HACK for Hacker News YC Reader

HACK for Hacker News YC Reader

Best Hacker News app for tech

1.6K ratings
194 reviews
Free
In-App Purchases

Details

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

Features

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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
Show original description
+3

What's New in HACK for Hacker News YC Reader

172

September 15, 2026

- Fixed bug where time, upvote, favorite, and reply wasn't working (changes to HN website breaking my parser). - Added a highly requested setting: "Block AI posts". This is OFF by default. When ON, it uses a regex to filter out any post titles matching a big list of AI related keywords. - Fixed bug where some links in text were not parsing correctly. - The "Account" option now directly takes to HN website to authenticate as a more reliable solution. - 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 as that really helps me get the word out. Thank you for choosing HACK and supporting me. If you have a programming job or have feedback, contact me at: pran@pranapps.com

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In-App Purchases

$14.99

Hack Premium

Unlock dark theme, font change, tint color

User reviews

you will not regret buying this app!

Disclaimer: I do not know this developer, I have never been in his country, which is far away from mine.

I can say the following:
(1) this is a very useful app, if you do not consider your MacBookPro or whatever computer you have, so kind of wondorous toy bursting with surprises; in other words, if you know really nothing of programming, this is **not** for you. Otherwise, **very much so!**

(2) the developer uses a business plan assuming general decency, both from the side of the developer community, and the user community; in the case of the present application, we are talking anyway of the intersection of the above two community.
Decency cannot be assumed these days lightly, so exercising this (this time as a user), is a sane way to imagine other alternatives for the future, than always the worst.

(consider the disclaimer above)
Please, do support this developer, for our own common sake.
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Response from developer

Thank you for the kind words and supporting me! :)

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!

Good but

Can u guys pls add a tutorial and I need to get help but it kinda ez

Solid App- across the board!

This is my favorite app and is constantly improving. Great work, buddy!

The best

Love it!

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.