diff --git a/mobile/android/base/moz.build b/mobile/android/base/moz.build
index c3fb48d0e51..bc5f00adbd5 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/moz.build
+++ b/mobile/android/base/moz.build
@@ -415,6 +415,7 @@ gbjar.sources += [
     'widget/DoorHanger.java',
     'widget/EllipsisTextView.java',
     'widget/FaviconView.java',
+    'widget/FloatingHintEditText.java',
     'widget/FlowLayout.java',
     'widget/GeckoActionProvider.java',
     'widget/GeckoPopupMenu.java',
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/resources/color/floating_hint_text.xml b/mobile/android/base/resources/color/floating_hint_text.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dcec219f4c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mobile/android/base/resources/color/floating_hint_text.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
+    <!-- Holo blue for focus -->
+    <item android:state_focused="true" android:color="@color/text_color_hint_floating_focused" />
+
+    <!-- Default gray for all other states -->
+    <item android:color="@color/text_color_hint"/>
+</selector>
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/resources/values-v11/themes.xml b/mobile/android/base/resources/values-v11/themes.xml
index 42c207926be..a2f034ab434 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/resources/values-v11/themes.xml
+++ b/mobile/android/base/resources/values-v11/themes.xml
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
         <item name="android:actionModeCopyDrawable">@drawable/ab_copy</item>
         <item name="android:actionModePasteDrawable">@drawable/ab_paste</item>
         <item name="android:actionModeSelectAllDrawable">@drawable/ab_select_all</item>
+        <item name="floatingHintEditTextStyle">@style/FloatingHintEditText</item>
     </style>
 
 </resources>
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/resources/values/attrs.xml b/mobile/android/base/resources/values/attrs.xml
index deff0790a5e..0c27b8751dd 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/resources/values/attrs.xml
+++ b/mobile/android/base/resources/values/attrs.xml
@@ -244,5 +244,9 @@
         <attr name="ellipsizeAtLine" format="integer"/>
     </declare-styleable>
 
+    <declare-styleable name="FloatingHintEditText">
+        <attr name="floatingHintEditTextStyle" format="reference" />
+    </declare-styleable>
+
 </resources>
 
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/resources/values/colors.xml b/mobile/android/base/resources/values/colors.xml
index a4ec2edd134..58b43352e1f 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/resources/values/colors.xml
+++ b/mobile/android/base/resources/values/colors.xml
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
   <!-- Hint colors -->
   <color name="text_color_hint">#666666</color>
   <color name="text_color_hint_inverse">#7F828A</color>
+  <color name="text_color_hint_floating_focused">#33b5e5</color>
 
   <!-- Highlight colors -->
   <color name="text_color_highlight">#FF9500</color>
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/resources/values/styles.xml b/mobile/android/base/resources/values/styles.xml
index 8d2a7e53e4d..76a4a54f2ba 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/resources/values/styles.xml
+++ b/mobile/android/base/resources/values/styles.xml
@@ -684,4 +684,8 @@
         <item name="android:minHeight">@dimen/menu_item_row_height</item>
     </style>
 
+    <style name="FloatingHintEditText" parent="android:style/Widget.EditText">
+        <item name="android:paddingTop">0dp</item>
+    </style>
+
 </resources>
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/resources/values/themes.xml b/mobile/android/base/resources/values/themes.xml
index 6a3430d4b34..0033cf8cbc2 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/resources/values/themes.xml
+++ b/mobile/android/base/resources/values/themes.xml
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@
         <item name="menuItemActionBarStyle">@style/Widget.MenuItemActionBar</item>
         <item name="menuItemActionModeStyle">@style/GeckoActionBar.Button</item>
         <item name="menuItemShareActionButtonStyle">@style/Widget.MenuItemSecondaryActionBar</item>
+        <item name="floatingHintEditTextStyle">@style/FloatingHintEditText</item>
     </style>
 
