Android: change color of disabled text using Theme/Style?

I know I'm late. However, I had exactly same problem and I fixed just now.

I found a way to fix it using resource files only. I found the answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/17123161/4860513

Basically, you can create a color selector under: res/color/

Note: You must create folder color if it does not exist.

For me, I did it:

res\color\primary_text_color_selector.xml (For Title)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item android:state_enabled="false" android:color="#80000000"/>
    <item android:color="#FF000000"/>
</selector>

res\color\secondary_text_color_selector.xml (For Summary)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item android:state_enabled="false" android:color="#80000000"/>
    <item android:color="#C0000000"/>
</selector>

Then, In my preference style, I did:

res\values\styles.xml

<!-- Preference Screen Theme --> 
<style name="AppTheme_PreferenceScreenStyle">
    <item name="android:textColorPrimary">@color/primary_text_color_selector</item>
    <item name="android:textColorSecondary">@color/secondary_text_color_selector</item>
</style>

in SettingsFragmentActivity.java

public class SettingsFragmentActivity extends PreferenceFragment {
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.settings);
        PreferenceScreen preferenceScreen = getPreferenceScreen();

        mContext = preferenceScreen.getContext();
        mContext.setTheme(R.style.AppTheme_PreferenceScreenStyle);

        ...
    }
}

This way, Title and Summary are grayed out when option is disabled.

I'm just sharing this solution since I have same problem and it may help someone

I figured this out more or less by accident, but if you subclass Preference and override the onBindView(), you can achieve the "grayed out" effect when a preference is disabled:

@Override
protected void onBindView(View view) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
    super.onBindView(view);
    TextView title = (TextView)view.findViewById(android.R.id.title);
    TextView summary = (TextView)view.findViewById(android.R.id.summary);

    if (title.isEnabled()) {
        title.setTextColor(getContext().getResources().getColor(R.color.gold));
    }
    else {
        title.setTextColor(getContext().getResources().getColor(R.color.gold_disabled));
    }

    if (summary.isEnabled()) {
        summary.setTextColor(getContext().getResources().getColor(R.color.orange));
    }
    else {
        summary.setTextColor(getContext().getResources().getColor(R.color.orange_disabled));
    }
}

If you look at how Google did it for their themes, you would notice this for light (Platform.AppCompat.Light ) :

<item name="android:textColorPrimary">@color/abc_primary_text_material_light</item>
<item name="android:textColorPrimaryInverse">@color/abc_primary_text_material_dark</item>

And this for dark theme (Platform.AppCompat) :

<item name="android:textColorPrimary">@color/abc_primary_text_material_dark</item>
<item name="android:textColorPrimaryInverse">@color/abc_primary_text_material_light</item>

And the colors of those are set as such:

abc_primary_text_material_dark.xml

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:state_enabled="false" android:color="@color/primary_text_disabled_material_dark"/>
    <item android:color="@color/primary_text_default_material_dark"/>
</selector>

abc_primary_text_material_light.xml

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:state_enabled="false" android:color="@color/primary_text_disabled_material_dark"/>
    <item android:color="@color/primary_text_default_material_dark"/>
</selector>

So, you should do the same (create the files and the references to them in the themes file), to handle light&dark theme, and to handle the states of the text color.

To use it in the app, you can use ?android:textColorPrimary or ?android:textColorPrimaryInverse .

Same goes for secondary text color and tertiary, BTW.