Set no item pre-selected in Bottom Navigation view

If anyone interested in a nice Kotlin solution, here's mine:

//disable the preselected first item
//<navigation> is the bottom navigation view

navigation.menu.getItem(0).isCheckable=false

Then in the selection listener, make sure that you'll show the user what he selected

BottomNavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener { item: MenuItem ->
        when (item.itemId) {

            R.id.option1 -> {
                item.isCheckable=true //here is the magic

                //notify the listener
                return@OnNavigationItemSelectedListener true
            }
            R.id.option2 ->{
               item.isCheckable=true

                //notify the listener
                return@OnNavigationItemSelectedListener true
            }
            R.id.option3 ->{
                //go to forgot user fragment
                item.isCheckable=true

                //notify the listener
                return@OnNavigationItemSelectedListener true
            }

            else -> false
        }


    }

Finally , make a selector color so you can change easily in color

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_checked="true"
      android:color="@color/colorAccent" />
<item android:color="@color/colorPrimary"  />

And add the selector to the navigation view

 app:itemIconTint="@color/navigation_colors"
 app:itemTextColor="@color/navigation_colors"

Now, if you need to change the colours, just change the selector.

Not sure about the proper way to achieve this but a work around will help-

1. setCheckable(false) for first item

   navigation.getMenu().getItem(0).setCheckable(false);

2. item.setCheckable(true) inside onNavigationItemSelected()

   public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
   
   switch (item.getItemId()) {
       case R.id.navigation_home:
           item.setCheckable(true);
           mTextMessage.setText(R.string.title_home);
           return true;
     }
     return false;
   }
   

XML Code

<group android:checkableBehavior="single">
    <item              android:id="@+id/nav_item1" />
    <item              android:id="@+id/nav_item2" />
    <item              android:id="@+id/nav_item3" />
    <item              android:id="@+id/nav_item4" />
    <item
        android:id="@+id/nav_item5"
        android:icon="@drawable/icon_item5"
        android:title="Home"
        android:visible="false"/>
</group>

JAVA Code

bottomNavigationView.getMenu().getItem(4).setChecked(true);

bottomNavigationView.setOnNavigationItemSelectedListener(new BottomNavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener() {
            @Override
            public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(@NonNull MenuItem menuItem) {

            switch (menuItem.getItemId()) {
                case R.id.nav_item1:
                    return true;

                case R.id.nav_item2:
                    return true;

                case R.id.nav_item3:
                    return true;

                case R.id.nav_item4:
                    return true;
            }

            // Default operation you want to perform

            return false;
        }
    });

I came up with another solution

Just add one more item to your menu.xml file for example

This is my bottom_nav_menu.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_home"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_home_black_24dp"
        android:title="@string/home" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_cart"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_shopping_cart_black_24dp"
        android:title="@string/cart" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_wishlist"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_favorite_border_black_24dp"
        android:title="@string/wish_list" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/navigation_account"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_person_black_24dp"
        android:title="@string/account" />

    
    <!-- Our invisible item -->

    <item
        android:id="@+id/invisible"
        android:visible="false"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_person_black_24dp"
        android:title="@string/account" />

</menu>

Notice that I have added that item at last position and given it an id invisible and also set it's visibility to false.

Now, In the activity just set selected item id to this id like this

bottomNavMenu.setSelectedItemId(R.id.invisible);

Thanks