15 ms·

Show HN: Dead simple Hacker News reader for iOS

41 points by mertdumenci 13y ago

bradleyg_ 13y ago
Can you view comments with this app?
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Not for now, sorry :( We're working on it, though!
ltcoleman 13y ago
it does not display comments. I bought it because i enjoyed the look, but looks like until they get comments, i doubt many will install.
- NathanKP 13y ago
  Yeah I'm in the market for a new Hacker News reader because the one I was using before has broken since I installed IOS7 and no longer shows the full text of comments. But this app doesn't show any comments yet so its still got some ways to go.
- ltcoleman 13y ago
  It does have pocket integration though. So in summary, a beautiful UI to read HN articles with pocket integration for read later, but no access to comments
  - mertdumenci 13y ago
    This was the exact aim of the app when we started making it. But with all the requests about comments, we're definitely thinking it ;)
jbrooksuk 13y ago
Since HN doesn't have a native API, it's real difficult to work on applications like this. Comments always seem to cause issues for apps, how do you handle them?
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  The app doesn't currently do comments. But you're right — scraping comments will be non-trivial for me. The current setup involves a simple scraper - caching layer, abstracted from the iOS app.
- bennyg 13y ago
  My app, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/news-yc/id592893508?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/news-yc/id592893508?mt=8, does comments pretty darn well. Let me know what you think!
smackfu 13y ago
I'm still trying to figure out which Hacker News reader is a labor-of-love for the developer, as opposed to a coding exercise to see if they can make a few bucks which is abandoned quickly when the answer is "no".
- alariccole 13y ago
  Mine is free, and freshly rebuilt for iOS using Text Kit and background refresh. It's free and no in-apps: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pivit/id705715915 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pivit/id705715915
  - marcosero 13y ago
    Nice
  - ashishgandhi 13y ago
    I like this one. I had never heard of you so I built Simple Hacker News (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simple-hacker-news-simple/id563736471?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simple-hacker-news-simple/id...) last year. The big feature I want is I want a way to see what I've already read. I think this is the first app (other than mine) that I know does this. Haven't played around long but I like you can collapse and expand comments. Is there a way to default them all to be expanded? EDIT: You need a way to refresh comments. @Replies: I'm glad you guys like it. Looks like I'll renew my Developer Program membership then. It's due in less than a week.
    - smackfu 13y ago
      This is pretty good. I wish there was a way to go directly to the comments on a post, but I don't know what UI would work for that. A few other thoughts: * Profile > Edit needs a cancel button. The only way to get out is to re-enter your username. Or maybe just make it go back to the old value if you enter blank. * Long usernames tend to make the description line run off the screen and end with "...", which is a bit messy. Maybe a smarter truncation algorithm? * Swiping left to right on a story seems to work inconsistently, but I'm not sure why. * The comment view is just about perfect.
photoGrant 13y ago
I like it, unfortunately it's a little buggy scrolling up and down the feed. It's a shame it cost me a couple bucks to find that out but whatever I can do to support improvements! Looks great!!
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- edwellbrook 13y ago
  Thanks! I'm the designer of the app. We'd love to hear any feedback you have, and we're taking everything people say on board for future releases. desk@brushedtype.co for any feedback or support!
Osmium 13y ago
Looks nice from what I can see but £1.49 is too much to buy just to try it out (at least for me). The major pain point with the current viewer I use is difficult-to-read comment threads. I can't see any screenshots of comment threads in your app. Are they collapsible? Is the hierarchy clear? Can you post comments yourself in-app? I remember seeing another app at the same price point that did that. Good luck anyway!
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Hey there, developer of the app here. The app doesn't support comments for now, but we're working on implementing it. I wasn't personally expecting this much response, it was meant to be a read-only, simple app but I ended up missing comments in my own personal usage too. Don't worry, they're in the works! :) Sorry for the confusion! If you don't want to wait, news:yc (http://newsyc.me/ http://newsyc.me/) is an awesome app that does comments already!
publicfig 13y ago
I can't really figure out the functionality of this, so I'm not going to buy it to try it out. If you can't comment on it, then it's worth checking out http://hn.premii.com/ http://hn.premii.com/ . It's a web, based app, but if you save it to your home screen it removes the Safari chrome and looks and works as a standalone app. You can look at its source here: https://github.com/premii/hn https://github.com/premii/hn If you can comment on this, it should be interesting. I really wish you showed more of the functionality of the app though.
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Heyo, developer of the app here. http://hn.premii.com http://hn.premii.com is absolutely mind blowing — it's lightweight, web based and super fast. The functionality of Hack Later is its speed and deep read later (currently Pocket only) integration. Comments are in the works, too! Also, I'm probably biased but I think it's pretty good looking :)
