
Show HN: Dead simple Hacker News reader for iOS - mertdumenci
http://brushedtype.co
======
minihack
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/id6...](https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/minihack-for-hacker-
news/id631108846?mt=8)

~~~
avalaunch
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
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

------
smackfu
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".

~~~
bennyg
Mine's definitely a labor of love - I use it daily, and hardly ever use the
browser version unless I want to comment on something. I'm working on adding
commenting/submitting/voting at the moment, and should have that done shortly.
Personally, I think it's the most beautiful HN reader on the App Store, but I
may be biased. It's free too.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/news-
yc/id592893508?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/news-yc/id592893508?mt=8)

EDIT: All of the production code is available on Github as well.

[https://github.com/bennyguitar/News-YC---
iPhone](https://github.com/bennyguitar/News-YC---iPhone)

~~~
tharris0101
Thank you for your client. I also use it every day and have even contributed
to it. I also never use the browser version on my phone anymore.

~~~
bennyg
Thanks for your contribution, I'm glad you love it! I can't wait to get user
management type stuff on there so I never have to open the browser version
again.

------
publicfig
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.

~~~
thekingshorses
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?l...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-
yc/id713733435?ls=1&mt=8)

~~~
publicfig
Oh awesome! Are you just wrapping the mobile site and utilizing iOS APIs or
are you doing anything more? with this version?

~~~
thekingshorses
Wrapping the mobile site and using share/browser iOS API

------
gigantor
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
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
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.

------
lovskogen
I just love
[http://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/](http://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/) on
the iPhone.

~~~
crb
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
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.

------
Osmium
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
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!

------
mertdumenci
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!

~~~
dferlemann
Thanks! Pocket integration is definite enough for me to convert. I will wait
for the update on comment feature.

~~~
mertdumenci
Thanks! We love Pocket :)

------
ltcoleman
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.

~~~
ltcoleman
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
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 ;)

------
andrewcarter
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!

------
alariccole
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)

~~~
nayefc
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.

~~~
alariccole
I've got a few apps built using this API, so I can chime in. It is definitely
based on usage patterns--the more you use a particular app, the more often it
will refresh. It's also certainly based on battery life at the time, but also
the requirements of the app.

With Pivit, since it's such a compact fetch, it'll happen more frequently than
if you were, for instance, downloading photos. I check HN a lot, so for me,
the app is always up to date. It does take a bit of learning time for the OS
to know your patterns, but it is well worth it--it's really a great new API.

~~~
nayefc
Oh wow. It's cool that the OS is actually smart to optimise it that way.

------
apierre
£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
Hey, I noted your suggestions down. Thanks!

Comments are definitely something planned.

~~~
apierre
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
Woo, thanks for the nice words! Search as in filtering the hot feed or site
wide?

~~~
apierre
Just like hnsearch.com

------
miguelrochefort
Shameless plug:

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

------
photoGrant
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!!

~~~
edwellbrook
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!

------
jbrooksuk
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?

~~~
bennyg
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!

------
Camillo
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.

~~~
alariccole
Comments aren't handled in this app. Try appsto.re/i6xC4GD -- best threading
out there.

~~~
Camillo
Hm, that's a nice-looking app, but news:yc's interface seems superior to me.

------
supercoder
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

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

~~~
edwellbrook
Thanks for buying the app! We've got Instapaper support planned and hopefully
coming soon!

~~~
i_pinkerton
Awesome. would really love to see instapaper

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

~~~
mertdumenci
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!

------
pa5tabear
I want an app that will save posts/links. And let me comment.

Do any of them do that?

~~~
edwellbrook
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.

------
wwwwww
Comment are essential, would buy with comments.

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

------
tharshan09
Someone make exactly the same, for android.

~~~
adduc
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.

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

~~~
edwellbrook
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
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.

------
bradleyg_
Can you view comments with this app?

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

