set
android:elevation attribute and View.setElevation() method are supported since Lollipop. ViewCompat version of setElevation() method is available, but currently doesn't have any effect on pre-Lollipop devices. Also, requesting android:elevation attribute value gives some unpredicted values on some Kitkat-based Samsung devices (see https://github.com/airbnb/paris/issues/73). That's why we're parsing android:elevation attribute only when running Lollipop and use View.setElevation() for now.