# HN Reader - Hacker News Reader

> Offline Hacker News reader with Today widget and Safari Reading List integration. (iPhone/iPad app by Thomas Ricouard.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hn-reader-hacker-news-reader/id919243741 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Thomas Ricouard](https://appshunter.io/developer/372456982)
- Category: News
- Price: Free
- Rating: 1.80/5 from 5 App Store ratings · 15 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 17+
- Requires: iOS 8.0 · 12 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2014-09-24
- Data updated: 2026-07-02
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hn-reader-hacker-news-reader/id919243741/reviews.md

## What is HN Reader?

HN Reader is made for iOS 8 and entirely developed in Swift.

Never miss a news again, HN Reader feature a useful today widget which is refreshed every time you pull down the notification center. You can quickly read the latest titles and open Safari from there.

Apart from that, HN Reader fully works offline, the news feed is refreshed in background using the iOS background refresh feature and provide some solid caching mechanisms.

You can also save the article to the Safari Reading List with a simple cell swipe. The Safari Reading List is a powerful tool because each article added is saved for offline reading. In the future you'll be able to automatically send latest articles to the Safari Reading List.

Like any good Hacker News client HN Reader let you read the comments for any item. 

It works on both iPhone & iPad with the same set of features. 

At the moment HN Reader doesn't allow you to login with your Hacker News account, it's a read-only app. But this feature alongside some others will be added soon!

The applications is also totally open source, so if you want to add some features or speedup the development of some others, you can!

The goal when I decided to begin the development of HN Reader was to create a new application from nothing entirely in Swift tailored for iOS 8. With the less amount of code possible. In future updates I want to stay true to this statement.

## Key features

- Offline reading
- Today widget integration
- Background refresh
- Save to Safari Reading List
- Read comments
- Open source

## Recent user reviews (10 of 15)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hn-reader-hacker-news-reader/id919243741/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Nice Open Source project - HN Reader does what it says on the tin!

*2023-06-24, version 1.4*

Well done to the developer. This is a well-written Open Source project which does a good job of rendering the content from YCombinator Hacker News on iOS platforms.

### 1/5 — Can't view comments

*2017-08-29, version 1.4*

Everything is listed as having 0 comments.

### 2/5 — Good app but no comments

*2017-05-27, version 1.4*

I've never been able to see comments with this app.  Latest iOS using 6s+

### 1/5 — Comments don't work

*2016-09-21, version 1.4*

The app can't show comments

### 4/5 — Good app, works well on watch, but comments bug!

*2016-03-26, version 1.4*

The names of the commenters appear, but there is never any text under any of them. Please fix! :(

### 3/5 — No comments

*2015-08-30, version 1.4*

Looks promising but all the comments are blank in this version. Would love pinboard.in integration too.

### 1/5 — Doesn't show comments

*2015-08-08, version 1.4*

Seems to be broken, comments aren't loading in this version

### 1/5 — worse with each version

*2015-04-16, version 1.3.1*

totally broken, displays just empty list

When it works, the app has some serious omissions: there are no back/forward buttons in the in-app web-browser. It also doesn't allow you to visually distinguish between new, read and old articles.

It doesn't allow you to open a page in Safari before it's fully loaded

### 1/5 — Broken

*2015-01-20, version 1.2*

The article list loads but it doesn't display number of votes, number of comments or how long ago the link was posted. Hitting the comments button loads a empty screen instead of comments. Presumably needs an update to match HN's current API

### 5/5 — Cool

*2014-11-17, version 1.2*

Great so far, nice UX. The app icon could look nicer :)

## Frequently asked questions about HN Reader

### What is HN Reader?

HN Reader is an open-source application for iOS devices that allows you to read Hacker News articles and comments. It is developed entirely in Swift and focuses on providing a streamlined reading experience.

### Does HN Reader work offline?

Yes, HN Reader fully works offline. It refreshes the news feed in the background and uses caching mechanisms to ensure you can access articles even without an internet connection.

### Can I save articles with HN Reader?

Yes, you can save articles to your Safari Reading List with a simple cell swipe. This allows you to read them later offline, as each article added is saved for offline reading.

### Does HN Reader have ads?

No, HN Reader does not contain advertisements. It is a free application with no in-app purchases or ads.

### What devices does HN Reader support?

HN Reader works on both iPhone and iPad, offering the same set of features across both platforms. It is also compatible with iPod.

### Can I log in to my Hacker News account with HN Reader?

Currently, HN Reader is a read-only app and does not allow you to log in with your Hacker News account. This feature is planned for future updates.

### How often is HN Reader updated?

HN Reader was last updated on June 22, 2015, to version 1.4. The developer aims to stay true to the original statement of creating the application with minimal code and plans to add more features in the future.

### What is the user sentiment for HN Reader?

Based on the available data, HN Reader has a rating of 1.8 stars from 5 ratings, indicating a generally negative user sentiment. This suggests users may have experienced issues or unmet expectations with the application.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.4 — 2015-06-22

This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.

- Watch app to read the news feed and comments.

### 1.3.1 — 2015-02-19

- Fix comments and date.
- Fix crashes.

### 1.3 — 2015-01-29

- Fix a crash in post with a lot of comments
- Fix username, comments and votes count

### 1.2 — 2014-10-01

- You can now switch to the Show HN category from the categories menu.
- Fix some typos.

### 1.1 — 2014-09-24

No release notes.

## Apps similar to HN Reader

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [HNreader - Tech News](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hnreader-tech-news/id1498482288) | — | Free | News |
| [Hacker Feed](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hacker-feed/id1451386900) | 4.8 (390) | Free | News |
| [HNR - Hacker News Reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hnr-hacker-news-reader/id6443591042) | 5.0 (2) | Free | News |
| [Flamingo Reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/flamingo-reader/id817164332) | — | Free | News |
| [Native Reader for Hacker News](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/native-reader-for-hacker-news/id931789125) | 4.2 (5) | Free | News |
| [HN Reader - YC Reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hn-reader-yc-reader/id1519671235) | — | Free | News |

## More apps by Thomas Ricouard

- [Cryptos Ticker](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cryptos-ticker/id1320604119)
- [AC Helper](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ac-helper/id1508764244)
- [Ice Cubes for Mastodon](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ice-cubes-for-mastodon/id6444915884)

All apps by Thomas Ricouard: https://appshunter.io/developer/372456982

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*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 2026-07-02.*