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Show HN: Android Hacker News Widget and App

50 points by ddxv 3y ago

This app and widget and related code is free to use for anyone. This was a side project to learn Android, Kotlin and the many libraries that came along with it. Screenshots in the Google Play link above. app code: https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-app https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-app backend api: https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-api https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-api There are many Hacker News apps, but this one focused on two features: - Widgets: This app supports dynamic widgets using Compose Glance. The widgets can be themed and set up with one of the three main categories: "New", "Top" and "Best". - Themes: Both the widgets and the main app support a number of color schemes based on user preference.

IndigoIncognito 3y ago
Nice
Puradolia 3y ago
I use gilder myself, that's how I found hn, but this is alright.
- bezier-curve 3y ago
  Try out Harmonic, it's now open source.
  - tentacleuno 3y ago
    I looked it up and I couldn't figure out where the git forge for it was located. The best I could find is [0], which returns a 404 error. [0]: https://github.com/streambinder/harmonic https://github.com/streambinder/harmonic
skilled 3y ago
> No data collected > The developer says this app doesn’t collect user data In theory, can someone flag their app like this but still collect user data? It just caught my eye since the emphasis is on “developer”.
- ddxv 3y ago
  Yeah, I work closer to advertising and data collection, the answer here is definitely yes, for example I guess there are nginx logs with IP addresses, but I'm not actively collecting or processing them. I answered no to the question since so much of the discussion around this has moved to questions about which advertising IDs are collected, none of which I'm collecting.
- Gunnerhead 3y ago
  Yes for both Google Play and App Store it’s all self reported. Some developers are fully transparent, some will lie, and some may not be realizing that while they may not be collecting anything, the libraries they are using are.
kysindi 3y ago
This is great! My only suggestion is to let me configure the font size. I find the text too small. It would also be nice to get rid of as much whitespace as possible.
- ddxv 3y ago
  Thanks, I'll add that.
tfsh 3y ago
It's nice to see that widgets are starting to use the Glance API, however a deal breaker for me is the lack of material you styling. I've started rolling out my own simplified widgets (reminders to drink water, listening to state, etc) because the lack of consistency was getting to me.
mustava 3y ago
Materialistic is great too! Really like the UI
- mustava 3y ago
  https://github.com/hidroh/materialistic https://github.com/hidroh/materialistic
- Ylpertnodi 3y ago
  I use materialistic in dark mode (the screenshots look awfully bright). Love it.
- ric2b 3y ago
  It frequently gets buggy when reading comments for me, it shows the same comments multiple times or scrolls in weird ways because of the lazy loading. And there hasn't been a new release in 4y.
- slim 3y ago
  you can't downvote
  - Ylpertnodi 3y ago
    I see that as a bonus! Upvote, or nothing. I see too many posts "Why the down votes...", "I don't understand why you're being downvoted...".
hegzploit 3y ago
Nice, I have been using harmonic. wish It had a notifications for comment replies.
- toyg 3y ago
  I'm using Harmonic too, although I wish it had better views over my threads.
az09mugen 3y ago
Didn't try it, but I'm pretty happy with Hacki on Android : https://github.com/Livinglist/Hacki https://github.com/Livinglist/Hacki
nmstoker 3y ago
Does it display comments at all? Simply asking as the Google Play screenshots only show the headlines view
- ddxv 3y ago
  No, though I would like to add that. For now comments link to ycombinator itself.
jerrygoyal 3y ago
this is the one i use and has widget as well https://github.com/hidroh/materialistic https://github.com/hidroh/materialistic
rahulgill 3y ago
I use this https://github.com/mosc/glider https://github.com/mosc/glider Although it doesn't have a widget, the browsing experience is very good
- mt_ 3y ago
  +1 for glider
- seanthemon 3y ago
  I can't seem to find it on the app store, just shows not found
  - fortyyearsafool 3y ago
    It's available on F-Droid.
- circularfoyers 3y ago
  The best looking HN android app in my opinion. I just wish it was still being developed. Mostly because of the bug where the comments flicker wildly when you open a thread with lots of comments.
- albert_e 3y ago
  Looks like this app is not available in Google Play Store from India
- taskylizard 3y ago
  Replying from Glider right now (although replies are experimental), it's very good, wish most apps were like this.
  - FireInsight 3y ago
    Replying on Glider too but IME replying is often pretty painful.
redbell 3y ago
Some commenters here are totally missing the purpose of the "Show HN" section! The main point of adding top-level comments to posts of this type is to provide feedback, or more precisely, constructive criticism. This allows the poster to see his product/project/app/site through others' eyes, which greatly helps him improve the product and discover bugs that are not visible at development time. Having comments such as "nice", "good work" or "great app" does not help the developer, in any way, improve the app or see it from another angle (The Mom Test). Also, reading comments that say, "I use the X app instead; it is better, and..." is killing me! Yes, personally, I use Materialistic, Harmonic, and Gilder for Android, and I use HACK and Octal for iPhone, but mentioning them here doesn't add any value except if you propose a killer feature that they already have and you'd like the developer to implement. Anyways, I always salute, encourage, and upvote side projects like this that are related to HackerNews and below are a few critics that might help the developer make the app better: The biggest missing feature here that is already supported in all the other apps I've been using is the in-app browser and the comments' section. Clicking on any story would trigger the external default browser to view the page. Also, trying to access the comments would take you to "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=xyz" which ruins the user experience. The app is missing the "Show HN" and "Ask HN" sections, just to name a few. At any given time, I cannot tell what theme the app is already in because the *themes* list does not have the currently applied theme *highlighted*. Since you've already built some widgets, it would be of great value if you could build another *profile* widget where users can see their *karma* being updated regularly without having to open the app or access the HN website. That was my two cents. Good work so far, especially the "widgets" part. I wish you the best of luck. I apologize to other commenters if I've been rude. For me, that was.. "something needs to be said". Peace!
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- ddxv 3y ago
  Wow,now that's some great feedback! I especially enjoy the last idea,I never would have thought of a widget for a user profile. As for the in app browser, why is that preferable to the default browser? For example I am logged into HN in my default browser and I thought that would be preferred to inapp? I'll look into this though, as you're likely right for majority preference. As for missing the comments,that is indeed sorely needed. I will be working to add this. Anyways, thanks again for the quality feedback,appreciated.
cheeaun 3y ago
Interesting to see that you built your own API "wrapper" https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-api https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-api and storing them into a SQLite db. Seems that you run it once an hour so the stories are not updated that fast, especially /newest
- ddxv 3y ago
  What do you think about that? I guess it's probably much better to do it on device instead?
  - cheeaun 3y ago
    There are pros/cons :) The official firebase API is generally not very straightforward, but it allows realtime calls. Disclaimer: I maintain node-hnapi since 2011.
fattah25 3y ago
I am using harmonic btw https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simon.harmonichackernews https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simon.harm...
- james2doyle 3y ago
  I came here to say this. It's good to mention that not only is it open source, but it has login support, AMOLED dark mode, and much more. Another great thing is that it is consistently updated. Something that I've found the other apps to not really care about. They seem to be fire and forget as far as releases go

