GitHub Mobile App for Users to Check Code

The GitHub is a major platform used today for version control and uploading open-source code for all. It is used by millions of users worldwide for maintaining their projects, uploading and reviewing code from anywhere and anytime, keeping track of the changes and timeline of all the modifications. Microsoft took the opportunity to acquire this company and now it is handling all its operations.

The First Android App was Announced for JellyBean

GitHub was doing great back in its day when Android was just starting to get a hold of the market. In 2012 when the Android market was on the surge and JellyBean was on all the devices, it announced the release of its Android app?on PlayStore. It was free to download where you could browse your code. It supported working with Issues and Gists. It also had an integrated news feed to keep up to date with your organizations, friends, and repositories.

It had a dashboard for quick access and you could see all you created, watched, assigned, and issues, also, your bookmarks, labels, milestones and more. The GitHub Android App was also built on top of great open-source projects themselves.

However, it was not available for iOS users back then. And, with changing scenarios and so much of different simply using the same stuff would be insufficient and incompatible with today’s Android versions and devices. Thus, a change, of course, was needed and Microsoft took this in its charge.

Changing Course Some 7 Years Later

Now, when Microsoft has the reigns of the company and it has delivered to the users again, though not completely baked in the ?Beta? form. Today, GitHub has grown to become the world’s leading collaborative platform and others like BitBucket and Atlassian are way behind in this race and would never be able to catch up either. The platform has got a revamp with Microsoft releasing its new GitHub Mobile for both Android and iOS at the same time.

This time, around 7 years later, there are lots of cool stuff added to the app. The app is also completely new in terms of interface and controls. Of course, this is not for coding or deploying but it is suitable for all the things the app was intended for in 2012 release. But, with several new features added in these years, your productivity can be increased significantly when you have it on the go. Also, with smartphone screens having a real-estate much larger than in 2012, you can do it with less stress on your eyes.

It is Lightweight and Yet Feature-Packed

This app is light on data and is built on top of open-source projects. It allows users to get all the information they need at a glance. The eventual plan for the app is to allow and facilitate the development of projects and help product managers and developers to stay on the same page. This is made simpler with the app so that they can keep in touch regardless of where they are and on what device they are working with. A smartphone is with everybody today, and so GitHub Mobile can be accessed anytime.

The user interface of the iOS and Android are both similar so that you don’t find it difficult when switching from your mobile to tablet or between work and personal smartphones if you use different devices for example at work and home. With Microsoft taking charge the full-featured app has been updated and rebooted with a dedicated team of developers. This means constant updates and support too. In contrast to the 2012 release which was a community-based effort, this is now owned and directed entirely by Microsoft, both for iOS and Android. Also, the iOS app saw the release only for the 1st time since the 11 years GitHub has been around only growing every day since. This helped Microsoft gain access to huge demographics, somewhere in millions, of iOS users that were out of the loop and also millions of users who joined later or had no idea that the app was on PlayStore back in 2012. For everyone, this was a remarkable thing and was more than welcome.

The App is Still in Beta Mode with Android Release Soon

You can get the world’s largest collaborative platform in your pocket. Just browse to this website and check for downloads. You can sign up here to test the Beta version of this app and when the actual app will be released on the App Store and Play Store respectively, you will get notified, the exact dates have not been announced by Microsoft, but we can speculate it to be in months.

Also, a fun fact, the app was presumably in development before the acquisition, so it can be speculated that it was developed on top of the 2012 version that was already there. GitHub has a strong legacy starting with Git that was released by Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux for version control. It allowed him to work on projects with developers across the world and not miss a thing. Who made what change? When was the change made? Which is a recent version? Which lines of code were changed? These were the main motivation for the platform that we all love so much now.

Pros

• The Beta version is available now and you have to sign up for testing it.
• It is feature-packed and lightweight.

Cons

• Only iOS version of Beta testing is available.
• You have the chance to join the Android beta waiting list now.

Final Thoughts

The GitHub Mobile aims to bring the same spirit of using GitHub on the small screens, and in contrast, where people use 24? screens to code, this would be really small. But, it allows you to get all the tools right in your pocket so your app developers can do some urgent work when needed. In all, a great tool for developers, coders, and anyone who loves to do cool things with programming and share them with the world.