
Show HN: Hack – new Hacker News iOS client with swipe to upvote, favorite, reply - busymom0
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-hacker-news-yc/id1464477788?ls=1&mt=8
======
busymom0
OP developer here. I am excited to share my beautiful new Hacker News client
with you all. After building apps in Objective C for many years, this is my
very first all Swift app. I finally decided to transition completely to Swift
when Apple announced it's stable enough to be bundled with the 12.2 iOS
itself.

I have been working non stop for the past 3-4 weeks on this app with 5-6 hours
of sleep and working till 7 am to get it done. I am super excited to finally
have it released and am open to feedback.

Features which make my app stand out to other clients and hacker news on
browser -

\- Swipe on a post or comment to upvote or favorite.

\- Reply to comments and posts from the app.

\- Dark theme - both pure black as well as light gray. It is free on a per
session basis. If the app is relaunched, it will default to light theme. You
can purchase a small one time in app purchase to unlock it permanently.

\- 10 font choices and many color themes

\- iPad support with Split View

\- Landscape and Portrait support

\- All known hacker news endpoints - News, front page, Ask HN, Show HN, Show
HN Newest, classic, active, best stories, best comments, new stories, new
comments, noob stories, noob comments, jobs, over 100-500 points

\- Powerful Search powered by Algolia API. You can sort search by adding
"@date". Search for stories only by adding "#story", comments by adding
"#comments". Search for a story by a particular user by adding
"#story,author_username" etc

\- Beautiful UI (I understand my opinion is biased though).

\- No ads, No subscriptions.

Many other features which I would let the app speak for itself.

I am available here for any questions and feedback to make the app better!

~~~
tabs_masterrace
Congrats on shipping!!

Some quick feedback: Haptic Feedback, too much. Please don't do it on every
push/pop.

Home page a bit overloaded, not very clear what the default HN page is. News?
Front? Classic?

Comment and upvote count not too prominent enough. These two, together with
the headline are what you glance for when scrolling the feed.

Personally I feel on the XS font size seeems a bit too big, seems about right
for a normal app, but for a HN-Reader I'd go one smaller (for everything
basically).

~~~
busymom0
Yea, the haptic feedback wasn't supposed to be there for the push/pop/back
button. It's a bug, I already fixed it and submitted to Apple, it will be
available in an update tomorrow.

I will be adding a setting to change font sizes in an update. I can also add a
different row view with the comment and upvote count more prominent.

The home page items are the same endpoints which HN has as can be found here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/lists](https://news.ycombinator.com/lists)

The classic as per HN uses the same ranking system, but only counts votes from
very early/older users:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/classic](https://news.ycombinator.com/classic)

------
dustinmr
Generally, I like it.

One bit of feedback is that you’re using the same (or at least similar) arrow
for upvoting as you are in other places to collapse a thread. And I found that
confusing.

It seems a little redundant to include both the upvote arrow, and upvote by
swipe.

But looks great.

~~~
busymom0
Regarding the arrow, what arrow are you referring to for collapsing a thread?
There's no arrow for collapsing. You collapse comments by tapping on them. The
arrow on the comment is for up voting which can also be done by swiping on a
comment. Am I misunderstanding the issue?

~~~
dustinmr
I’m referring to the arrow where I’m a goof and didn’t pay close enough
attention to how I was using the app! :)

I’d have sworn when I hit the arrow the comment thread collapsed. But when I
read your reply and went back in to try, you’re clearly correct.

Thanks for clarifying.

~~~
busymom0
Actually I think you are right too. I think it has to do with the upvote
button’s hit area being too small so sometimes it overflows to outside the
button and collapses the thread instead. I will see what I can do to fix it.

------
darnay123
Looks like a nice app. I do suggest updating the privacy policy. As far as I
can tell - this is not Sudoku Extreme.

~~~
busymom0
Oops. That privacy policy was linking to my other app. I just updated my app
store page and it should link to the correct privacy policy. Please have a
look now and let me know if you have questions.

It's available here:
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/qbrebrvkxn5cthv/hackprivacypolicy....](https://www.dropbox.com/s/qbrebrvkxn5cthv/hackprivacypolicy.html?dl=0)

------
benguild
I’ve been waiting for an app to support “mark as read” to avoid seeing the
same stuff again. :(

~~~
evanjd
Hopefully it’s OK to mention competitor iOS clients - but Octal does grey out
read items.

~~~
cynix
What would be even more useful is a mode where if I decide not to read certain
posts (based on their titles) by scrolling past them, I'd like to have them
automatically marked as "seen" so I won't have to read their titles again.

------
1f60c
How does it work, given that the Hacker News API doesn't seem to support write
access?

------
davidcollantes
Looks lovely, but crashing when trying to login. It simply quits.

~~~
msvan
Same issue here.

~~~
busymom0
The update for password issue is now available, can you give it a try?

------
howderek
Looks like Apollo (the Reddit client) for Hacker News. Very nice!

------
SomeHacker44
Thanks for creating it. I won’t switch for one major UX reason: the controls.
There is insufficient contrast between them and the content, and they float
over the content. It is too distracting. I am using your dark mode on an X.
Also the content goes into the status bar. I personally prefer dedicated,
highly contrasted control areas. Maybe I am just old.

~~~
Terretta
Dark mode on XS Max. Love the low contrast of metadata and controls compared
to white content.

Noticed the content going under clock on iPad Pro landscape but not bothering
me on iPhone. On iPad it is using translucency but perhaps not enough of a
fade out.

~~~
busymom0
OP Developer here. Make sure to update your app to the latest version. I added
a "Blur text behind status bar" setting which will avoid the text going behind
status bar issue. Let me know if you have questions!