50 points by ddxv 3y ago

IndigoIncognito 3y ago

Nice

Puradolia 3y ago

I use gilder myself, that's how I found hn, but this is alright.

bezier-curve 3y ago
Try out Harmonic, it's now open source.
- tentacleuno 3y ago
  I looked it up and I couldn't figure out where the git forge for it was located. The best I could find is [0], which returns a 404 error. [0]: https://github.com/streambinder/harmonic https://github.com/streambinder/harmonic

skilled 3y ago

> No data collected > The developer says this app doesn’t collect user data In theory, can someone flag their app like this but still collect user data? It just caught my eye since the emphasis is on “developer”.

ddxv 3y ago
Yeah, I work closer to advertising and data collection, the answer here is definitely yes, for example I guess there are nginx logs with IP addresses, but I'm not actively collecting or processing them. I answered no to the question since so much of the discussion around this has moved to questions about which advertising IDs are collected, none of which I'm collecting.
Gunnerhead 3y ago
Yes for both Google Play and App Store it’s all self reported. Some developers are fully transparent, some will lie, and some may not be realizing that while they may not be collecting anything, the libraries they are using are.

kysindi 3y ago

This is great! My only suggestion is to let me configure the font size. I find the text too small. It would also be nice to get rid of as much whitespace as possible.

ddxv 3y ago
Thanks, I'll add that.

tfsh 3y ago

It's nice to see that widgets are starting to use the Glance API, however a deal breaker for me is the lack of material you styling. I've started rolling out my own simplified widgets (reminders to drink water, listening to state, etc) because the lack of consistency was getting to me.

mustava 3y ago

Materialistic is great too! Really like the UI

mustava 3y ago
https://github.com/hidroh/materialistic https://github.com/hidroh/materialistic
Ylpertnodi 3y ago
I use materialistic in dark mode (the screenshots look awfully bright). Love it.
ric2b 3y ago
It frequently gets buggy when reading comments for me, it shows the same comments multiple times or scrolls in weird ways because of the lazy loading. And there hasn't been a new release in 4y.
slim 3y ago
you can't downvote
- Ylpertnodi 3y ago
  I see that as a bonus! Upvote, or nothing. I see too many posts "Why the down votes...", "I don't understand why you're being downvoted...".

