Very often we may see good open-source apps on Github. One issue is that the repository does not include any built APK file ready for download.
Sometimes there is a need to modify or update its code a little bit before building APK.
We can do these two tasks with just our phones.
Step 1: Folk and modify code
Create or use a not-important Github account, and folk it. Use the browser to open and edit code files.
If you need to modify a lot, use Termux, git clone the project to your phone and use a Code Editor app to edit. I modify the code with my Android phone(Code Editor) or iPad (use iSH app, install git and clone, edit code with Code app/Icheditor). For better experiences with git, usesshandgh.
Step 2: Use GitHub action or codemagic to build the APK
For normal Android appFor normal Android app with gradlew, we can simply use GitHub action to build and release the APK right on the repository.
For Flutter app
For Flutter apps, simply go to codemagic and create a new account, choose login with Github. After the authorization step, codemagic will let you choose a repository to build. We can build iOS, Android, Desktop, and web versions on the same build. Currently, a free codemagic account can have500 build minutes every month.
Before clicking the Start build button, we need to provide some configurations, like release APK or bundle… We can also set the build process automatically triggers when there is a new push.
It will run on a Mac Mini, I tested with a Flutter app, the first build took about 13 minutes for both Android+ Web version.
When the build is finished, it will send you an email including the built APK download link. Or you can download it on the artifact section of the build page. So you don’t need to keep the browser running or waiting.