.onNodeWithTag("submit_button")

    // Single-line field advances focus on Tab
    singleLineNode.performClick()
    singleLineNode.assertIsFocused()
    singleLineNode.performKeyInput { pressKey(Key.Tab) }
    multiLineNode.assertIsFocused()

    // Multi-line field keeps focus and inserts '\t'
    multiLineNode.performKeyInput { pressKey(Key.Tab) }
    multiLineNode.assertIsFocused()
    submitButtonNode.assertIsNotFocused()

    // Shift + Tab escapes multi-line field to previous target
    multiLineNode.performKeyInput {
        withKeyDown(Key.ShiftLeft) { pressKey(Key.Tab) }
    }
    singleLineNode.assertIsFocused()
}

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