The iOS version of the GitHub app was in the beta for just under six months, while the Android version was in the beta for just under two months. As of today, Microsoft has actually released the original version of the app in full on both platforms.
Unofficial versions of GitHub had been available on the platform for some time, but until the release of a proprietary universal mobile app, it didn’t come for years. It wasn’t until eleven years after it was founded in 2008 that it was announced in November 2019 that a mobile version for both iOS and Android was on its way. iOS was immediately given a beta, and the Android version followed a few months later.
Microsoft bought GitHub in mid-2018 for almost seven billion euros, after which the more than forty million users made their projects under Microsoft as owner.
The release of the mobile version comes at a favorable time for developers, given the large number of homeworkers at the moment, due to the coronavirus. In addition, the release of the official GitHub app comes with a number of useful features, including sorting tasks using a single swipe, being able to post responses to raised issues, and merging requests.
During the months that the GitHub betas were in use, the creators haven’t been idle. According to Ryan Nystrom, director of engineering, over two hundred bugs have been fixed. Sixty thousand testers made that possible. A roadmap with upcoming features for GitHub will be published in the coming months.