FoldRender / Guides / Read CSV files as real tables on your phone
FoldRender guide

Read CSV files as real tables on your phone

A CSV opened in a text viewer on a phone is a wall of commas. FoldRender parses it and renders a table with a frozen header, row numbers and sortable columns. Here is how to open one, what the table does, and where the viewer stops.

Get it on Google Playfree See what FoldRender does

Step by step

  1. Install from Google Play

    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.

  2. Open the CSV

    From inside the app, tap the folder icon in the top bar to pick a file, or open a workspace and tap the row in the Files tab — CSV and TSV rows are badged CSV and TSV in green. From outside, tap the file in another app and choose Render: FoldRender registers for text/csv, text/comma-separated-values and text/tab-separated-values as well as for the .csv and .tsv extensions.

  3. Read the header line

    Above the table sits N rows × M columns, plus · truncated if the file hit the 32 MB limit. That is the first thing to check on an unfamiliar export — a column count that does not match what you expected usually means a delimiter or quoting problem upstream, and you can see it before scrolling a single row.

  4. Scroll without losing the header

    The header row is frozen and a row-number column runs down the left, so you can scroll deep into a file and still know which column you are looking at and which row. The table is virtualized: only visible rows are composed, and column widths are measured from a sample of the data rather than the whole file.

  5. Sort by tapping a column header

    Tapping a header sorts ascending and shows ; tapping again sorts descending and shows ; a third tap clears the sort and restores the file's own order. Sorting is numeric-aware — values that parse as numbers sort numerically and ahead of the ones that do not, so 42 comes before 100 instead of after it, and rows with a blank or non-numeric cell collect at the end instead of being scattered.

  6. Search inside the table

    The magnifier opens the find bar over the table, with the same current/total counter as any other document. Matching cells are located within the sorted view, so find and sort compose rather than fighting.

  7. Handle a TSV

    A .tsv file is parsed with tab forced as the delimiter rather than guessed, which is what you want for exports containing commas inside fields. Other files have their delimiter detected.

How FoldRender handles it

Data files beside the code that writes them

A CSV opens from the same tree as the script that produced it and the README that explains it. Fixtures, exports and small datasets stop being the files you cannot check on a phone.

The rest of the data formats too

JSON, YAML, TOML and lockfiles open as a collapsible tree with / expanders, child counts per node, a path breadcrumb and a Copy path button, with a Raw chip to get the original text back. A file that fails to parse says which format it failed as.

Two panes when there is room

Unfolded, the tree stays on the left and the table takes the right; folded, the table takes the whole screen — which is usually what you want with a wide table anyway.

What does FoldRender not do?

The honest list — shipped-but-unverified behaviour included, so you can tell before installing whether this build does the thing you came for.

How does FoldRender compare with the other ways to read a repo on Android?

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.

ToolDownload priceWhere you get itClones to the deviceRenders PDF / notebook / MarkdownEditor or shell
FoldRender 0.8.2US$0Google Play, worldwideYes — HTTPS, anonymous for public reposYes — native Compose renderersNo, deliberately: a reader, not an IDE
GitHub MobileUS$0Google Play and the App StoreNo — it reads repositories hosted on GitHubOnly what GitHub itself renders, onlineEdits files inside a pull request
Termux + gitUS$0F-Droid or GitHubYes — the real git CLINo — terminal text onlyYes, a full shell and any CLI editor
MGit 1.7.0 (2023)US$0F-Droid onlyYes — clone, pull, push, HTTPS or SSH keysNoNo — 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.

What are the numbers behind FoldRender?

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.

FAQ

Can FoldRender open CSV files on a phone?
Yes. CSV and TSV files render as a virtualized table with a frozen header row, row numbers and a header line giving the row and column counts, in the same tree-and-document view as the rest of a repository.
Can I sort the table?
Yes — tap a column header. First tap sorts ascending, second descending, third clears the sort. Sorting understands numbers, so numeric columns sort numerically rather than as strings.
Does it handle tab-separated files?
Yes. A .tsv file uses tab as the delimiter explicitly rather than by detection, which avoids the classic failure where a field containing a comma breaks the guess.
Does it handle other data formats?
JSON, YAML and TOML render as a collapsible tree with a copyable path breadcrumb and a raw view, and Cargo, Poetry, PDM and uv lockfiles are parsed as TOML. Configs, fixtures and data files in a repository are all readable in the one app.
Can I edit a cell?
No. FoldRender is a reader; there is no editing surface for any format.
What happens with a very large CSV?
Files over 32 MB are truncated with a visible banner, and the header marks the table as truncated. Below that limit the table is virtualized, so only the rows on screen are composed.
How much does FoldRender cost?
US$0. It is free on Google Play, distributed worldwide, with no billing library in the build, no subscription and no paid tier. The current release is version 0.8.2.
Which Android versions does FoldRender run on?
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.
Does FoldRender work offline?
Yes, once a repository is on the device. Cloning and pulling need the network; reading, searching, and rendering Markdown, source, PDFs and notebooks out of a clone or a picked folder do not. Signing in to GitHub is optional and only matters for private repositories.
How is this different from GitHub Mobile, Termux or MGit?
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, on the inner screen.

Where can I check these claims?

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.

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