explaingit

baseflow/photoview

★ 18,833JavaAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantLicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

Android library that adds pinch-to-zoom and double-tap zoom to image views with smooth gestures and ViewPager compatibility.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((PhotoView))
    What it does
      Pinch to zoom
      Double tap zoom
      Smooth panning
    Features
      Multi touch support
      Fling scrolling
      ViewPager compatible
    Use cases
      Photo galleries
      Image viewers
      E commerce apps
    Integration
      Drop in replacement
      Two line setup
      Gradle dependency

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Build a photo gallery app where users can pinch to zoom into photos and see details.

USE CASE 2

Create an e-commerce app with product image screens that let customers zoom in on product photos.

USE CASE 3

Build an image viewer that supports smooth panning and double-tap zoom gestures.

USE CASE 4

Add interactive zoom to a map image viewer within a swipeable photo carousel.

Tech stack

JavaAndroidGradle

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you include the original copyright notice and license text.

In plain English

PhotoView is an Android library that adds pinch-to-zoom and double-tap zoom to image views in your app. Android's built-in ImageView widget displays pictures but doesn't let users zoom into them with their fingers, PhotoView solves that problem with a drop-in replacement that behaves just like a normal image widget but adds smooth zooming and scrolling gestures on top. It supports multi-touch pinch gestures, double-tap to zoom in and out, and smooth fling scrolling when panning around a zoomed image. It also works correctly when placed inside a swipeable container like ViewPager, which is the component commonly used for photo galleries. Developers can listen for zoom level changes or tap events to update other parts of their UI when the user interacts with the photo. You would use this library if you are building an Android app in Java that shows photos and wants users to be able to zoom in for detail, for example a photo gallery, an image viewer, a product photo screen in an e-commerce app, or a map image. Adding it requires just two lines of Gradle dependency setup and replacing your ImageView tag with a PhotoView tag. It is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I add PhotoView to my Android project and replace my ImageView with it?
Prompt 2
Show me how to listen for zoom level changes in PhotoView to update my UI when the user zooms.
Prompt 3
How do I use PhotoView inside a ViewPager for a photo gallery without breaking the swipe gesture?
Prompt 4
What gesture events does PhotoView support and how do I handle double-tap zoom programmatically?
Prompt 5
Can I customize the zoom limits and animation speed in PhotoView?
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Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.