  - alariccole 13y ago
    It does look nicer than most. For better or worse, though, I find the discussions to be more informative than most articles ;)
    - mertdumenci 13y ago
      Thank you! I see. I agree with you. Definitely thinking about adding them ;)
- thekingshorses 13y ago
  Just got approval notice. hn.premii.com is available in app store. Going to submit new binary with share functionality tonight. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-yc/id713733435?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-yc/id713733435?l...
  - aaronem 13y ago
miguelrochefort 13y ago
Shameless plug: Hacker News for Windows Phone: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/hacker-news/a5275a3f-6611-48f6-bd62-7382eda4c028 http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/hacker-news/a527...
andrewcarter 13y ago
This app looks great, I've tried / bought just about every HN client looking to replace the one I was using for iOS 6 that hasn't updated, but they all look or function terribly. This one looks amazing, all it needs is comments. I've bought it and will happily use it while I wait for those features. Thanks for the work!
wwwwww 13y ago
Comment are essential, would buy with comments.
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Hey there, we're planning on adding comments in the near future.
Camillo 13y ago
Now is the perfect time to launch this, because the other HN reader is having trouble displaying comments. But you need to show us how comments are handled in your app.
- dubcanada 13y ago
  Which one?
  - Camillo 13y ago
    news:yc
- salemh 13y ago
  I'm using HackerNode for the iPhone, seems to be working. Though I dislike the comment tiering (non-indentation / hard to track). Any suggestions for iPhone? On Android, Hacker News 2 has been wonkey with loading comments, but I love the comment layout. Built by Matt Bishop: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=airlocksoftware https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=airlocksoftware
- alariccole 13y ago
  Comments aren't handled in this app. Try appsto.re/i6xC4GD -- best threading out there.
  - Camillo 13y ago
    Hm, that's a nice-looking app, but news:yc's interface seems superior to me.
gigantor 13y ago
For a paid app, the lack of basic core features (i.e. to simply view comments) indicates a lot of work needs to be done. The existing free readers out there are a bit more capable. I ended up buying it since I'm still looking for a good HN reader out there that does all of: indenting comment threads, gives you the choice of browsing directly to the story without going through comments, and displaying key story information beside the story, such as the number of votes.
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Hey there, I'm the developer of the app. Firstly, thanks for buying the app! I wasn't personally expecting this much response, it was meant to be a read-only app, but I personally ended up missing comments as well. I understand your concern. I've good news though : we started the work on implementing comments :)
  - bitserf 13y ago
    I just bought it, because I like where you are going with the design. However, I would echo the need for comment support. Check out how http://hn.premii.com/ http://hn.premii.com/ does comments, I find that quite readable compared to news:yc. The ability to log in and reply to comments would round out the use case that I used to use other apps for.
- thekingshorses 13y ago
  You can try my app here http://hn.premii.com/ http://hn.premii.com/ Or app store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-yc/id713733435?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-yc/id713733435?l...
pa5tabear 13y ago
I want an app that will save posts/links. And let me comment. Do any of them do that?
- edwellbrook 13y ago
  Currently the app doesn't support comments, although we have this planned and intend to implement them very soon. For now though the app is focused deeply on saving posts and links, so Hack Later still might be worth checking out, if you haven't already.
marcosero 13y ago
Looks really nice. Please open source it and let the community improve it! I would love to add simple comments :)
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Hey, thanks! That's @edwellbrook rocking the design. We had a conversation about open sourcing it but we ended up choosing not to, dealing with bad, bad guys just cloning the repo & submitting to App Store looks hard. :( Comments are planned though!
apierre 13y ago
£1.49 for a very basic HN reader is a bit premature. I like that it is iOS7 designed though. A couple of suggestions: - Comments - Instapaper or similar
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Hey, I noted your suggestions down. Thanks! Comments are definitely something planned.
  - apierre 13y ago
    I just downloaded it, I really like the look and feel. Please add a search feature as well and you have the perfect HN reader ;-)
    - mertdumenci 13y ago
      Woo, thanks for the nice words! Search as in filtering the hot feed or site wide?
      - apierre 13y ago
        Just like hnsearch.com
  - asselinpaul 13y ago
    Instapaper would definitely be good
mertdumenci 13y ago
Hey Hacker News, developer of the app here. Thanks for the awesome response! The most requested feature is comments by far, totally understand it. Comments are a planned feature, and we intend to implement them as soon as we can. For now though the app is focused deeply on saving posts and links, so Hack Later still might be worth checking out, if you haven't already. Also, promo codes are fun. W4LEYM7ENYLN AL43JW7JWJXY 6NM77R6X3KLF KTXTY46XRM7R 4Y63MWJMAMNT Enjoy!
- crb 13y ago
  The last one was used and I've taken the second to last. Thanks! You wouldn't have got me otherwise - I'll be honest, my thought pattern lies in the _davidsmith camp, and when I saw your app was £1.49 (more than £0), I moved my attention on.
- dferlemann 13y ago
  Thanks! Pocket integration is definite enough for me to convert. I will wait for the update on comment feature.
  - mertdumenci 13y ago
    Thanks! We love Pocket :)
alariccole 13y ago
A shameless plug, but my app is brand new, free, and shows comments legibly. But the #1 feature: background refresh. It uses new APIs in iOS 7 to preload the front page before you open it. Pivit - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pivit/id705715915 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pivit/id705715915
- smackfu 13y ago
  This is nice, but I wish the main post listing was a bit denser. It ends up with a lot of white space since it seems to be using fixed height cells which are sized for longer titles.
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Hey, developer of the app here. I tried out your app, looks awesome — congrats! Background refresh and comments are planned for Hack Later. Feature request for Pivit : I'd love if the web view had some controls (back, forward, refresh etc.) and the comments had some contrast, it's really hard to focus to a thread. And yes, this is a shameless plug.
- nayefc 13y ago
  The app will not preload every time new items come in. This is a common misconception about iOS 7. iOS 7 schedules these apps to run very infrequently to save battery. Some times it will take many hours to do a background refresh.
  - mertdumenci 13y ago
    Or it may not even refresh at all. From the docs, it seems like it's a pretty intelligent API that optimises itself with usage.
    - alariccole 13y ago
      It seems to be smartly batched with other network fetches. I did some tests using a local notification to let me know when it occurred, and it happened most often when sending an app into the background or finishing up another network task.
ahmett 13y ago
Very cool idea Mert! I purchased without hesitating. Would you consider adding Instapaper integration for save list? -alp
- edwellbrook 13y ago
  Thanks for buying the app! We've got Instapaper support planned and hopefully coming soon!
  - i_pinkerton 13y ago
    Awesome. would really love to see instapaper
tharshan09 13y ago
Someone make exactly the same, for android.
- adduc 13y ago
  Check out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.premii.hn https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.premii.hn , it's a fairly clean version for Android.
minihack 13y ago
Shameless plug XD My app MiniHack dose all. Nested comments, collapsible comment thread, login to upvote, reply to comment, one tap to open story or comments. Share to Pocket, Instapaper, Pinboard, Evernote, etc. Search hacker news, view the best of pages, ask, new, jobs. Instapaper and Readability mobilizer support, and more. And I am working on the new iOS 7 update right now, including UI redesign, a new slick dark theme, better sharing (pinboard tags, evernote auto complete), and more. https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/minihack-for-hacker-news/id631108846?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/minihack-for-hacker-news/id6...
- avalaunch 13y ago
  I love MiniHack. I tried at least half a dozen HN apps before finding it. It's by far my favorite. The collapsible threads feature can come in really handy when faced with a really long thread of comments that you're not interested in.
  - alariccole 13y ago
    This was one of my favorites. Try out my comments system as well--I collapse everything by default, because I found it's easier to tap to expand than it is to scroll forever. It seems odd, but it works really well for me. appsto.re/i6xC4GD
- mokkol 13y ago
  I still have iOS 5.1 Will it work on my phone? For some reason I can't check before buying....
  - mrjaeger 13y ago
    Does not seem to be the case: "Compatibility: Requires iOS 6.0 or later."
    - mokkol 13y ago
      aaah too bad. Thanks!
lovskogen 13y ago
I just love http://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/ http://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/ on the iPhone.
- crb 13y ago
  Public service announcement - now updated for iOS 7! I stopped using it when I upgraded (moved to hn.premii.com) as it felt... "jarring".
  - crb 13y ago
    Edit: sorry, I was wrong; the new look I saw is actually the web browser look (tested on Chrome/desktop), and it still looks the same on iOS.
crb 13y ago
mertdumenci: what's the typeface, and were you influenced in choosing it by anything (Vesper?)
- edwellbrook 13y ago
  Hey, I'm the designer of Hack Later. The font we went with is Avenir, a font natively available on iOS. Other apps we intend to release under the BrushedType name will also use this font. We're both quite fond of it, and it's nice to stray from Helvetica once in a while.
  - alariccole 13y ago
    Avenir is nice. I need to look more into how to use fonts other than Helvetica with Text Kit automatic font resizing. For Pivit that was one of the must-have features--the ability for those who like larger/smaller fonts to be able to change them system-wide. I just recently learned that this is also available with custom fonts.
supercoder 13y ago
This app is terrible. Load it up, blank screen. Pull to refresh, says 'Error Loading'. Try again, and then just crashes. Have some respect for your customers and test properly before you release. What a waste of 1.99

41 points by mertdumenci 13y ago

bradleyg_ 13y ago

Can you view comments with this app?

mertdumenci 13y ago
Not for now, sorry :( We're working on it, though!

ltcoleman 13y ago

it does not display comments. I bought it because i enjoyed the look, but looks like until they get comments, i doubt many will install.

NathanKP 13y ago
Yeah I'm in the market for a new Hacker News reader because the one I was using before has broken since I installed IOS7 and no longer shows the full text of comments. But this app doesn't show any comments yet so its still got some ways to go.
ltcoleman 13y ago
It does have pocket integration though. So in summary, a beautiful UI to read HN articles with pocket integration for read later, but no access to comments
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  This was the exact aim of the app when we started making it. But with all the requests about comments, we're definitely thinking it ;)

jbrooksuk 13y ago

Since HN doesn't have a native API, it's real difficult to work on applications like this. Comments always seem to cause issues for apps, how do you handle them?

mertdumenci 13y ago
The app doesn't currently do comments. But you're right — scraping comments will be non-trivial for me. The current setup involves a simple scraper - caching layer, abstracted from the iOS app.
bennyg 13y ago
My app, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/news-yc/id592893508?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/news-yc/id592893508?mt=8, does comments pretty darn well. Let me know what you think!

smackfu 13y ago

I'm still trying to figure out which Hacker News reader is a labor-of-love for the developer, as opposed to a coding exercise to see if they can make a few bucks which is abandoned quickly when the answer is "no".

