The short version

If you want everything GitHub does, in your pocket, with push notifications, use GitHub Mobile. If you need to change code from your phone, use Working Copy; it is a Git client and does not handle issues. If issues are all you do on your phone, and you would rather the app could not read your code, that is the case I built Todoke for.

Side by side

GitHub Mobile Working Copy Todoke
What it is GitHub's own app A Git client by an independent developer An issues client by an independent developer (me)
Issues Read, triage and comment on issues and pull requests None in its manual Read, create, comment, close, reopen, assign, label
Code Browse and search code, edit files in pull requests Clone, edit, commit, push; create pull requests (Pro) None. It cannot read code.
Push notifications Yes, for example when someone mentions you None in its manual No
How it signs in Your GitHub account, directly OAuth, or a personal access token A GitHub App you install on the repositories you pick
Access it asks for GitHub publishes no permission list for its own app For a token, its manual asks for repo, read:org, admin:public_key, gist, admin:gpg_key Issues read and write, Metadata read, Pull requests read
Price Free Free download; Pro is a one-time unlock, with a 10-day trial Free on one repository; a one-time purchase unlocks all of them
Runs on iOS 17 or later, and Android iOS 18.2 or later iOS 26 or later
GitHub Enterprise Server Yes, if the enterprise enables it Works with any Git server No, github.com only

Checked on 22 October 2026. Apps change; if one of these rows is out of date, tell me and I will fix it.

GitHub Mobile

It is the obvious choice and, for a lot of people, the right one. GitHub's documentation lists what it does: manage notifications, read and review issues and pull requests, edit files in pull requests, search code in a repository, get a push notification when someone mentions you, approve two-factor sign-ins, and chat with Copilot. It also signs in to GitHub Enterprise Server, which Todoke does not.

On access, the honest answer is that there is no permission screen to compare. GitHub Mobile is not a third-party app you authorize. You sign in to your account, and GitHub does not publish a scope list for its own client. Its documentation describes code search and file editing, so it can read code, and it describes no step where you choose which repositories it sees.

Working Copy

Working Copy solves a different problem: it is a Git client. You clone a repository onto the phone, edit files, commit and push, and other apps can open those files. Creating a pull request is a Pro feature. I searched its manual for issues and found nothing, so it is on this page because people searching for a GitHub app for iPhone find it, not because it competes on issues.

Its access follows from that job. To sign in with a personal access token, its manual asks you to grant repo, read:org, admin:public_key, gist and admin:gpg_key. GitHub's own definition of repo is full read and write access to every public and private repository you can reach, code included. That is what a Git client needs. Connecting with GitHub also registers Working Copy's SSH key on your account, according to the same manual.

Todoke

Todoke only does issues: one inbox across the repositories you connect, filtered by what you created, were assigned or were mentioned in. You can create issues with labels and assignees, reply to threads, close and reopen, and share a page from Safari into a new issue. It has no push notifications, it does not show pull requests, and it does not work offline.

It signs in as a GitHub App, so you choose the repositories when you install it. The permission set is public. I asked GitHub's API for it on 22 October 2026 rather than copy it from my own notes, and it returned three entries: Issues read and write, Metadata read (GitHub makes that one mandatory for every app), and Pull requests read, which Todoke needs to filter pull requests out of the issues list. Nothing in that set reaches file contents.

Checking that turned up a mistake of mine. Todoke's App Store description says it cannot read your pull requests. It can, read-only, for the filtering reason above. The store text is being corrected in the next release; the API answer is the one to trust, and you can fetch it yourself from the link in the sources.

Signing in costs two GitHub screens, install and authorize, in one trip to the browser. I counted them on a physical iPhone with a fresh install on 30 July 2026, and wrote up why it asks for exactly that and how the flow works.

Which one to install

  • You review pull requests or want notifications on your phone: GitHub Mobile. Todoke does neither.
  • You edit and commit code on an iPad or iPhone: Working Copy.
  • Your company runs GitHub Enterprise Server: GitHub Mobile, if your admins have enabled it.
  • You triage, file and answer issues, and the phone should not hold a token that can read your code: Todoke. It is free on one repository, so you can try it without paying.

Nothing stops you from running two. GitHub Mobile for notifications and Todoke for the issue queue is a fair setup.

Download Todoke on the App Store

Sources