I am using a TabHost which has 3 tabs. Each tab has a image + text. spec = tabHost.newTabSpec("MyTasks") .setIndicator(Html.fromHtml("<b><H2>My Tasks</H2></b>"), getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.task )) .setContent(intent); tabHost.addTab(spec); I want to change image when I select a tab. I used following code to change it ... TabWidget tw = getTabWidget(); View leftTabView = tw.getChildAt(0); leftTabView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.tab1_drawable)); tab1_drawable is a xml (selector and items for each state). THIS IS SETTING AND CHANGING BACKGROUND NOT THE IMAGE I SET. How can I change it?