hegzploit 3y ago

Nice, I have been using harmonic. wish It had a notifications for comment replies.

toyg 3y ago
I'm using Harmonic too, although I wish it had better views over my threads.

az09mugen 3y ago

Didn't try it, but I'm pretty happy with Hacki on Android : https://github.com/Livinglist/Hacki https://github.com/Livinglist/Hacki

nmstoker 3y ago

Does it display comments at all? Simply asking as the Google Play screenshots only show the headlines view

ddxv 3y ago
No, though I would like to add that. For now comments link to ycombinator itself.

jerrygoyal 3y ago

this is the one i use and has widget as well https://github.com/hidroh/materialistic https://github.com/hidroh/materialistic

rahulgill 3y ago

I use this https://github.com/mosc/glider https://github.com/mosc/glider Although it doesn't have a widget, the browsing experience is very good

mt_ 3y ago
+1 for glider
seanthemon 3y ago
I can't seem to find it on the app store, just shows not found
- fortyyearsafool 3y ago
  It's available on F-Droid.
circularfoyers 3y ago
The best looking HN android app in my opinion. I just wish it was still being developed. Mostly because of the bug where the comments flicker wildly when you open a thread with lots of comments.
albert_e 3y ago
Looks like this app is not available in Google Play Store from India
taskylizard 3y ago
Replying from Glider right now (although replies are experimental), it's very good, wish most apps were like this.
- FireInsight 3y ago
  Replying on Glider too but IME replying is often pretty painful.

redbell 3y ago

Some commenters here are totally missing the purpose of the "Show HN" section! The main point of adding top-level comments to posts of this type is to provide feedback, or more precisely, constructive criticism. This allows the poster to see his product/project/app/site through others' eyes, which greatly helps him improve the product and discover bugs that are not visible at development time. Having comments such as "nice", "good work" or "great app" does not help the developer, in any way, improve the app or see it from another angle (The Mom Test). Also, reading comments that say, "I use the X app instead; it is better, and..." is killing me! Yes, personally, I use Materialistic, Harmonic, and Gilder for Android, and I use HACK and Octal for iPhone, but mentioning them here doesn't add any value except if you propose a killer feature that they already have and you'd like the developer to implement. Anyways, I always salute, encourage, and upvote side projects like this that are related to HackerNews and below are a few critics that might help the developer make the app better: The biggest missing feature here that is already supported in all the other apps I've been using is the in-app browser and the comments' section. Clicking on any story would trigger the external default browser to view the page. Also, trying to access the comments would take you to "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=xyz" which ruins the user experience. The app is missing the "Show HN" and "Ask HN" sections, just to name a few. At any given time, I cannot tell what theme the app is already in because the *themes* list does not have the currently applied theme *highlighted*. Since you've already built some widgets, it would be of great value if you could build another *profile* widget where users can see their *karma* being updated regularly without having to open the app or access the HN website. That was my two cents. Good work so far, especially the "widgets" part. I wish you the best of luck. I apologize to other commenters if I've been rude. For me, that was.. "something needs to be said". Peace!

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
ddxv 3y ago
Wow,now that's some great feedback! I especially enjoy the last idea,I never would have thought of a widget for a user profile. As for the in app browser, why is that preferable to the default browser? For example I am logged into HN in my default browser and I thought that would be preferred to inapp? I'll look into this though, as you're likely right for majority preference. As for missing the comments,that is indeed sorely needed. I will be working to add this. Anyways, thanks again for the quality feedback,appreciated.

cheeaun 3y ago

Interesting to see that you built your own API "wrapper" https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-api https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-api and storing them into a SQLite db. Seems that you run it once an hour so the stories are not updated that fast, especially /newest

ddxv 3y ago
What do you think about that? I guess it's probably much better to do it on device instead?
- cheeaun 3y ago
  There are pros/cons :) The official firebase API is generally not very straightforward, but it allows realtime calls. Disclaimer: I maintain node-hnapi since 2011.

fattah25 3y ago

I am using harmonic btw https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simon.harmonichackernews https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simon.harm...

james2doyle 3y ago
I came here to say this. It's good to mention that not only is it open source, but it has login support, AMOLED dark mode, and much more. Another great thing is that it is consistently updated. Something that I've found the other apps to not really care about. They seem to be fire and forget as far as releases go