A native document renderer and on-device git client — the reading half of a laptop-free development loop. Browse a repository, render everything in it, and clone it straight to the phone. Unfolded: file tree left, document right.
A document renderer for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 — the reading half of a laptop-free development loop.
Markdown in a WebView takes an afternoon. Then text selection is the browser's, theming is a stylesheet fight, and every fold is a full page reflow. FoldRender parses to a block list instead.
configChanges covers every axis; scroll never movesCommonMark + GFM: tables with alignment, task lists, strikethrough, autolinks and YAML front matter — plus mermaid, LaTeX and callouts.
Syntax-highlighted blocks with a copy button and horizontal scroll. Images resolve against relative paths in the document.
An on-device git client. clone and pull are verified on a clean device; diff, commit and push ship in the build but are unverified. Optional Sign in with GitHub via device flow.
Unfolded, a two-pane layout: file tree left, document right. An outline pane appears when there's width, a bottom sheet when there isn't.
Theme, text size, line width and a serif toggle. Per-document scroll position, restored on reopen. Links stay tappable inside a selection.
Registers for markdown, plain text and the share sheet — so Files, Drive, GitHub and Termux all offer FoldRender.
No more bouncing between a markdown app, a code viewer, an office viewer and a PDF reader. One native surface for the whole repository.
Four apps people actually reach for, and the one axis that separates them: whether the repository ends up on the phone, and whether anything renders it once it is there.
| Tool | Download price | Where you get it | Clones to the device | Renders PDF / notebook / Markdown | Editor or shell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FoldRender 0.8.2 | US$0 | Google Play, worldwide | Yes — HTTPS, anonymous for public repos | Yes — native Compose renderers | No, deliberately: a reader, not an IDE |
| GitHub Mobile | US$0 | Google Play and the App Store | No — it reads repositories hosted on GitHub | Only what GitHub itself renders, online | Edits files inside a pull request |
| Termux + git | US$0 | F-Droid or GitHub | Yes — the real git CLI | No — terminal text only | Yes, a full shell and any CLI editor |
| MGit 1.7.0 (2023) | US$0 | F-Droid only | Yes — clone, pull, push, HTTPS or SSH keys | No | No — its own listing says it ships no text editor |
Prices are for the download. GitHub Mobile's capabilities follow your GitHub plan; Termux and MGit are both free software. MGit's version and date are from its F-Droid listing.
Every figure here is read out of the shipping build or off a primary source listed below — nothing is rounded up for effect.
The primary documents behind the figures above, so you can confirm any of them without taking our word for it.
Page last reviewed 2026-08-27, against FoldRender 0.8.2.
It's built for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and other large foldables. Unfolded it shows a file tree on the left and the rendered document on the right; folded it collapses to a single reading column. It runs on any modern Android device — the two-pane layout simply appears when there's width for it.
A WebView makes text selection the browser's, turns theming into a stylesheet fight, and reflows the whole page on every fold. FoldRender parses markdown to a block list that feeds a LazyColumn, so a 5 MB document only composes what's on screen and folding the device is a pure relayout — the activity never restarts and scroll position never moves.
The build contains those controls — a Commit message field, a Push to origin after committing checkbox and a Commit & push button — and nobody has run that path end to end, so we will not tell you it works. What is verified on a clean device is clone, pull and read; treat that as the supported loop today. The git client guide lists which parts are which.
It's free — no ads, no in-app purchases. Install it from Google Play. No account is required to read.
Yes — FoldRender: Git Repo Reader is live on Google Play under the package id dev.foldrender.app, distributed worldwide. Play is the only distribution channel, so updates arrive on their own rather than waiting for you to fetch a file.
Markdown (tables, task lists, front matter, mermaid, LaTeX, callouts), syntax-highlighted source, JSON, YAML, TOML, CSV, Word documents, Excel workbooks, draw.io diagrams, zip and tar archives, images, PDF, HTML, plain logs and Jupyter notebooks.
Android 11 and newer. The app declares minSdk 30 — the API level Android 11 shipped with in 2020 — and is compiled and targeted against API 36. It is developed and tested on a Galaxy Z Fold 7, which launched in 2025.
Install FoldRender, tap the branch glyph in the top bar, paste an HTTPS URL into Clone an HTTPS repository URL, and tap Clone. A public repository needs no account and no token. The clone lands in app-private storage and opens as the workspace. The git clone guide walks the whole procedure.
Yes, once a repository is on the device. Cloning and pulling need the network; reading, searching and rendering out of a clone or a picked folder do not. Signing in to GitHub is optional and only matters for private repositories.
GitHub Mobile reads repositories hosted on GitHub and does not clone to the phone. Termux and MGit both clone and then leave rendering to you — Termux gives you a shell, MGit ships no text editor at all. FoldRender clones over HTTPS and renders what it clones.