How to Remove Black Bars Near Camera in Fullscreen Android Apps (Kotlin/Java)

Designing fullscreen apps or games in Android Studio often brings a common issue—ugly black bars near the front camera or corners of the display. These black edges usually appear on devices with notches, hole-punch cameras, or curved screens. If you’re building a fullscreen experience and want your UI to properly wrap around these areas, it’s essential to know how to work with Android’s edge-to-edge display features.

Let’s walk through how to get rid of these black borders and make your app truly fullscreen.

Step 1: Use Edge-to-Edge Layout in styles.xml

Start by modifying your theme to support edge-to-edge layouts.

<!-- res/values/themes.xml -->
<item name="android:windowLayoutInDisplayCutoutMode">shortEdges</item>
<item name="android:windowTranslucentStatus">true</item>
<item name="android:windowTranslucentNavigation">true</item>
<item name="android:windowDrawsSystemBarBackgrounds">true</item>
<item name="android:statusBarColor">@android:color/transparent</item>
<item name="android:navigationBarColor">@android:color/transparent</item>

Make sure you’re using a Theme.MaterialComponents or similar modern theme that supports these flags.

Step 2: Request Fullscreen Programmatically

In your activity (Kotlin or Java), hide the system bars and tell the window to layout around cutouts and corners.

Kotlin Example:

window.setDecorFitsSystemWindows(false)
window.insetsController?.let {
    it.hide(WindowInsets.Type.statusBars() or WindowInsets.Type.navigationBars())
    it.systemBarsBehavior = WindowInsetsController.BEHAVIOR_SHOW_TRANSIENT_BARS_BY_SWIPE
}

Java Equivalent:

getWindow().setDecorFitsSystemWindows(false);

WindowInsetsController insetsController = getWindow().getInsetsController();
if (insetsController != null) {
    insetsController.hide(WindowInsets.Type.statusBars() | WindowInsets.Type.navigationBars());
    insetsController.setSystemBarsBehavior(
        WindowInsetsController.BEHAVIOR_SHOW_TRANSIENT_BARS_BY_SWIPE
    );
}

This enables fullscreen content and ensures your app doesn’t auto-adjust to avoid the camera or system bars.

Step 3: Handle Display Cutouts (Notches)

Some devices won’t stretch content into the camera notch area unless you explicitly allow it.

Use this in your onCreate method:

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.P) {
    val params = window.attributes
    params.layoutInDisplayCutoutMode = WindowManager.LayoutParams.LAYOUT_IN_DISPLAY_CUTOUT_MODE_SHORT_EDGES
    window.attributes = params
}

This instructs Android to allow content to be shown near or under display cutouts.

Step 4: Ensure Your Layout Uses Fullscreen Space

Your root layout should extend to the edges of the screen. Use fitsSystemWindows="false" and set paddings dynamically if needed.

Example layout root:

<FrameLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="false">
    
    <!-- Your game view or main content here -->

</FrameLayout>

Pro Tip: Avoid Hardcoded Dimensions

To ensure full compatibility with all screen types and cutouts, avoid hardcoding margins or padding at the top/bottom. Instead, dynamically calculate insets using the OnApplyWindowInsetsListener:

ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(rootView) { view, insets ->
    val systemBarsInsets = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.systemBars())
    view.setPadding(
        systemBarsInsets.left,
        systemBarsInsets.top,
        systemBarsInsets.right,
        systemBarsInsets.bottom
    )
    insets
}

This ensures your layout properly adapts on all devices, whether it’s a tablet, foldable, or a notch-screen phone.

Conclusion

By combining transparent system bars, edge-to-edge layout flags, and responsive layout adjustments, you can remove the unwanted black borders and take full advantage of modern screen real estate. This gives your users an immersive, fullscreen experience—exactly what’s expected in games, media apps, and rich visual content platforms.

Keep testing on various screen types and Android versions to confirm the layout works as expected.

For a truly immersive app, fullscreen should feel seamless—not like a square in a round hole.