Gitalchemy on F-Droid: GitLab Client Without Google Play

Gitalchemy is now available on F-Droid. If you manage GitLab projects from your Android device and prefer not to rely on Google Play, you can now install the full Gitalchemy experience directly from the F-Droid repository — no Google account required.

This makes Gitalchemy one of the few GitLab clients for Android that you can download, verify, and update entirely through open-source infrastructure.

Why F-Droid?

F-Droid is a free and open-source app repository for Android. It serves as a Google Play alternative for developers and privacy-conscious users who want to install apps without Google services on their device.

Choosing F-Droid means:

• No Google account needed to download or update the app
• Reproducible builds — the source code is publicly auditable
• No tracking or ads embedded by the distribution platform
• Works on de-Googled Android (GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, LineageOS, etc.)

For developers who self-host GitLab or work in environments where Google services are restricted, F-Droid is often the only viable path to getting apps onto their devices.

How to Install Gitalchemy on F-Droid

Getting Gitalchemy through F-Droid takes less than two minutes if you already have the F-Droid client installed.

1. Install the F-Droid client on your Android device from f-droid.org if you haven't already
2. Open the F-Droid app and tap the search icon
3. Search for "Gitalchemy" in the search bar
4. Tap Install on the Gitalchemy listing
5. Open Gitalchemy and sign in with your gitlab.com account or your self-hosted GitLab instance URL

That's it. Updates will be delivered through F-Droid automatically, just like any other app in the repository.

What You Get

Gitalchemy on F-Droid is the full application — not a stripped-down build. Once installed, you have access to everything:

• Merge request management — review, comment, approve and merge from your phone (see our code review guide)
• Issue tracking — create, update and triage issues on the go
• CI/CD pipeline monitoring — watch builds run, check job logs, and catch failures before they escalate
• Notifications — get alerted on activity across your GitLab projects without polling the web interface
• Self-hosted GitLab support — connect to any GitLab instance, not just gitlab.com

The app is a native client for Android, not a web wrapper. Interactions feel fast because they are — everything is rendered natively, not through a browser view.

Gitalchemy vs Lab+ for GitLab on F-Droid

Lab+ is currently the most visible GitLab client on F-Droid. Here is how Gitalchemy compares:

Lab+ covers the basics for casual repository browsing. Gitalchemy is built for developers who need to act on their GitLab projects from a mobile device, not just view them.

Gitalchemy on Android

Gitalchemy ships on Android through F-Droid, and you can install it from the Gitalchemy F-Droid listing. It is an Android app only. There is no iOS version and no desktop version of Gitalchemy.

If you have been waiting for a GitLab client you can install through F-Droid, Gitalchemy is now ready. Search for it in the F-Droid app today.