# Why hasn't anyone developed an open-source Android app?

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/android-app/400947
**Category:** General
**Created:** [April 18, 2026, 4:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/android-app/400947 "2026-04-18T04:44:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Lxk520](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/lxk520/32/550353_2.png) [@Lxk520](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lxk520)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2026, 4:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/android-app/400947/1 "2026-04-18T04:44:54Z")

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Why hasn’t anyone developed an open-source Android app?

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### Author: ![darkpixlz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/darkpixlz/32/549896_2.png) [@darkpixlz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/darkpixlz)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2026, 5:49am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/android-app/400947/2 "2026-04-18T05:49:50Z")

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Hmm. I had a look in #Customization > Extras and found a couple of iOS ones and one that said it supported Android with open source “planned”. You may be better off making one your self or paying for somebody else to do so for you because I don’t believe there is one at the moment.

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### Author: ![Moin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/moin/32/554653_2.png) [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2026, 6:37am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/android-app/400947/4 "2026-04-18T06:37:29Z")

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> [@Is it possible to convert a forum into a real app?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-it-possible-to-convert-a-forum-into-a-real-app/378700/10):
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> The easiest thing you can try is deploying a TWA based on a PWA for Android. It’s really simple; it’s essentially publishing a PWA on the Play Store with official tools. It’s a more involved process for iOS, especially because of the review process, but you can also use something like PWABuilder or a similar tool to help publish your web app there. Both are just web views which will work almost the same as an installed PWA.

I think that was also discussed here a few years ago [Discourse sites in Playstore](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-sites-in-playstore/135040)

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### Author: ![merefield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/merefield/32/176214_2.png) [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2026, 8:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/android-app/400947/5 "2026-04-18T08:04:57Z")

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They have. It was called the whitelisted app and worked across both iOS and Android.

The need for such an app has reduced significantly because Discourse is a PWA and there is now native support for notifications from PWAs in both iOS and Android.

And installing a PWA to home screen is trivial on both OSes.