Why is setAlpha() not working in RecyclerViews?

recycler's ItemAnimator changes alpha during update item process you can try to add

((SimpleItemAnimator) myRecyclerView.getItemAnimator()).setSupportsChangeAnimations(false);

I had this same problem. Instead of changing the alpha of the itemView, give an name to your root layout and change its alpha instead, as the recyclerview animations handle the itemView alpha animation making it not work.

Remove item animator

In Java:

mRecyclerView.setItemAnimator(null);

Or in Kotlin:

recycler_view.itemAnimator = null