During its annual Universe conference, GitHub announced new native mobile apps for Android and iOS alongside several new features.
GitHub first launched an Android app back in 2012 before pulling it from the Play Store in 2015. GitHub’s new app is coming to iOS first this time with a beta already available. An Android version will be launched at a later date.
The new app probably won’t support full code editing, but developers will be able to perform everyday functions like providing feedback in discussions, merge code changes, view files, and see their notifications.
While the iOS and Android apps should be the same as far as functionality goes, there are definitely differences between using the app on a phone versus a tablet. Thanks to the iPad’s larger screen, users will be able to view more content and review even more code within the app. It will also support a few of the GitHub website’s keyboard shortcuts if an external keyboard is attached.
GitHub is also improving the experience to prevent people who are part of a team from being overwhelmed. Filters are now available for notifications in addition to an “inbox” right inside the service to prevent your email account from being spammed. Another feature, enables things such as setting up scheduled reminders for pending code reviews.
Another new feature is the improved code search. The new search can match things such as special characters and casing, among other things. This is also in limited preview but should roll-out to all users in the next few months.
Finally, when you request a team’s review on a pull request, you can now specify how many members of the team need to add their review. The new code review assignment feature will assign them directly.
The iOS beta is currently live, and the Android beta is a wait-list. Interested developers can sign up for the iOS beta here or join the Android beta wait-list here.
