Unable to change branch name for edit commits

[DrJacobHolden]

When editing through the GitHub mobile app I am only able to commit to DrJacobHolden-Patch-1.

I can see this generated branch name but I am unable to edit it.

If the branch already exists or has been deleted I am not able to save any changes as the process to recreate this duplicate branch fails.

ℹ️ Additional Debug Info

GitHub for iOS, Version 1.172.0 (138201153) Device: iPad16,3 (iOS 17.5.1)

[taki-on]

@DrJacobHolden thank you for sharing the issue. We currently do not support editing branch name when creating a new branch while editing a file. I will create an issue to track this and discuss it with the design team. Thanks!

[skipishere]

Any progress on this? Seems like quite a big miss and something that should be easy to add, makes editing a file in the mobile app a bit unhelpful

[jbvillegas]

Dear DrJacobHolden,

The reason why you are encountering this issue is because the GitHub iOS app auto-generates one fixed branch name per user, such as "-patch-1" for commits you cannot push directly and there is no field to rename it before committing. You must check if this branch still exits as an open PR or leftover branch, or if it was deleted but not fully cleaned up on GitHub's side, causing recreating to fail silently.

Try to follow the following steps to fix the issue:

1. Check for existing branch/PR: Go to github.com (browser, not app), then repo, and then to branches. If you find something like "DrJacobHolden-Patch-1":
   - Open the PR tied to it, merge or close it and then delete the branch.
   - No PR, just orphaned branch, delete it directly from the branches page.
2. Retry commit in app after the branch is gone because the name is hardcoded.
3. If deleted branch still blocks the recreation: It means it is a GitHub sync issue. Hence, you must wait a few minutes and then retry, if it keeps happening, it means it is not fixable.
4. If NONE of this works, file a ticket with GitHub Support with the debug info as-is.

I hope this information was helpful and you get to fix your issue. Please let me know if you have more questions I might be able to assist you.

Best,
Joaquin.