PocketCode is in open testing on Google Play

Since October 12 anyone can install PocketCode from Google Play. You don't need an invitation or a form on this site anymore. You open the listing, tap Install, and it's on your phone.

Play shows it with an Early access label. That's the name Google gives to open testing, the step between the closed test and the full launch.

What changes compared to the closed test

Until now PocketCode was only for a list of testers I added by email. They needed my invitation, and the listing was invisible to everyone else.

With open testing the listing is public and the app shows up when you search on Play. You install it like any other app and updates arrive the same way.

There's one thing that stays the same, and it's worth knowing before you write a review: during testing, Play doesn't publish reviews. What you write reaches me privately and doesn't show on the listing. Public reviews start with the full launch.

The 404 at the start

Google approved the open test on the 12th, and even so the listing kept returning "not found" for a while. The track was approved but paused, and Play doesn't show a paused track to anyone. Resuming it meant one more review. When that passed, the listing appeared.

If you followed a link from this site in those days and landed on an error page, that was why. The link works now.

What's in this version

The build is 1.0.13, and it's the whole app:

• a code editor with autocomplete, multiple cursors and a symbol bar sized for a finger
• a real Linux terminal, plus SSH with file transfer and port forwarding
• code that runs on the phone itself: C, Python, JavaScript and more
• PostgreSQL inside the app, and connections to Neon, Supabase, MySQL, MongoDB and others
• an API tester for REST, GraphQL, WebSocket and SSE
• a visual designer that exports HTML and CSS
• Git with commit, diff, branches and push
• AI on your own key (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, GitHub Copilot or any OpenAI-compatible provider), with every change reviewable and undoable

The free plan includes all of that with room for one of each: one project, one SSH host, one database connection, one API collection, and a local shell plus an SSH session at a time. AI with your own key has no limit on my side. PocketCode Pro removes those limits and adds the agents that work on their own, automation, and cloud sync, among other things. It's optional.

You need Android 9 or later, and 4 GB of RAM is recommended. The editor, the terminal and the local databases work without a connection.

If something breaks, tell me

In this version there's an amber bug icon at the bottom left of the screen. Tap it, choose Bug, Suggestion or Other, and write what you did and what you expected. The report includes the app version and your phone model and Android version, so I don't have to ask for them. If you're offline, it's saved and goes out when you're back.

If you'd rather use email, write to [email protected]. I read every report myself.

What's next

The full launch on Google Play, once open testing shows the app holds up on the phones people actually use. I'm not putting a date on it. Until then, every fix goes out as an update through Play, and the changelog and this blog will say what changed.

If you've been waiting for a link, here it is: PocketCode on Google Play.