# Hacker News Tech Reader - HACK — user reviews > 200 indexed App Store user reviews of Hacker News Tech Reader by Pranoy Chowdhury, rated 4.70/5 from 1,589 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hacker-news-tech-reader-hack/id1464477788/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hacker-news-tech-reader-hack/id1464477788.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1,348 · 4★ 104 · 3★ 41 · 2★ 25 · 1★ 71 ## Is Hacker News Tech Reader safe? Hacker News Tech Reader - HACK appears safe based on user ratings. The AppsHunter Safety Score for Hacker News Tech Reader is 94 out of 100. This assessment is based on 1,589 user ratings, with an App Store average of 4.7 out of 5. Of 1,589 App Store ratings, 91.4% point to a safe experience, 2.6% suggest some concerns, and 6.0% point to a risky experience. ## Is Hacker News Tech Reader legit? Hacker News Tech Reader - HACK appears to be a legitimate app. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Hacker News Tech Reader is 100 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data. ## Newest reviews (17 of 200) ### 4/5 — iOS 27 bug, but great *2026-10-01* On iOS 27, scrolling up and down comments seems to cause some random "tremor" as if the UI is being caught by a comment header and springs back and forth up and down at like 5hz for 1 seconds. It gets quite annoying over time. **Developer response:** The latest update fixes it. Please give it a try and let me know. If the issue is fixed, please update your review. If it still persists, please email me at: pran@pranapps.com ### 5/5 — much more pleasant interaction *2026-07-06, version 156* I only wish it would sync read articles and comment branches between devices ### 5/5 — Best one for hacker news! *2026-06-25, version 156* This app is probably the best way to read hacker news! I like its clean interface, the facility in navigation and the customization options! The developer is also very attentive to the feedback provided! ### 5/5 — The best *2026-06-23, version 156* This is the best Hacker News reader there is. Smooth, powerful, and complete. ### 5/5 — Best so far *2026-06-20* 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 **Developer response:** Thank you for the kind feedback! Glad you are supporting me :) ### 5/5 — Awesome app *2026-06-19, version 156* 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! ### 5/5 — Awesome app *2026-05-27, version 154* 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! ### 5/5 — Amazing client for HN *2026-05-20, version 153* Best HN client out there. 10/10 ### 5/5 — Awesome app *2026-05-19, version 153* 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! ### 5/5 — Dev is S Tier *2026-04-16* Plain and simple, this guys is insane. Insanely good, answers to all feature requests, etc. App itself is solid, just like hn crowd **Developer response:** Thank you!!! ### 5/5 — A+++ *2026-04-14* amazing site|app|dev ### 5/5 — Awesome app *2026-03-25, version 151* 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! ### 5/5 — The best HN client *2026-03-24* After spending years with a now unmaintained app I tried out several clients for Hacker News, this came out on top. It's highly customisable, quick to load and the dev is very helpful. **Developer response:** Thank you so much! ### 5/5 — Great platform *2026-02-16, version 146* Always impressed by the new information ### 5/5 — Jamuan para elit global *2026-02-09, version 146* Yang ingin tahu rahasia ### 5/5 — Really great *2026-02-04* I use this to read HackerNews almost every day. Eventually I bought it to support the dev, and for dark mode. **Developer response:** Thank you! ### 5/5 — Hay thí *2026-01-09, version 146* Ối dồi ôi hay thí ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — used to be good, toxic dev see last edit *2026-06-11* i bought it when it was flawless. now it crashes and freezes. im using the website now and its way better. you dont need an app. Edit: Still freezes occasionally when you scroll down the comments. It started when liquid glass was introduced. Edit: Hi Dev, thanks for your response. The app still freezes when you collapse comments. I can send you a screenshot of the freeze but the bug will obviously not be visible. Maybe try using your own app for a few days and you will encounter the bug. Edit: Still happening. Last Edit: I sent you the footage. You responded to my criticism 4 times without taking me seriously. You introduced a bug into your app and now you cannot accept that i found it. Really dishonest behavior. I used to use the app regularly, but now it's unusable. I didn't want to talk trash about your app. I just wanted the bug to be fixed. Your passive aggressiveness is really off putting. i won't check anymore if your next update fixed the bug. Edit: Now you are just lying. I will not respond to you anymore. I sent proof and you ignored it. It's your problem, not mine. **Developer response:** June 30th Edit: Hello, I listen to user feedback and personally respond to all reviews and emails I receive. My app has received 156 updates over 8 years and that's been possible because of user feedback to constantly improve it and fix bugs. I also personally use the app daily, often for many hours. And my friends use it too. So it's important for me to maintain it, fix bugs, add new features etc. So, there's no reason for me to say I didn't receive your email. I have genuinely not received it. I have checked my spam folder and nothing there either. Sometimes emails from unfamiliar domains or iCloud emails have trouble delivering, so maybe you sent it and it didn't get to me? Spam folder also has auto-delete after few days, so maybe that happened? This isn't your fault and I am sorry for both, the bug you faced as well as this frustrating troubleshooting process. Ultimately, we both want the same thing - your issue be fixed. One important thing I'd add that a bit over a week ago, another user reported a bug where when having the "full screen swipe to go back" setting was on, the app would intermittently stop responding to touches. I hadn't