TabLayout : Set custom color for each tab

You can work with TabLayout internals by querying for this children and changing TextViews manually. This can break your code when you upgrade to another support library version, but as long as you keep track and test when updating, it should work:

private void updateTabTextColors() {
    LinearLayout tabsContainer = (LinearLayout) mTabLayout.getChildAt(0);
    for (int i = 0; i < mTabLayout.getTabCount(); i++) {
        LinearLayout item = (LinearLayout) tabsContainer.getChildAt(i);
        TextView tv = (TextView) item.getChildAt(1);
        tv.setTextColor(Select[i] == -1 ? Color.BLACK : Color.BLUE);
    }
}

Just enhancing Marcelo Liberato's answer to support custom background for each tab item.

    LinearLayout tabsContainer = (LinearLayout) mTabLayout.getChildAt(0);
    LinearLayout childLayout1 = (LinearLayout)tabsContainer.getChildAt(2);
    LinearLayout childLayout2 = (LinearLayout)tabsContainer.getChildAt(3);

    LinearLayout tabView = (LinearLayout) childLayout1.getChildAt(0).getParent();
    tabView.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.ic_blue_selector);

    tabView = (LinearLayout) childLayout2.getChildAt(0).getParent();
    tabView.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.ic_red_selector);

Custom xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:id="@+id/ll_tab_holder"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/ll_tab_icon_title_holder"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/tab_icon"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:scaleType="fitCenter" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tab_title"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:textAppearance="@style/lasuCustomTabText" />
    </LinearLayout>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tab_only_title"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="56dp"
        android:textAllCaps="true"
        android:textSize="12sp"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:textColor="@drawable/ic_tab_text_color_selector" />
</LinearLayout>

Output: