HACK for Hacker News YC Reader

HACK for Hacker News YC Reader

Best Hacker News app for tech

1.6K ratings
160 reviews
Free
In-App Purchases

Details

  • Released
  • Updated
  • May 26, 2019
  • July 15, 2026

Features

HACK for Hacker News YC Reader screenshot #1 for iPhone
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HACK for Hacker News YC Reader screenshot #10 for iPhone
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About

This app offers a beautiful and intuitive way to read tech, startup, and STEM news from Hacker News. It provides advanced features like push notifications, threaded comments, and powerful search, with extensive customization options for a personalized reading experience.

Ad-free and subscription-free reading
Push notifications for replies
Nested threaded comments with collapse
Swipe to upvote and favorite
Submit new posts and drafts
Powerful Algolia-powered search
Customizable themes, fonts, and layout
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+1

What's New in HACK for Hacker News YC Reader

159

July 15, 2026

Thank you for supporting me. Here's what's new: - Upon request by few users, added a new setting to keep screen on while idle. This is on by default. - Fixed a bug where the favicon image backgrounds weren't obeying theme changes. - Added a subtle border around the favicon images. - Added Archives option when long pressing links in comments. Now you can easily access archive.org versions of those links. - Note that previous update fixed a critical bug which would intermittently cause the app to entirely freeze, stop responding to touch, and require restarting the app. To fix it, entirely rewrote the "Full Screen Swipe Back" feature to use newer APIs. If this bug still persists, please email me. - Fixed a bug where the share extension to open HN links in app were not working. - HACK is supported on Mac, iPhone, iPad. I am a small indie developer and need your help keep the lights on. I offer an ad and analytics free and beautiful app for the absolute best experience for my users. I need to run my own server for caching high quality favicons shown in the app plus for push notifications for replies to hacker news posts. If you can afford it, please support me by purchasing the one-time-only in-app-purchase or giving me a tip. No subscriptions. You can also leave a review on the App Store. Thank you for choosing HACK. If you have a programming job or have feedback, contact me at: pran@pranapps.com

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In-App Purchases

$9.99

Hack Premium

Unlock dark theme, font change, tint color

User reviews

much more pleasant interaction

I only wish it would sync read articles and comment branches between devices

The best

This is the best Hacker News reader there is. Smooth, powerful, and complete.

Best so far

No purchase needed, no ads. Probably will pay the $5 to support the dev, though, because this kind of functionality is rare for ios apps without either ads or in-app purchases. Quite the hidden gem. Lots of settings to choose from. I especially like being able to select the text of a comment to copy by long-pressing on a comment, and from there, there are a lot of options, including copying the text as a whole, or selecting a certain part of the text as it pops up with the options. Now will look for other apps made by this dev! Edit: decided to purchase, it’s worth it
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Awesome app

This is the best HN app I’ve found. The developer is super responsive, the app is very well designed, and even the non-premium app is very full featured. I of course recommend going premium to support amazing people like Pran!

Awesome app

This is the best HN app I’ve found. The developer is super responsive, the app is very well designed, and even the non-premium app is very full featured. I of course recommend going premium to support amazing people like Pran!

Developer apps

FAQ

What is HACK for Hacker News YC Reader?

HACK for Hacker News YC Reader is an application designed to provide a beautiful and user-friendly interface for consuming content from YC's Hacker News. It focuses on delivering the latest tech, startup, and STEM news with advanced features and customization options.

What are the key features of this Hacker News app?

Key features include an ad-free and subscription-free experience, push notifications for comment replies, nested threaded comments that can be collapsed, the ability to swipe to upvote and favorite stories, and the option to submit new posts. It also offers powerful search capabilities powered by the Algolia API and extensive customization for themes, fonts, and layout.

Is this app free to use?

Yes, the application is free to use and does not have any ads or subscriptions. This allows users to enjoy all the features without any cost or interruptions.

What devices is HACK for Hacker News YC Reader compatible with?

The app is supported on iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. It also offers features like split view support on iPads, making it versatile for multitasking and different screen sizes.

How can I customize the reading experience?

Users can extensively customize their reading experience through various options. This includes selecting from different dark mode themes (pure black and gray), a low contrast text mode, numerous color choices with a color picker, a variety of app icons, font choices, and the ability to adjust font sizes and padding for a personalized layout.