Documentation is a tree of Markdown with code samples, diagrams, equations and the occasional PDF — which is very close to the shape FoldRender already reads. This is the procedure for turning a docs repository into something you can read properly on an unfolded phone, including offline, and the navigation habits that make a large docs tree usable on a small device.
FoldRender is on the Play Store as FoldRender: Git Repo Reader, package id dev.foldrender.app, free and distributed worldwide. Install it the ordinary way — no allow installs from this source prompt to approve, and updates arrive on their own. The app declares minSdk 30, so it needs Android 11 or newer; Play will tell you if a device is below that rather than letting you install a build that cannot run.
Most projects keep their docs in the repository, usually under docs/. Open the git panel with the branch glyph, paste the HTTPS URL into Clone an HTTPS repository URL and tap Clone. Public repositories clone anonymously. If the docs live in their own repository, clone that one — it will be far smaller and list far faster than the code repository.
The first tree listing of a large repository takes a long time and shows only a spinner with no progress indicator; on roughly 4,600 files it is a real wait. A docs-only repository is usually small enough that this does not arise, which is a good reason to clone the docs repository rather than the monorepo when there is a choice.
In the Files tab, expand docs/. Directories list their children lazily as you expand them, each row showing its own small spinner while it loads. Files hidden by the repository's .gitignore — a built site directory, for instance — stay out of the way, with a Show ignored chip if you need them.
Tap a Markdown file and it renders in the right pane. A small floating button in the bottom-right corner opens the outline sheet: the page's top-level headings, with the one you are inside emphasised, tap to scroll there. On a long API reference this is the difference between reading and hunting.
The text-size icon opens the Reading sheet. Line width runs 480 dp to 1200 dp, Text size 80% to 160%, Theme is System / Light / Dark, and there is a serif switch. Narrowing the line is what makes an unfolded screen comfortable for a long documentation page rather than merely large.
The magnifier in the top bar finds within the open page, with a live match counter. The Search tab in the left pane greps the entire docs tree — literal or regex — streaming results as path:line rows with a preview, tap to open at that line. For documentation this is usually the more useful of the two: the question is normally “which page mentions this”.
Fenced code blocks are highlighted with a language label and a Copy code button. ```mermaid fences and $…$ / $$…$$ math render inline; tapping a diagram opens it full-screen with pinch zoom. Callouts written as > [!WARNING], footnotes, wiki links and YAML front matter all render as themselves rather than as quoted source.
Once cloned, everything above works with no connection — including diagrams and equations, which render from mermaid and KaTeX bundled in the APK with the rendering WebView's network access blocked. Only Pull, to catch up with upstream docs, needs a connection.
A docs folder browses as a file tree with the page on the right, which is the shape documentation actually has — as opposed to a search box and a hope. Scroll position is kept per document, so moving between three pages and back does not lose your place in any of them.
Specs, RFCs and vendor datasheets checked into a repository open in the same pane with a page counter and a tap-to-jump thumbnail strip. So do CSV data files, JSON and YAML configs, and images including SVG.
Markdown gets an Export sheet: Print / Save as PDF through the Android print framework, Share as HTML as one self-contained file with fonts, math, diagrams and images inlined as data URIs, or Share as PNG as a single tall image.
The honest list — shipped-but-unverified behaviour included, so you can tell before installing whether this build does the thing you came for.
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 at the foot of this page — nothing is rounded up for effect.
0.8.2, build 16, last reviewed on 27 August 2026.minSdk 30 — the API level Android 11 shipped with in 2020 — compiled and targeted against API 36.The primary documents behind the figures above, so you can confirm any of them without taking our word for it.
git-clone reference — the operation the app's clone button performs, in the words of the project that defines itminSdk names as its floorPage last reviewed 2026-08-27, against FoldRender 0.8.2.