Understanding colors on Android (six characters)

Android uses hexadecimal ARGB values, which are formatted as #AARRGGBB. That first pair of letters, the AA, represent the alpha channel. You must convert your decimal opacity values to a hexadecimal value. Here are the steps:

Alpha Hex Value Process

  1. Take your opacity as a decimal value and multiply it by 255. So, if you have a block that is 50% opaque the decimal value would be .5. For example: .5 x 255 = 127.5
  2. The fraction won't convert to hexadecimal, so you must round your number up or down to the nearest whole number. For example: 127.5 rounds up to 128; 55.25 rounds down to 55.
  3. Enter your decimal value in a decimal-to-hexadecimal converter, like http://www.binaryhexconverter.com/decimal-to-hex-converter, and convert your values.
  4. If you only get back a single value, prefix it with a zero. For example, if you're trying to get 5% opacity and you're going through this process, you'll end up with the hexadecimal value of D. Add a zero in front of it so it appears as 0D.

That's how you find the alpha channel value. I've taken the liberty to put together a list of values for you. Enjoy!

Hex Opacity Values

  • 100% — FF
  • 95% — F2
  • 90% — E6
  • 85% — D9
  • 80% — CC
  • 75% — BF
  • 70% — B3
  • 65% — A6
  • 60% — 99
  • 55% — 8C
  • 50% — 80
  • 45% — 73
  • 40% — 66
  • 35% — 59
  • 30% — 4D
  • 25% — 40
  • 20% — 33
  • 15% — 26
  • 10% — 1A
  • 5% — 0D
  • 0% — 00

Going off the answer from @BlondeFurious, here is some Java code to get each hexadecimal value from 100% to 0% alpha:

for (double i = 1; i >= 0; i -= 0.01) {
    i = Math.round(i * 100) / 100.0d;
    int alpha = (int) Math.round(i * 255);
    String hex = Integer.toHexString(alpha).toUpperCase();
    if (hex.length() == 1)
        hex = "0" + hex;
    int percent = (int) (i * 100);
    System.out.println(String.format("%d%% — %s", percent, hex));
}

Output:

100% — FF
99% — FC
98% — FA
97% — F7
96% — F5
95% — F2
94% — F0
93% — ED
92% — EB
91% — E8
90% — E6
89% — E3
88% — E0
87% — DE
86% — DB
85% — D9
84% — D6
83% — D4
82% — D1
81% — CF
80% — CC
79% — C9
78% — C7
77% — C4
76% — C2
75% — BF
74% — BD
73% — BA
72% — B8
71% — B5
70% — B3
69% — B0
68% — AD
67% — AB
66% — A8
65% — A6
64% — A3
63% — A1
62% — 9E
61% — 9C
60% — 99
59% — 96
58% — 94
57% — 91
56% — 8F
55% — 8C
54% — 8A
53% — 87
52% — 85
51% — 82
50% — 80
49% — 7D
48% — 7A
47% — 78
46% — 75
45% — 73
44% — 70
43% — 6E
42% — 6B
41% — 69
40% — 66
39% — 63
38% — 61
37% — 5E
36% — 5C
35% — 59
34% — 57
33% — 54
32% — 52
31% — 4F
30% — 4D
29% — 4A
28% — 47
27% — 45
26% — 42
25% — 40
24% — 3D
23% — 3B
22% — 38
21% — 36
20% — 33
19% — 30
18% — 2E
17% — 2B
16% — 29
15% — 26
14% — 24
13% — 21
12% — 1F
11% — 1C
10% — 1A
9% — 17
8% — 14
7% — 12
6% — 0F
5% — 0D
4% — 0A
3% — 08
2% — 05
1% — 03
0% — 00

A JavaScript version is below:

var text = document.getElementById('text');
for (var i = 1; i >= 0; i -= 0.01) {
    i = Math.round(i * 100) / 100;
    var alpha = Math.round(i * 255);
    var hex = (alpha + 0x10000).toString(16).substr(-2).toUpperCase();
    var perc = Math.round(i * 100);
    text.innerHTML += perc + "% — " + hex + " (" + alpha + ")</br>";
}
<div id="text"></div>

You can also just Google "number to hex" where 'number' is any value between 0 and 255.