------
davidcollantes
I would like the ability to add multiple accounts (ala Reddit), which can be
easily switched. Thanks. Truly loving the app!

~~~
busymom0
Thanks for the feedback! I do plan on adding it in in an update.

------
layoutIfNeeded
The design is too custom for me. E.g. the custom font looks out of place on
iOS. The custom navigation controls too.

~~~
busymom0
Thanks for the feedback! The app does let you change the font (right now it's
locked behind the IAP but I can include the iOS default San Fransisco font in
the free in an update). Do you think I should make it the default font?

~~~
layoutIfNeeded
I would prefer UIFont.systemFont by default. I like apps that blend in with
the OS nicely instead of “native websites”.

~~~
busymom0
Today’s update makes SF the default font! It also adds settings to change the
font size for story title, text and metadata. There will also be another
update tomorrow available which will also add ability to edit the padding
around elements to make it as compact as you like which lets you see more
content on screen. Check out the screenshots of what it would look like after
tomorrow’s update (note that all sizes will be fully customizable to your
liking):

[https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wd2n18vh77y94of/AAC5bwOI1xWL1rtuL...](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wd2n18vh77y94of/AAC5bwOI1xWL1rtuLR3X_afaa?dl=0)

------
hutattedonmyarm
It’s giving me what I assumed is a wrong password feedback (login form shakes
and a short haptic feedback), but I’m 100% sure the data is correct (password
manager and pasted the values both into the website and the app to double
check). I guess it’s an URL encoding issue, there’s a '&' in it

~~~
busymom0
Can you try with tomorrow’s/today’s update when it gets approved to see if it
fixes it? I fixed a URL encoding issue for the special characters and should
be available soon when they approve it.

------
davidcollantes
I recommend you redo the icon (HN?). Having an icon that reads “HACK” for an
app named “HACK” is odd to me.

~~~
busymom0
Haha yea, my brain really wasn’t functioning enough anymore at 7am when I was
submitting the app. I need to be a bit more creative with the icon. I will
decide on something better in an update!

------
dijksterhuis
Like it. Will use it for a bit and see what I think.

Things so far:

\- please update that privacy policy ;) \- entries when scrolling in dark mode
can be a bit “jittery” \- thank you for the reader view in safari option

~~~
dijksterhuis
One more - is it possible to edit the font size as well as the style? I like
it small! (Others might like it large)

~~~
busymom0
Regarding the font size, it doesn't use the system wide font size because
during my testing, I found it wasn't reliable for the custom fonts as the same
size would look different for different fonts. I will include a way to change
the font size in an update (either tomorrow or the next one, I need to see how
much change I will have to make in the code). I will add it in.

~~~
toufka
+1 for font size options. And don't skimp on the range. I'm not sure you can
have a too-small option. HN is textually dense. That's one of the things that
makes it nice - no photos, just people talking. Continuing with that feel is
good.

~~~
busymom0
Hey! So I released an update today which adds settings to change the font size
for story title, text and metadata.

There will also be another update tomorrow available which will also add
ability to edit the padding around elements to make it as compact as you like
which lets you see more content on screen. Check out the screenshots of what
it would look like after tomorrow’s update (note that all sizes will be fully
customizable to your liking):

[https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wd2n18vh77y94of/AAC5bwOI1xWL1rtuL...](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wd2n18vh77y94of/AAC5bwOI1xWL1rtuLR3X_afaa?dl=0)

Let me know what you think and any other feedback!

------
ryanar
I am not sure why, but I can't login with my account. My password is >40
characters, I am not sure if it is being clipped somehow?

~~~
cookie_m0nster
Knowing issue. URL encoding. Will be fixed soon.

------
bradgessler
Posting from your new app. Could you make the font size setting configurable?
I’d like to make it a touch smaller than the default.

~~~
busymom0
Yep, already submitted that feature update and waiting for Apple’s approval
hopefully today! Let me know when you try it!

~~~
bradgessler
Thanks! So happy to have given you my measly $2.99. Keep up the good work!

~~~
busymom0
Today’s update is available with font size customization! Tomorrow’s update
will also add more customization to reduce the padding to make it as compact
as you like!

------
Stay_frostJebel
You've done big work, and many of us appreciate it. Hope we'll see updates on
it, because you receive a lot of feedback.

~~~
busymom0
Thanks yep, I released an update today which is based off the feedback I got.
Made San Francisco the default font, added ability to change font sizes,
removed haptic feedback for back button etc. Tomorrow’s update adds even more
customizability to make it as compact as needed! Stay posted!

------
jdpedrie
It’s crashing for me at login. Fill out the form, click submit, crash. iOS
12.2 iPhone XS.

~~~
busymom0
Yep, I figured out the issue to do with URL encoding for a few special
characters. I already fixed it and submitted the update to Apple for review.
It should be available tomorrow! Sorry about the inconvenience.

------
bdcravens
Installed - looks like the "front page" view is from yesterday.

~~~
busymom0
It gets the feeds directly from HN website. So whatever content you see on the
/front in your browser is what shows in the app. Do you see a difference?

~~~
bouvin
I'm seeing the same thing: 'News' and 'Classic' gives me an up to date (i.e.,
matching what I see on the Web site) view, whereas 'Front' is from yesterday.

~~~
busymom0
I wonder if this has something to do with the timezone/location? Does your
front show you different than what you see if you go to
[https://news.ycombinator.com/front](https://news.ycombinator.com/front)

?

~~~
bouvin
[https://news.ycombinator.com/front](https://news.ycombinator.com/front) gives
me precisely what I see on 'Front'. Browsing from Denmark, CET.

------
rj5
Nice!