encountered that bug because I used to use the app with that setting off. That setting also used to be off by default, so most users probably had it off. So, I turned on that setting and tested it for a few days until I faced that issue too where the app randomly stopped responding to touches. Basically, when swiping back and then cancelling the swipe, an invisible zombie view would be left around on top of the app which would steal touch events from underlying content. So, I rewrote the entire code for the "full screen swipe to go back" feature and released update version 156 which I believe resolved it. Because that bug was so intermittent and hard to reproduce, me and my other user are still verifying it's resolved but we haven't faced it in the last week of use. So, I think it's gone now. I am not sure if your issue was the same as this and if you had that setting on or not. The App Store review doesn't give me much details about your device and environment and I don't use third part crashlytics for privacy reasons. Only thing the review shows is that your app version was 155. So, hope you try version 156 and let me know. So, if the bug persists after upgrading to version 156, I would really appreciate if you reach out to me via email again so I can fix the issue. Please send me: 1. Video recording 2. What device you are using 3. What iOS or macOS version. 4. Screenshot of the settings page in my app. 5. Any more details of the issue. You can reach me at: pran@pranapps.com If your issue is resolved, hope you update your review :) ### 1/5 — The worst iOS app *2026-03-25, version 150* The irony of being the worst iOS app while being targeted at developers. ### 1/5 — Hack me bro *2026-01-04, version 146* BRO I SAID MY PASS IN THE APP AND THEY HACKED ME ### 1/5 — Horrible *2023-03-10, version 94* Horrible people ### 1/5 — update broke everything *2022-10-01, version 87* the new update broke the home screen of the app. It says I’m in the home section but it’s a blank page with no feed. Terrible app. ### 1/5 — App is breaking too often *2022-09-29, version 86* Very unreliable. Often loads with a blank page or loads all the links as posted “just now” with no comments and no ability to open comments ### 1/5 — Can’t buy premium *2021-09-29* Doesn’t work, error message „ Purchase Failed: The operation couldn't be completed.(SKErrorDomain error O.)“ with iPhone XS latest iOS 15, wlan or sim **Developer response:** Can you email me at pran@pranapps.com with what App Store country you are using as well as whether you are behind a proxy or vpn? ### 1/5 — Awful *2021-02-08* To use dark mode you should buy premium, seriously? In 2021? **Developer response:** My app gives dark mode for free on a per launch basis. So as long as you don’t force quit the app, dark mode should continue working. And even after a force quit and launch, you can simply switch is on again. This way I am able to provide all features for free including important features like commenting and voting and making new posts. If you have questions, you can email me at pran@pranapps.com ### 3/5 — La version française ! *2025-10-12* Il faut une version fR **Developer response:** Thank you for the feedback. I will work on localizing the app to French language. ### 3/5 — Probably the best for HN, still lacking *2023-06-18* No doubt this is the best HN app I’ve used but it doesn’t hold a candle to something like Apollo which I consider(ed) the gold standard for a link aggregator client. Tap targets are way too small, must but almost half of what the HIG recommends. I find it infuriating to try to tap the “…” or upvote button only to have it collapse the thread and rinse and repeat 3-10 times before it works. Reply notifications and logged in status in general is extremely buggy. I randomly get logged out so I’ll be browsing, go to upvote, and get a generic error. It’s at this point I’ll notice the “Downvote” option is missing but the app will still show me logged in. Sometimes the only fix is to kill the app and/or log out/in again. Similarly, clicking on the bell/notification icon will randomly tell me “You haven’t enabled reply notifications” which is a setting I’ve never toggled off, yet it gets toggled off on me without any action on my part. The app works well overall but interacting with posts and the inconsistent/buggy auth status drive me bonkers. **Developer response:** Regarding the buttons being too small, you can change that by increasing the “metadata font size” in the settings screen > “font sizes, compactness and padding”. Set it to something like 4 and I think it should be better. Regarding being logged out and notifications getting disabled, that sounds like a keychain issue on the phone. Has your phone had a repair recently? Email me at pran@pranapps.com if you have questions. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great app, stop the begging! *2026-11-01* The app is great, but why are you still nagging me to buy you a tip when I already purchased the life-time version for 15,00 EUR? Please stop the begging! ### 5/5 — Awesome app *2026-10-19, version 184* 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! ### 5/5 — Easy *2026-09-22* Simple et efficace ### 5/5 — Fantastic *2026-09-19* Does everything you could want from a HN reader and is continuously maintained. Fast, customizable and no subscription! Highly recommended **Developer response:** Thank you!! ### 5/5 — Awesome app *2026-09-12, version 170* 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! ### 5/5 — you will not regret buying this app! *2026-09-05, version 165* 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. ### 5/5 — Awesome app *2026-08-22, version 164* 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! ### 5/5 — Good but *2026-08-07, version 163* Can u guys pls add a tutorial and I need to get help but it kinda ez ### 5/5 — Solid App- across the board! *2026-07-26, version 163* This is my favorite app and is constantly improving. Great work, buddy! ### 5/5 — The best *2026-07-14* Love it! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-11-03.*