Detecting the scrolling direction in the adapter (up/down)

I ended up by doing this:

@Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
    Log.i("",position+" - "+lastposition);

    if (position >= lastposition)
        animation = new TranslateAnimation(Animation.RELATIVE_TO_SELF,
                0.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_SELF, 0.0f,
                Animation.RELATIVE_TO_SELF, 1.0f,
                Animation.RELATIVE_TO_SELF, 0.0f);
    else
        animation = new TranslateAnimation(Animation.RELATIVE_TO_SELF,
                0.0f, Animation.RELATIVE_TO_SELF, 0.0f,
                Animation.RELATIVE_TO_SELF, -1.0f,
                Animation.RELATIVE_TO_SELF, 0.0f);

    animation.setDuration(600);
    set.addAnimation(animation);

    row.startAnimation(set);

    lastposition = position;

}

This is the easiest and simplest method I came across. And it works like a charm.

view.addOnScrollListener(new View.OnScrollListener() {
                @Override
                public void onScrolled(@NonNull View view, int dx, int dy) {
                    if (dy > 0) {
                        //Scrolling down
                    } else if (dy < 0) {
                        //Scrolling up
                    }
                }
            });

Assign an OnScrollListener to your ListView. Create a flag which indicates whether the user is scrolling up or down. Set an appropriate value to the flag by checking if the current first visible item position equals to more or less than the previous first visible item position. Put that check inside onScrollStateChanged().

Sample code:

private int mLastFirstVisibleItem;
private boolean mIsScrollingUp;

public void onScrollStateChanged(AbsListView view, int scrollState) {
    final ListView lw = getListView();

    if (view.getId() == lw.getId()) {
        final int currentFirstVisibleItem = lw.getFirstVisiblePosition();

        if (currentFirstVisibleItem > mLastFirstVisibleItem) {
            mIsScrollingUp = false;
        } else if (currentFirstVisibleItem < mLastFirstVisibleItem) {
            mIsScrollingUp = true;
        }

        mLastFirstVisibleItem = currentFirstVisibleItem;
    } 
}

Check if mIsScrollingUp is true or false in getView(), and assign the animations accordingly.

More complex solution (working with long items height in listview)

1. Create custom listview

   public class ScrollDetectingListView extends ListView {
       public ScrollDetectingListView(Context context) {
           super(context);
       }
   
       public ScrollDetectingListView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
           super(context,attrs);
       } 
   
       public ScrollDetectingListView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
           super(context, attrs, defStyle);
       }
   
       //we need this protected method for scroll detection
       public int getVerticalScrollOffset() {
           return computeVerticalScrollOffset();
       }
   }
   

2. Override onScroll

       listView.setOnScrollListener(new AbsListView.OnScrollListener() {
   
       private int mInitialScroll = 0;
   
       @Override
       public void onScrollStateChanged(AbsListView view, int scrollState) {
   
       }
   
       @Override
       public void onScroll(AbsListView view, int firstVisibleItem, int visibleItemCount, int totalItemCount) {
           int scrolledOffset = listView.getVerticalScrollOffset();
           if (scrolledOffset!=mInitialScroll) {
               //if scroll position changed
               boolean scrollUp = (scrolledOffset - mInitialScroll) < 0;
               mInitialScroll = scrolledOffset;
           }
       }
       });