 <blockquote> <p>Is it possible to insert a character to the left of text</p> </blockquote> <p>You did so, in your code snippet in your question.</p> <blockquote> <p>I can change color/size of that character?</p> </blockquote> <p>You are welcome to wrap that character in <code>ForegroundColorSpan</code>, <code>RelativeSizeSpan</code>, etc., using a <code>SpannableString</code> instead of a regular string.</p> <p>Or, use a <code>BulletSpan</code> and skip the character, though I don't think you can control the size of the bullet.</p> <blockquote> <p>I can also create a custom drawable which is a "oval" shape of blue color but how can I insert that to the left of "my text" so that the effect is as below.</p> </blockquote> <p>Either use an <code>ImageSpan</code> or find a library that allows you to wrap text around an image in a <code>TextView</code> (I'm pretty sure there is one, though I'm not coming up with it on a quick search).</p>