alariccole 13y ago
Mine is free, and freshly rebuilt for iOS using Text Kit and background refresh. It's free and no in-apps: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pivit/id705715915 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pivit/id705715915
- marcosero 13y ago
  Nice
- ashishgandhi 13y ago
  I like this one. I had never heard of you so I built Simple Hacker News (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simple-hacker-news-simple/id563736471?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simple-hacker-news-simple/id...) last year. The big feature I want is I want a way to see what I've already read. I think this is the first app (other than mine) that I know does this. Haven't played around long but I like you can collapse and expand comments. Is there a way to default them all to be expanded? EDIT: You need a way to refresh comments. @Replies: I'm glad you guys like it. Looks like I'll renew my Developer Program membership then. It's due in less than a week.
  - smackfu 13y ago
    This is pretty good. I wish there was a way to go directly to the comments on a post, but I don't know what UI would work for that. A few other thoughts: * Profile > Edit needs a cancel button. The only way to get out is to re-enter your username. Or maybe just make it go back to the old value if you enter blank. * Long usernames tend to make the description line run off the screen and end with "...", which is a bit messy. Maybe a smarter truncation algorithm? * Swiping left to right on a story seems to work inconsistently, but I'm not sure why. * The comment view is just about perfect.

photoGrant 13y ago

I like it, unfortunately it's a little buggy scrolling up and down the feed. It's a shame it cost me a couple bucks to find that out but whatever I can do to support improvements! Looks great!!

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
edwellbrook 13y ago
Thanks! I'm the designer of the app. We'd love to hear any feedback you have, and we're taking everything people say on board for future releases. desk@brushedtype.co for any feedback or support!

Osmium 13y ago

Looks nice from what I can see but £1.49 is too much to buy just to try it out (at least for me). The major pain point with the current viewer I use is difficult-to-read comment threads. I can't see any screenshots of comment threads in your app. Are they collapsible? Is the hierarchy clear? Can you post comments yourself in-app? I remember seeing another app at the same price point that did that. Good luck anyway!

mertdumenci 13y ago
Hey there, developer of the app here. The app doesn't support comments for now, but we're working on implementing it. I wasn't personally expecting this much response, it was meant to be a read-only, simple app but I ended up missing comments in my own personal usage too. Don't worry, they're in the works! :) Sorry for the confusion! If you don't want to wait, news:yc (http://newsyc.me/ http://newsyc.me/) is an awesome app that does comments already!

publicfig 13y ago

I can't really figure out the functionality of this, so I'm not going to buy it to try it out. If you can't comment on it, then it's worth checking out http://hn.premii.com/ http://hn.premii.com/ . It's a web, based app, but if you save it to your home screen it removes the Safari chrome and looks and works as a standalone app. You can look at its source here: https://github.com/premii/hn https://github.com/premii/hn If you can comment on this, it should be interesting. I really wish you showed more of the functionality of the app though.

mertdumenci 13y ago
Heyo, developer of the app here. http://hn.premii.com http://hn.premii.com is absolutely mind blowing — it's lightweight, web based and super fast. The functionality of Hack Later is its speed and deep read later (currently Pocket only) integration. Comments are in the works, too! Also, I'm probably biased but I think it's pretty good looking :)
- alariccole 13y ago
  It does look nicer than most. For better or worse, though, I find the discussions to be more informative than most articles ;)
  - mertdumenci 13y ago
    Thank you! I see. I agree with you. Definitely thinking about adding them ;)
thekingshorses 13y ago
Just got approval notice. hn.premii.com is available in app store. Going to submit new binary with share functionality tonight. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-yc/id713733435?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-yc/id713733435?l...
- aaronem 13y ago

miguelrochefort 13y ago

Shameless plug: Hacker News for Windows Phone: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/hacker-news/a5275a3f-6611-48f6-bd62-7382eda4c028 http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/hacker-news/a527...

andrewcarter 13y ago

This app looks great, I've tried / bought just about every HN client looking to replace the one I was using for iOS 6 that hasn't updated, but they all look or function terribly. This one looks amazing, all it needs is comments. I've bought it and will happily use it while I wait for those features. Thanks for the work!

wwwwww 13y ago

Comment are essential, would buy with comments.

mertdumenci 13y ago
Hey there, we're planning on adding comments in the near future.

