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A feature-rich Hacker News client
- bzmrgonz 2y agoPlease add a "read-later" feature, or add to your "reading list". need that for the scroll sessions.
- Uehreka 2y agoIt looks like this developer has 2 Hacker News reader apps in the app store: Hacki and Z Combinator. Which is the good one?
- sphars 2y agoI'm going to guess that it's Hacki. It's the one in the OP link, and it's been more recently updated. Plus it's cross-platform with iOS and Android. I've used the Android version previously (I'm now using Harmonic), but couldn't tell you which is the better iOS app.
- joshstrange 2y agoI bounce between Hack and Octal (I like both for different things) This looks decent but it misses a feature that I won't give up from Octal which is Apollo-like swipe left->right anywhere to go back (and reverse to drill back into the story you were on, which Octal doesn't support).
- eviks 2y agoWhat does Octal has over Hack?
- joshstrange 2y agoI just find that Octal not as "tight" UI-wise. Hack feels a little too dense and I'm completely unable to hit the upvote/downvote/reply buttons reliably, I just have to long-press to bring up all the options. I like Hack's notification replies and showing karma for comments you wrote. The UI just feels too tight to me and I can't quite explain it, it's just harder for me determine where one comment starts/stops/indention/etc. Maybe I could fiddle with the settings enough to get it to where I want but Octal had almost everything I wanted out of the box and I didn't need to fiddle with settings as much.
- eviks 2y agoHa, configurable tightness is precisely what I love about Hack (though using side swipe to upvote as it's the most frequent action, so better be convenient), and the colored vertical lines are as good as indents to delimit comments.
- 7839284023 2y ago> Apollo-like swipe left->right anywhere to go back (and reverse to drill back into the story you were on, which Octal doesn't support). The feature is also present in HACK! It's called "Full screen swipe to go back" (you really need to search for it, the settings list is kind of messy). Also the reverse you mentioned is implemented.
- SnowingXIV 2y agoThere is an option that changes the behavior for the swipe at the root level. Agreed this would be really nice to also work within a story to go back by using left -> right. Leaving the options to reply with a long press. Other than that I do appreciate the reader settings and this is one of the better ones. Most are just readers — this allows logging in. Another thing, editing of comments is a bit odd. It said a comment was updated but wasn’t? Logged into the site and didn’t see the change.
- perdomon 2y agoThis app feels so much more responsive than what I've been using. I think the login option should be a little easier to find (maybe visible when tapping the person in the corner instead of hiding in the Settings option). I really love the display options for something as minimalist as Hacker News or as detailed as Reddit. Really exceptionally done. Great work. Is this a free trial? (How) do you plan to monetize?
- mvf4z7 2y agoI used to use a client app like this. But after I switched phones, I never re-downloaded it and have found that using the browser works just as good for such a simple application.
- HaZeust 2y agoDoes it? It doesn't even notify you of new replies.
- xigoi 2y agohttp://hnreplies.com/ http://hnreplies.com/
- HaZeust 2y agoI actually got it last night from someone else reaching out and that's why I was alerted to this, haha. Cheers!
- mmarian 2y agoI run a service that does that: https://hackernewsalerts.com https://hackernewsalerts.com
- mplanchard 2y agoI've come to view this as a feature, personally. It means I'm a lot slower to respond to things, but it helps me to avoid getting drawn into heated conversations.
- lxgr 2y ago+1, it's definitely a feature, not a bug. Getting a push notification or just seeing a little red badge makes me optimize for "be the first to answer". Seeing responses in a polling/async way means I can take a breath, read others' answers, and only respond if somebody else hasn't made the same point already anyway.
- wiseowise 2y ago
- wklm 2y agoI like the compactness of the UI, really well done! I was trying to build the app locally, but it's failing: ``` wojtek@Mac Hacki % flutter run Launching lib/main.dart on iPhone 16 Pro in debug mode... Running Xcode build... Xcode build done. 51.3s Failed to build iOS app Error (Xcode): lib/blocs/stories/stories_bloc.dart:254:15: Error: Property 'isEmpty' cannot be accessed on 'List<int>?' because it is potentially null. Could not build the application for the simulator. Error launching application on iPhone 16 Pro. ```
- microflash 2y agoPretty nice but unfortunately scroll performance is extremely choppy like many other Flutter apps. Also, like many other Flutter apps, it can’t use system font stack. Still, on iOS, this is probably a better option than many other open source clients. On Android, I like Glider[1] and Harmonic[2] a whole lot more. [1]: https://github.com/Mosc/Glider https://github.com/Mosc/Glider [2]: https://github.com/SimonHalvdansson/Harmonic-HN https://github.com/SimonHalvdansson/Harmonic-HN
- wkat4242 2y agoI like glider too but they did a redesign at some point which I didn't like (too many buttons taking up space on the screen) so I'm still using the ancient version :)
- graynk 2y agoFor iOS I really like Octal. This is where I’m replying from!
- longstation 2y agoI am having a pixel 6a and scroll feels normal.
