Kivy Tutorial

Kivy is an open-source Python library for building cross-platform GUI applications. It works on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and Raspberry Pi. Kivy supports multi-touch gestures, mouse and keyboard inputs, making it ideal for modern interactive applications.

Interesting Facts about Kivy

1. Cross-platform Support: Kivy allows you to create applications that run consistently on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, reducing development time for multiple platforms.
2. Touch and Gesture Ready: Kivy fully supports multitouch, gestures and mobile-friendly interactions, making it ideal for modern touch-based applications.
3. Rapid Prototyping: Quickly design and test interactive user interfaces, allowing developers to experiment with ideas and see results in real-time.
4. KV Design Language: Use Kivy’s declarative KV language to define layouts and widgets separately from logic, making code cleaner and easier to maintain.
5. Consistent Look: Applications have a similar appearance across different platforms, yet the interface remains fully customizable to match your design preferences.

Getting Started

Learn the basics to get started with Kivy, including installation, setup and running your first application.

• What is Kivy?
• Installation of Kivy
• Hello World in Kivy

Widgets

Widgets represents all interactive elements like buttons, labels, sliders and inputs. This section covers most commonly used widgets, how to customize them and how to combine them to create functional interfaces.

• Label Widget
• TextInput Widget
• Canvas
• Checkbox
• Dropdown List
• Slider
• Switch
• Spinner
• Progress Bar
• ScrollView
• Carousel

Buttons

Buttons in Kivy trigger actions and can be fully customized for appearance and behavior. Here you’ll learn how to create buttons, handle click events, adjust colors, sizes and even use images as buttons for interactive UIs.

• Basic Button
• Button Action
• Button Color
• Button Size
• Disable Button
• Image Button

Layouts

Layouts control the organization of widgets within an application. This section teaches how to arrange widgets using different layouts, ensuring your interface is structured and responsive across devices.

• BoxLayout
• GridLayout
• StackLayout
• FloatLayout
• AnchorLayout
• PageLayout
• Nested Layouts

KV Design Language

KV language provides a declarative way to define your Kivy UI, separating logic from presentation. This section shows how to create widgets, layouts, animations and screens using KV files.

• Kivy .kv File
• Popup widget using .kv file
• Buttons in Kivy with .kv file
• Toggle button using .kv file
• AnchorLayout using .kv file
• FloatLayout using .kv file
• Canvas using .kv file
• ScreenManager using .kv file
• Animation using .kv file

Projects

Here you’ll find tutorials on drawing apps, calculators, stopwatches and more, applying widgets, layouts and KV language in real-world scenarios.

• Simple window using kivy
• Ellipse (different polygons)
• Vkeyboard (virtual keyboard)
• Creating a Drawing App in kivy
• Calculator using kivy
• Stopwatch Using Clock Object in kivy

Applications of Kivy

Kivy is widely used for creating interactive and cross-platform applications:

• Mobile Apps: Games, productivity, or utilities for Android and iOS.
• Desktop Applications: GUI tools for Windows, macOS and Linux.
• Prototyping: Quickly test UI ideas with touch-friendly interfaces.
• Data Visualization: Custom dashboards with interactive widgets.
• Educational Tools: Apps for learning, drawing and simulations.
• Kiosk and Embedded Systems: Interactive displays for Raspberry Pi and touch panels.