Show HN: HackerNows – Native iOS HN Client(hackernows.app)
22 pointsby maguszin3 hours ago18 comments
  • atombenderan hour ago
    Always interesting to see new HN apps, and this one seems OK.

    Personally I prefer HACK [1], which is probably the most extensive HN client for iOS. The amount of options for controlling the look of the app means you can influence the reading experience quite a bit, which isn't true for this new app.

    My biggest complaint with HACK is search. Instead of a real UI, it uses its own kludgy search syntax to control what to filter. For example, "foo #stories" filters stories only.

    [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-hacker-news-yc-reader...

  • functionmouse2 hours ago
    why does this website need an app?
    • jazzypantsan hour ago
      Do you read it on your phone? This website's (lack of a) mobile design makes it really hard to read. If I don't use my mobile app of choice (Harmonic), I have to zoom in really close and scroll all over the place. It's really annoying. The font is way too small, and it's hard-coded.
      • midaszan hour ago
        This looks fine to me? In long threads it gets a bit hard to follow, only thing I'm missing is a jump to next root comment. https://i.imgur.com/8e1Syyf.jpeg
        • cyberge99a minute ago
          Do you up or downvote? The icons are very small on mobile.
        • johnsonjoan hour ago
          > only thing I'm missing is a jump to next root comment

          That's a two step process currently when you are just going through the comments you click "root" on any sub-root-comment and then "next" on the root comment. Next will always take you to the next sibling comment (called a sibling, because it's a tree data-structure basically and sibling comes from a family tree. In fact where I said sub-root-comment I could have said descendants or children.)

          EDIT: I just realized that the first child of the root doesn't have the "root" button so you have to click "parent" on it and then "next".

    • _thisdotan hour ago
      I have been using an app on my phone (HACK) for a while. The content is way more readable with the app. And the interactions (voting and replying) are much more native. Navigating the comments (collapsing and expanding) are way easier

      Also on the iPad, the two column view is nice too

    • niccean hour ago
      If it is not the data collection, then it is always the UX. Seems to be UX on this case. But highly opinionated, some people like the old feel here.
    • iwjcjwjcjjwfan hour ago
      Strange question to ask on a forum where people seem intent on showing their new “I used AI to build something completely useless that will be forgotten in a matter of minutes” and the vast majority of people think it’s the next coming of Jesus.

      It doesn’t need one, but now the option is there.

    • woadwarrior01an hour ago
      To "delve into comments" (quoting from the app's website).
      • fragmedean hour ago
        it's a perfectly cromulent word!
    • forlornan hour ago
      Why does any?
  • tulio_ribeiroan hour ago
    HN clients are one of the most popular projects. I’m gonna agree with some of the other comment: this is nothing new.

    https://hnpwa.com/

  • Glandalfan hour ago
    Is it vibe coded? Sorry I ask this about ALL software now.
    • maguszin42 minutes ago
      No, the app is not vibe coded, all things, good and bad are 100% human made :D
    • mlacksan hour ago
      Why would that be relevant?
      • Diti42 minutes ago
        Because support for the app stops the moment the Claude Code subscription ends. No-one enjoys unmaintained apps.
        • fragmede40 minutes ago
          Then use OpenAI Codex?
    • ramon156an hour ago
      The website is, no idea about the app, though.
      • maguszin30 minutes ago
        Yes, the site is vibe coded
    • wmichelinan hour ago
      Honestly? Why does it matter? This isn’t going away so we can all focus our energy on helping this workflow improve, or just ignoring it.
  • artur_maklyan hour ago
    Feature Request: allow me to see only posts by categories I want to create and filter by.

    For example: "AI" or "startups" or "discoveries"

  • maguszin2 hours ago
    If some users start seen `HNNetwork.NetworkError error 0`, this could be related to HN rate limit, i will add a friendly message for this error on the next version
    • niccean hour ago
      Is there some caching currently? And how login is handled? Are credentials routed through your own infrastructure?
      • maguszin37 minutes ago
        Everything is persisted on device using GRDB Credentials are stored on device keychain Nothing leaves the app, its all Firebase, HNSite and iCloud to store custom groups I dont have any infra supporting the app
    • tulio_ribeiroan hour ago
      I don’t think the Firebase HN API has rate limits. By the way, how many concurrent requests are you doing?
      • maguszin35 minutes ago
        Im using Firebase API, Algolia and HN Site HN Site request are never concurrent and i only use it when i cannot use Firebase and Algolia
  • ngalaikoan hour ago
    great app, neat and native, but unfortunately the website still loads faster, which beats the whole purpose to me
    • alentodorovan hour ago
      +1. downloaded it to see if it’s faster, but comment section takes around 5-7 seconds to load. other than that, gj—-nice ux, polished, icon..
      • wwalexanderan hour ago
        Not really fixable, unfortunately. The API requires an network call for each comment:

        > The v0 API is essentially a dump of our in-memory data structures. We know, what works great locally in memory isn't so hot over the network.

        When I played around with making a client, I found the best approach was to only load the first level of comments, and asynchronously fetch children inside DisclosureGroups on appear.

        Then I realized the only reason I was making an HN app was so it didn’t blind me at night, and then I realized Lobsters has all the same stories as this place but lets me filter out vibe coding articles, and I just gave up.

        • trains3947235 minutes ago
          You can fetch the HTML (1 request), parse that, extract the comments, render the above the fold content, then use the API and blend the rest of the comments for the rest of the comments. You can also use the algolia api to grab comment data but the order doesn't match the website.

          At least, that's what claude would suggest doing.

  • artur_maklyan hour ago
    Feature Request #2 Allow me to re-edit my comment after posting.
  • JSR_FDED3 hours ago
    This is the first HN app that immediately clicks for me.

    Would absolutely love it if the text could be made bigger (both for reading and commenting)!

    By the way, this reply was posted using the HackerNows app itself :-)

  • murats2 hours ago
    I really like this. It feels clean enough that I might make it my main HN app.
  • fallenchromiuman hour ago
    Hey! Why a new app though? It's always interesting to understand the motives and the preferences of a person creating something new. I've skimmed through your website but you haven't highlighted what you missed in existing apps or what was your pain point
    • maguszin33 minutes ago
      For this one i would say Custom Groups and iCloud sync All other features are pretty similar to other HN clients
  • vforno2 hours ago
    I'm trying it, really interesting!
  • wesleynepo2 hours ago
    Muito foda, obrigado meu bom!
  • fragmedean hour ago
    Pretty cool. Any way to change the fonts?
  • rvzan hour ago
    I predict that building an iOS app for HN will be so common, that it will become a standard AI benchmark.
  • ngsevers2 hours ago
    Any plans for android?
    • maguszin2 hours ago
      Maybe in the future, im working on a macOS version atm and since the app rely heavily on iCloud it makes it difficult to support Android
  • christofori2 hours ago
    Nice job, bro! Keep it up!
  • 3 hours ago
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