No GitHub app on GitHub?

[theromansufi]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Android

Body

Hi there, 👋

I have been wondering why the GitHub android app is not available anywhere, except the Play Store. Surely, the GitHub app would be open-source, and hence be avaliable to download from a GitHub repo, right? I've tried to understand this but have failed.

Kindly advise, Thank you!

[AhmadHassan-BTed]

See, GitHub is the home for open-source code, so a lot of people naturally assume that GitHub's own products are open-source too.

The official GitHub Mobile app is completely closed-source and proprietary.

While GitHub hosts millions of open-source projects, the actual codebase for GitHub itself (including their own website backend, Copilot, and their official iOS/Android apps) is private. They keep it closed-source to protect their internal security, APIs, and intellectual property.

Because it isn't an open-source project, they don't have a public repository for it, and they don't distribute raw APK files via GitHub Releases. The only official place they distribute the app is through the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store

Note: It belongs to Microsoft