 <p>RecyclerView setLayoutManager expects RecyclerView.LayoutManager type as input so change</p> <pre><code>final LinearLayoutManager layoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this); </code></pre> <p>with</p> <pre><code>final RecyclerView.LayoutManager layoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this); </code></pre> <p>and remove </p> <pre><code>layoutManager.setOrientation(LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL); layoutManager.generateDefaultLayoutParams(); </code></pre> <p>take a look at developer page for proper usage <a href="http://developer.android.com/training/material/lists-cards.html" rel="nofollow">http://developer.android.com/training/material/lists-cards.html</a></p>