Show progressbar on MenuItem, even if it is on split action bar mode

You'll need to add and remove the action view dynamically. Here's a quick example

<item
    android:id="@+id/action_favorite"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_heart"
    android:showAsAction="always" />

---

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(final MenuItem item) {
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.action_favorite:
            item.setActionView(new ProgressBar(this));
            item.getActionView().postDelayed(new Runnable() {

                @Override
                public void run() {
                    item.setActionView(null);
                }
            }, 1000);
            return true;
        default:
            return false;
    }
}

About the speed of the gif, it's just the bitrate I recorded at.