This open-source app turned GitHub into my favorite Android app store
If you like using open-source apps on your Android phone, you likely visit GitHub on a regular basis, since it's the largest open-source app repository out there. But GitHub, in its default form, is anything but the best way to discover new apps and update the ones you already have on your phone, even if you have a GitHub account.
This is where GitHub Store comes to the rescue. It's an open-source app store for GitHub releases with a mobile-friendly design, offering a simple way to install and manage apps on your phone, as well as discover new ones right inside the store.
GitHub Store transforms GitHub into an Android app store
Play Store, but for GitHub releases
GitHub Store
GitHub Store is one of the best discoveries I've made this year. Instead of having to navigate GitHub's clunky, unintuitive user interface, which goes out of its way to make downloading and installing apps anything but fast, I can use GitHub Store, which turns the platform into a full-fledged alternative app marketplace .
I can browse trending and most popular apps, just like in any other app store. The store lets me quickly search through the apps installed on my phone, open and browse their GitHub pages, install older versions, and much more.
Another great thing GitHub Store does is bring all GitHub projects that offer Android installers under one umbrella. Instead of going out of your way to find out whether a certain project supports Android, just type its name into the search box, and you can see in seconds whether you can install it on your phone.
The search function is super helpful. I don't have to visit the open-source app platform in my phone's browser ever again. Instead, I can open GitHub Store, search for the app there, and browse its mobile-friendly page, which looks miles better than GitHub's mobile browser version.
All these changes turn GitHub into a user-friendly open-source Android app store optimized for discovering and downloading new apps. You no longer have to browse online forums and subreddits to find cool new projects—you can do it all right from the store. You can also manage the apps installed on your phone, delete or update them, check what new releases bring in just a few taps, and do all that without a GitHub account.
After you find a new app and tap on it, you're taken to its "store" page, which puts the download and installation buttons front and center. You can browse the release history, pick any version you want, choose between stable and "pre-release" builds (beta and nightly), comb through the Readme file and translate it into a variety of languages.
Another positive is that GitHub Store offers Obtainium integration, allowing you to add any app to the update manager in just a few taps if you want to receive update notifications as soon as they are released.
I've been using GitHub Store for about a week now and have already discovered a few cool apps that have made it into my daily rotation, along with trying a dozen or so I wouldn't have heard of otherwise. The only things I don't like are that the store doesn't recognize if an app is already installed on my phone, and that I can't access the Issues tab from within the app. Tapping the "Report issue" button opens the project's Issues page in the browser.
Github Store | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
Price: Free
1969-12-31
F-Droid
The GitHub Store experience isn't limited to Android
You can use it on Windows, Linux, and macOS, too.
Aside from Android, you can use GitHub Store on other operating systems as well. I've tried the Windows version, and while it isn't as fleshed out as the Android app, it's still very handy to have on your PC.
Like the Android version, you can browse popular projects and choose which version you want to install. Once you click the download button, the store saves the installation file to your Downloads folder, meaning you have to install and manage it yourself; there's no option to view all your installed apps within the store.
Still, having GitHub Store on your PC is worth it because its UI is better than GitHub's, you don't have to open a browser to visit GitHub, and you can browse popular projects right from your Windows desktop.
GitHub Store is one of the best Android open source projects out there
GitHub Store is a great way to discover new FOSS Android apps you wouldn't hear about otherwise, as well as manage installed GitHub apps from a single, user-friendly hub. It drastically improves the GitHub experience on Android, turning the repository into something you'll actually enjoy browsing by putting download buttons and Readme files front and center, where they should have been in the first place.
You can use it alongside other alternative marketplaces, such as F-Droid , since GitHub Store focuses solely on GitHub projects. While it's still in early stages, it has a ton of potential, and I can't wait to see how it evolves in the coming months and years. Unless, of course, Google succeeds in its attempts to lock down Android , which could ultimately decimate open-source Android software, including this fantastic little project.
