Implementing Pull to Refresh for RecyclerView

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

//...

dependencies {
    // ...
    compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:25.3.1'
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        // add below
        maven { url "https://maven.google.com" }
    }
}

<android.support.v4.widget.SwipeRefreshLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/swipeContainer"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

  <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
      android:id="@+id/rvItems"
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
      android:layout_alignParentTop="true" />

</android.support.v4.widget.SwipeRefreshLayout>

public class TimelineActivity extends Activity {
    private SwipeRefreshLayout swipeContainer;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        // Only ever call `setContentView` once right at the top
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        // Lookup the swipe container view
        swipeContainer = (SwipeRefreshLayout) findViewById(R.id.swipeContainer);
        // Setup refresh listener which triggers new data loading
        swipeContainer.setOnRefreshListener(new SwipeRefreshLayout.OnRefreshListener() {
            @Override
            public void onRefresh() {
                // Your code to refresh the list here.
                // Make sure you call swipeContainer.setRefreshing(false)
                // once the network request has completed successfully.
                fetchTimelineAsync(0);
            } 
        });
        // Configure the refreshing colors
        swipeContainer.setColorSchemeResources(android.R.color.holo_blue_bright, 
                android.R.color.holo_green_light, 
                android.R.color.holo_orange_light, 
                android.R.color.holo_red_light);
    }

    public void fetchTimelineAsync(int page) {
        // Send the network request to fetch the updated data
        // `client` here is an instance of Android Async HTTP
        // getHomeTimeline is an example endpoint.
        client.getHomeTimeline(new JsonHttpResponseHandler() {
            public void onSuccess(JSONArray json) {
                // Remember to CLEAR OUT old items before appending in the new ones
                adapter.clear();
                // ...the data has come back, add new items to your adapter...
                adapter.addAll(...);
                // Now we call setRefreshing(false) to signal refresh has finished
                swipeContainer.setRefreshing(false);
            }

            public void onFailure(Throwable e) {
                Log.d("DEBUG", "Fetch timeline error: " + e.toString());
            }
        });
    }
}

References
http://guides.codepath.com/android/implementing-pull-to-refresh-guide