 <p>If you are using the new support library for 5.1 in android studio, you can instead use this on your AppCompatActivity</p> <pre><code> ActionBar actionBar = getSupportActionBar(); actionBar.setHomeButtonEnabled(true); actionBar.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true); actionBar.setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.mipmap.ic_arrow_back_white_24dp); actionBar.setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(true); </code></pre> <p>cheers.</p>