Camillo 13y ago

Now is the perfect time to launch this, because the other HN reader is having trouble displaying comments. But you need to show us how comments are handled in your app.

dubcanada 13y ago
Which one?
- Camillo 13y ago
  news:yc
salemh 13y ago
I'm using HackerNode for the iPhone, seems to be working. Though I dislike the comment tiering (non-indentation / hard to track). Any suggestions for iPhone? On Android, Hacker News 2 has been wonkey with loading comments, but I love the comment layout. Built by Matt Bishop: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=airlocksoftware https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=airlocksoftware
alariccole 13y ago
Comments aren't handled in this app. Try appsto.re/i6xC4GD -- best threading out there.
- Camillo 13y ago
  Hm, that's a nice-looking app, but news:yc's interface seems superior to me.

gigantor 13y ago

For a paid app, the lack of basic core features (i.e. to simply view comments) indicates a lot of work needs to be done. The existing free readers out there are a bit more capable. I ended up buying it since I'm still looking for a good HN reader out there that does all of: indenting comment threads, gives you the choice of browsing directly to the story without going through comments, and displaying key story information beside the story, such as the number of votes.

mertdumenci 13y ago
Hey there, I'm the developer of the app. Firstly, thanks for buying the app! I wasn't personally expecting this much response, it was meant to be a read-only app, but I personally ended up missing comments as well. I understand your concern. I've good news though : we started the work on implementing comments :)
- bitserf 13y ago
  I just bought it, because I like where you are going with the design. However, I would echo the need for comment support. Check out how http://hn.premii.com/ http://hn.premii.com/ does comments, I find that quite readable compared to news:yc. The ability to log in and reply to comments would round out the use case that I used to use other apps for.
thekingshorses 13y ago
You can try my app here http://hn.premii.com/ http://hn.premii.com/ Or app store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-yc/id713733435?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-yc/id713733435?l...

pa5tabear 13y ago

I want an app that will save posts/links. And let me comment. Do any of them do that?

edwellbrook 13y ago
Currently the app doesn't support comments, although we have this planned and intend to implement them very soon. For now though the app is focused deeply on saving posts and links, so Hack Later still might be worth checking out, if you haven't already.

marcosero 13y ago

Looks really nice. Please open source it and let the community improve it! I would love to add simple comments :)

mertdumenci 13y ago
Hey, thanks! That's @edwellbrook rocking the design. We had a conversation about open sourcing it but we ended up choosing not to, dealing with bad, bad guys just cloning the repo & submitting to App Store looks hard. :( Comments are planned though!

apierre 13y ago

£1.49 for a very basic HN reader is a bit premature. I like that it is iOS7 designed though. A couple of suggestions: - Comments - Instapaper or similar

mertdumenci 13y ago
Hey, I noted your suggestions down. Thanks! Comments are definitely something planned.
- apierre 13y ago
  I just downloaded it, I really like the look and feel. Please add a search feature as well and you have the perfect HN reader ;-)
  - mertdumenci 13y ago
    Woo, thanks for the nice words! Search as in filtering the hot feed or site wide?
    - apierre 13y ago
      Just like hnsearch.com
- asselinpaul 13y ago
  Instapaper would definitely be good

mertdumenci 13y ago

Hey Hacker News, developer of the app here. Thanks for the awesome response! The most requested feature is comments by far, totally understand it. Comments are a planned feature, and we intend to implement them as soon as we can. For now though the app is focused deeply on saving posts and links, so Hack Later still might be worth checking out, if you haven't already. Also, promo codes are fun. W4LEYM7ENYLN AL43JW7JWJXY 6NM77R6X3KLF KTXTY46XRM7R 4Y63MWJMAMNT Enjoy!

crb 13y ago
The last one was used and I've taken the second to last. Thanks! You wouldn't have got me otherwise - I'll be honest, my thought pattern lies in the _davidsmith camp, and when I saw your app was £1.49 (more than £0), I moved my attention on.
dferlemann 13y ago
Thanks! Pocket integration is definite enough for me to convert. I will wait for the update on comment feature.
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Thanks! We love Pocket :)

alariccole 13y ago

A shameless plug, but my app is brand new, free, and shows comments legibly. But the #1 feature: background refresh. It uses new APIs in iOS 7 to preload the front page before you open it. Pivit - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pivit/id705715915 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pivit/id705715915