     <style name="Gecko.Preferences" parent="GeckoPreferencesBase"/>
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/widget/FloatingHintEditText.java b/mobile/android/base/widget/FloatingHintEditText.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2a87c314666
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mobile/android/base/widget/FloatingHintEditText.java
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+/* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+ * License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+ * file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */
+
+package org.mozilla.gecko.widget;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.res.ColorStateList;
+import android.graphics.Canvas;
+import android.graphics.Color;
+import android.graphics.Paint;
+import android.graphics.Paint.FontMetricsInt;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+import android.util.AttributeSet;
+import android.widget.EditText;
+
+import org.mozilla.gecko.R;
+
+public class FloatingHintEditText extends EditText {
+    private static enum Animation { NONE, SHRINK, GROW }
+    private static final float HINT_SCALE = 0.6f;
+    private static final int ANIMATION_STEPS = 6;
+
+    private final Paint floatingHintPaint = new Paint();
+    private final ColorStateList floatingHintColors;
+    private final ColorStateList normalHintColors;
+    private final int defaultFloatingHintColor;
+    private final int defaultNormalHintColor;
+
+    private boolean wasEmpty;
+
+    private int animationFrame;
+    private Animation animation = Animation.NONE;
+
+    public FloatingHintEditText(Context context) {
+        this(context, null);
+    }
+
+    public FloatingHintEditText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
+        this(context, attrs, R.attr.floatingHintEditTextStyle);
+    }
+
+    public FloatingHintEditText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
+        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
+
+        floatingHintColors = getResources().getColorStateList(R.color.floating_hint_text);
+        normalHintColors = getHintTextColors();
+        defaultFloatingHintColor = floatingHintColors.getDefaultColor();
+        defaultNormalHintColor = normalHintColors.getDefaultColor();
+        wasEmpty = TextUtils.isEmpty(getText());
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getCompoundPaddingTop() {
+        final FontMetricsInt metrics = getPaint().getFontMetricsInt();
+        final int floatingHintHeight = (int) ((metrics.bottom - metrics.top) * HINT_SCALE);
+        return super.getCompoundPaddingTop() + floatingHintHeight;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void onTextChanged(CharSequence text, int start, int lengthBefore, int lengthAfter) {
+        super.onTextChanged(text, start, lengthBefore, lengthAfter);
+
+        final boolean isEmpty = TextUtils.isEmpty(getText());
+
+        // The empty state hasn't changed, so the hint stays the same.
+        if (wasEmpty == isEmpty) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        wasEmpty = isEmpty;
+
+        // Don't animate if we aren't visible.
+        if (!isShown()) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (isEmpty) {
+            animation = Animation.GROW;
+
+            // The TextView will show a hint since the field is empty, but since we're animating
+            // from the floating hint, we don't want the normal hint to appear yet. We set it to
+            // transparent here, then restore the hint color after the animation has finished.
+            setHintTextColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
+        } else {
+            animation = Animation.SHRINK;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {
+        super.onDraw(canvas);
+
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(getHint())) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final boolean isAnimating = (animation != Animation.NONE);
+
+        // The large hint is drawn by Android, so do nothing.
+        if (!isAnimating && TextUtils.isEmpty(getText())) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final Paint paint = getPaint();
+        final float hintPosX = getCompoundPaddingLeft() + getScrollX();
+        final float normalHintPosY = getBaseline();
+        final float floatingHintPosY = normalHintPosY + paint.getFontMetricsInt().top + getScrollY();
+        final float normalHintSize = getTextSize();
+        final float floatingHintSize = normalHintSize * HINT_SCALE;
+        final int[] stateSet = getDrawableState();
+        final int floatingHintColor = floatingHintColors.getColorForState(stateSet, defaultFloatingHintColor);
+
+        floatingHintPaint.set(paint);
+
+        // If we're not animating, we're showing the floating hint, so draw it and bail.
+        if (!isAnimating) {
+            drawHint(canvas, floatingHintSize, floatingHintColor, hintPosX, floatingHintPosY);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        // We are animating, so draw the linearly interpolated frame.
+        final int normalHintColor = normalHintColors.getColorForState(stateSet, defaultNormalHintColor);
+        if (animation == Animation.SHRINK) {
+            drawAnimationFrame(canvas, normalHintSize, floatingHintSize,
+                    hintPosX, normalHintPosY, floatingHintPosY, normalHintColor, floatingHintColor);
+        } else {
+            drawAnimationFrame(canvas, floatingHintSize, normalHintSize,
+                    hintPosX, floatingHintPosY, normalHintPosY, floatingHintColor, normalHintColor);
+        }
+
+        animationFrame++;
+
+        if (animationFrame == ANIMATION_STEPS) {
+            // After the grow animation has finished, restore the normal TextView hint color that we
+            // removed in our onTextChanged listener.
+            if (animation == Animation.GROW) {
+                setHintTextColor(normalHintColors);
+            }
+
+            animation = Animation.NONE;
+            animationFrame = 0;
+        }
+
+        invalidate();
+    }
+
+    private void drawAnimationFrame(Canvas canvas, float fromSize, float toSize,
+                                    float hintPosX, float fromY, float toY, int fromColor, int toColor) {
+        final float textSize = lerp(fromSize, toSize);
+        final float hintPosY = lerp(fromY, toY);
+        final int color = Color.rgb((int) lerp(Color.red(fromColor), Color.red(toColor)),
+                                    (int) lerp(Color.green(fromColor), Color.green(toColor)),
+                                    (int) lerp(Color.blue(fromColor), Color.blue(toColor)));
+        drawHint(canvas, textSize, color, hintPosX, hintPosY);
+    }
+
+    private void drawHint(Canvas canvas, float textSize, int color, float x, float y) {
+        floatingHintPaint.setTextSize(textSize);
+        floatingHintPaint.setColor(color);
+        canvas.drawText(getHint().toString(), x, y, floatingHintPaint);
+    }
+
+    private float lerp(float from, float to) {
+        final float alpha = (float) animationFrame / (ANIMATION_STEPS - 1);
+        return from * (1 - alpha) + to * alpha;
+    }
+}