Postman for Android? The alternatives that actually work on a phone

Short answer: Postman doesn't make an Android app. On a phone you can open Postman's web app in the browser (cramped, and no localhost), use Hoppscotch, run curl or HTTPie in Termux, or use a native API client. PocketCode's API tester is one of those, and it imports Postman collections.

I build PocketCode, so weigh my opinion of it accordingly. The rest of the options are described by what they do and what they don't.

Why there's no Postman on Android

Postman's documentation lists it as a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, plus a web app. Apps on Google Play with "Postman" in the name are independent projects, not Postman's. So "Postman for Android" really means "something that does the same job on a phone".

The options

Postman's web app in the phone's browser

It works for a quick look at your workspaces, and your collections are already there. The downsides on a phone:

• The layout is made for a desktop screen.
• Requests to localhost or your local network need Postman's desktop agent, which doesn't exist for Android.

Hoppscotch

Hoppscotch is an open-source API client that runs in the browser and can be installed as a PWA. It covers REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, SSE and MQTT, imports cURL and generates code snippets. On a phone it's a web page, so the same desktop-layout and browser limits apply.

curl or HTTPie in Termux

If you're comfortable in a terminal, pkg install curl (or httpie) in Termux gives you the real tools with nothing in between. No collections, no response viewer, but nothing is faster for a single request once you know the flags.

A native API tester: PocketCode

PocketCode is an Android IDE, and one of its tools is an API tester built for the phone. Here's what it does, checked against the app's source code:

• Six protocols: REST, GraphQL (with schema introspection), WebSocket, Server-Sent Events, Socket.IO and MQTT. A gRPC panel exists in the code, but it's hidden in the current version until it works reliably on Android.
• Imports Postman, Insomnia, OpenAPI and HAR files, and cURL commands, and exports any request as cURL.
• Environments with {{variable}} interpolation in the URL, query params, headers and body.
• Auth: ten types, including Bearer, Basic, API key and OAuth 2.0 (with OAuth you paste the authorization code back by hand; the app can't catch the redirect).
• Scripts: pre-request and test scripts in a sandboxed JavaScript engine, with pm.test, pm.expect and pm.environment.get/set. There's no pm.sendRequest, pm.variables or setNextRequest, so heavy Postman scripts won't run unchanged.
• Response viewer with a collapsible JSON tree, headers, cookies and test results.
• Keyboard shortcuts on tablets in landscape: Ctrl+Enter to send, Ctrl+T new tab, Ctrl+W close tab and Ctrl+S save.

Here's a real screenshot of the API tester on a tablet.

What the Free plan includes and what needs Pro:

• Free: every protocol, one collection, one environment and the last ten requests in history.
• Pro: unlimited collections and environments, the collection runner, the mock server, load tests and syncing collections between devices.

Comparison

How to choose

• You already live in Postman and just need to check something: the Postman web app.
• You want something open source in the browser: Hoppscotch.
• You know curl and only need one-off requests: Termux.
• You want collections, environments and a JSON viewer that fit a phone, and you'd like to bring your Postman collections with you: PocketCode.

Sources

• Get Postman, Postman's documentation on its desktop and web apps.
• Hoppscotch documentation, for its features and the PWA.
• Termux wiki, for installing packages such as curl.

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PocketCode is free to download on Google Play. Get PocketCode, import a Postman collection and try a request from your phone. The API tester page has more screenshots.