smackfu 13y ago
This is nice, but I wish the main post listing was a bit denser. It ends up with a lot of white space since it seems to be using fixed height cells which are sized for longer titles.
mertdumenci 13y ago
Hey, developer of the app here. I tried out your app, looks awesome — congrats! Background refresh and comments are planned for Hack Later. Feature request for Pivit : I'd love if the web view had some controls (back, forward, refresh etc.) and the comments had some contrast, it's really hard to focus to a thread. And yes, this is a shameless plug.
nayefc 13y ago
The app will not preload every time new items come in. This is a common misconception about iOS 7. iOS 7 schedules these apps to run very infrequently to save battery. Some times it will take many hours to do a background refresh.
- mertdumenci 13y ago
  Or it may not even refresh at all. From the docs, it seems like it's a pretty intelligent API that optimises itself with usage.
  - alariccole 13y ago
    It seems to be smartly batched with other network fetches. I did some tests using a local notification to let me know when it occurred, and it happened most often when sending an app into the background or finishing up another network task.

ahmett 13y ago

Very cool idea Mert! I purchased without hesitating. Would you consider adding Instapaper integration for save list? -alp

edwellbrook 13y ago
Thanks for buying the app! We've got Instapaper support planned and hopefully coming soon!
- i_pinkerton 13y ago
  Awesome. would really love to see instapaper

tharshan09 13y ago

Someone make exactly the same, for android.

adduc 13y ago
Check out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.premii.hn https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.premii.hn , it's a fairly clean version for Android.

minihack 13y ago

Shameless plug XD My app MiniHack dose all. Nested comments, collapsible comment thread, login to upvote, reply to comment, one tap to open story or comments. Share to Pocket, Instapaper, Pinboard, Evernote, etc. Search hacker news, view the best of pages, ask, new, jobs. Instapaper and Readability mobilizer support, and more. And I am working on the new iOS 7 update right now, including UI redesign, a new slick dark theme, better sharing (pinboard tags, evernote auto complete), and more. https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/minihack-for-hacker-news/id631108846?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/minihack-for-hacker-news/id6...

avalaunch 13y ago
I love MiniHack. I tried at least half a dozen HN apps before finding it. It's by far my favorite. The collapsible threads feature can come in really handy when faced with a really long thread of comments that you're not interested in.
- alariccole 13y ago
  This was one of my favorites. Try out my comments system as well--I collapse everything by default, because I found it's easier to tap to expand than it is to scroll forever. It seems odd, but it works really well for me. appsto.re/i6xC4GD
mokkol 13y ago
I still have iOS 5.1 Will it work on my phone? For some reason I can't check before buying....
- mrjaeger 13y ago
  Does not seem to be the case: "Compatibility: Requires iOS 6.0 or later."
  - mokkol 13y ago
    aaah too bad. Thanks!

lovskogen 13y ago

I just love http://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/ http://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/ on the iPhone.

crb 13y ago
Public service announcement - now updated for iOS 7! I stopped using it when I upgraded (moved to hn.premii.com) as it felt... "jarring".
- crb 13y ago
  Edit: sorry, I was wrong; the new look I saw is actually the web browser look (tested on Chrome/desktop), and it still looks the same on iOS.

crb 13y ago

mertdumenci: what's the typeface, and were you influenced in choosing it by anything (Vesper?)

edwellbrook 13y ago
Hey, I'm the designer of Hack Later. The font we went with is Avenir, a font natively available on iOS. Other apps we intend to release under the BrushedType name will also use this font. We're both quite fond of it, and it's nice to stray from Helvetica once in a while.
- alariccole 13y ago
  Avenir is nice. I need to look more into how to use fonts other than Helvetica with Text Kit automatic font resizing. For Pivit that was one of the must-have features--the ability for those who like larger/smaller fonts to be able to change them system-wide. I just recently learned that this is also available with custom fonts.

supercoder 13y ago

This app is terrible. Load it up, blank screen. Pull to refresh, says 'Error Loading'. Try again, and then just crashes. Have some respect for your customers and test properly before you release. What a waste of 1.99