- slimypi 2y agoHarmonic is great. Been using it for years ! Has the best UX/function quality ratio imho.
- chuckwfinley 2y agoHarmonic is great, been using it a long time now. Prior to that I used Materialistic... I'll give this other one a try but I've been totally happy with harmonic, so it'll take a lot to move me I think.
- izietto 2y agoSame for me!
- 2y ago
- cpcallen 2y agoI am obviously not the target audience for this, because it seems to be the opposite of what I want: I'd much rather just have a text-only homepage than anything with thumbnails. I'd really love an iOS app for Reddit that made the site look more like this one (or like the old `.compact` version did).
- CharlesW 2y ago> I'd much rather just have a text-only homepage than anything with thumbnails. The mostly-text HACK is my favorite iOS client for that reason, so if you use iOS you might enjoy it too. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-yc-hacker-news-reader/id1464477788 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-yc-hacker-news-reader...
- dvaun 2y agoBeen using Hack for years. The dev is responsive if you have questions.
- msephton 2y agoI use Octal app, pretty good
- sammex 2y agoI like Glider. It's just text and easy to navigate through comments
- uoaei 2y agoCue the evergreen "there's a reason why the HN UX ia the way it is" conversation.
- johnea 2y agoThe best HN news client is ##hntop on Libera IRC network!
- jrhey 2y agoDoes anyone here use Hazumi for HN? I’m looking for new features to add and would love your feedback. https://apps.apple.com/ie/app/hazumi-for-hacker-news/id1670237209 https://apps.apple.com/ie/app/hazumi-for-hacker-news/id16702...
- msephton 2y agoI'm still on iOS 17 so can't
- ziddoap 2y agoDo a lot of people use HN clients? It never occurred to me to look for one. Looking at the feature list here, most of them I can already do (comment, vote, submit, etc.). Some of the other features I feel like would degrade my experience (polls, notifications). If you are someone that uses a 3rd-party client to access HN, can you sell me on the killer features (of whichever client you use)? Am I missing out?
- eviks 2y agoThe default design is rather unergonomic (you're less likely to downvote by tapping on the wrong closely located button if you want to upvote since you can have the more frequent upvote action in a convenient side swipe gesture, but the less frequent downvote in a separate hamburger menu - things like this you won't get from reading a feature list) and ugly (fonts, padding, colors) , but if it doesn't even occur to you, then maybe you won't appreciate all the improvements, so maybe not missing out?
- Aaron2222 2y agoPolls are actually a Hacker News feature (albeit a rather hidden one). Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29755614 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29755614
- Tmpod 2y agoI actually use Hacki, and in fact was a bit surprised to see this listed here hehe. I use it on my phone for three particular reasons: 1) Good dark color-scheme (easier on my eyes when I'm inside) 2) Adjustable font (HN default is way too small for me on a small phone screen) 3) Easily collapsible threads (you just tap anywhere on the comment Everything else is irrelevant to me, as I barely comment. I'm more interested in the reading, most of the time, and the app helps with that.
- satvikpendem 2y agoDark Reader works fine on a phone, you just need a browser capable of extensions. iOS has a few, and Android has many.
- 2y ago
- atlgator 2y agoCan you integrate AI to summarize the talking points from the comments?
- officeplant 2y agoAt that point might as well have AI summarize the post as well and then boil everything down into a few seconds of reading. Maybe AI summarize the whole site into a once daily morning AI voiced podcast....
- insane_dreamer 2y agoLooks nice. FWIW I use Hack and have been pretty happy with it -- only gripe is that it lacks a feature to edit a comment after posting.
- d3Xt3r 2y agoHacki is nice, but like most (all?) HN clients, it lacks a way to filter posts based on topic. Actually, now I wonder if there's even any client out there that offers topic-based categorisation and filtering, preferably LLM backed.
- adityamwagh 2y agoI like Octal [1] and even bought the paid version. It’s been a pleasant experience! [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/octal-for-hacker-news/id1308885491 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/octal-for-hacker-news/id130888...
- marnett 2y agoI’ve been a proud paid user for years. The developer even accepted and swiftly implemented my feature request several years ago to support downvotes! Best app purchase I’ve ever made.
- rubenvanwyk 2y agoAlso love using the paid version of Octal on iOS, really worth it.
- chucklenorris 2y agoI really like it. A few suggestions: - Make the preview text length configurable, I'd like to read more of the original post before I dive into comments - The search is rather annoying. I found the post on hn web then it took me a while to find it in the app to comment on it. Maybe implement a filter on the main page for precached stories? - A bit of styling / spacing / coloring would be nice. For example the stories feel like they blend into each other. The app is monochrome by design but I think a bit of color could guide the eye on content heavy views
- rcarmo 2y agoIt has dark mode, which, alas, HN still does not have.
- aspect0545 2y agoThe features might be nice but I really dislike the visual design.
- rekabis 2y agoI love the super-compact mode, but why does tapping on the favicon bring you to the comments and not the article?
- filcuk 2y agoI like it! Would like to have a share article/hn link to be able to direct it into wallabag or some other read later app