Difference between Android Framework widgets and their AppCompat version

Question

I have lately noticed that there are AppCompat versions of most View types in Android, for example ListView / ListViewCompat, Button /

Answer 1

If you use AppCompatActivity, then AppCompatImageView will automatically be used when you use ImageView in your layouts.

From the AppCompatImageView AppCompatEditText AppCompatButton

Button vs AppCompatButton

This will automatically be used when you use Button in your layouts and the top-level activity / dialog is provided by appcompat. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views.

ImageView vs AppCompatImageView

This will automatically be used when you use ImageView in your layouts and the top-level activity / dialog is provided by appcompat. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views.

EditText vs AppCompatEditText

This will automatically be used when you use EditText in your layouts and the top-level activity / dialog is provided by appcompat. You should only need to manually use this class when writing custom views.

and the same rule is also valid for other appcompat views