Best client I have used so far
The Liquid Glass update is mostly great with one minor issue: the In-App web view now opens from the bottom, making the swipe back gesture no longer possible. A switch to change to the old behavior would be appreciated as swiping down from the top isn’t as easy.
Good but missing some web features
Good but missing fading comment text based on rep
So simple, so (nearly) perfect.
Love the app, have been using it for years.
However, a recent update (accidentally?) removed the "collapse root" feature from the context menu.
Pretty please bring that small affordance back.
However, a recent update (accidentally?) removed the "collapse root" feature from the context menu.
Pretty please bring that small affordance back.
Good
Its pretty good
Response from developer
This has been fixed with 5.1.0. Thanks for the feedback!
Excellent overall, but search needs work
The UI is well designed, intuitive, attractive. It’s my preferred way to read HN.
But I use the search a lot, and it’s very primitive. I typically have to switch to my desktop’s browser to find anything.
The number one thing missing is a date filter. Preferably that allows selecting start/end dates, but even just a dropdown with common ranges would suffice.
HN has a lot of content about topics that move quickly, so I often want to see results from the last X time period. But sort by date, and only see bad submissions that never got traction. Sort by relevance and see popular submissions from 12 years ago. And a hard cap on number of results, so I can’t dig deeper even if I wanted to. It leaves much to be desired.
But I use the search a lot, and it’s very primitive. I typically have to switch to my desktop’s browser to find anything.
The number one thing missing is a date filter. Preferably that allows selecting start/end dates, but even just a dropdown with common ranges would suffice.
HN has a lot of content about topics that move quickly, so I often want to see results from the last X time period. But sort by date, and only see bad submissions that never got traction. Sort by relevance and see popular submissions from 12 years ago. And a hard cap on number of results, so I can’t dig deeper even if I wanted to. It leaves much to be desired.
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Terrible design update
Why ruin UX for everyone and make the website open with half an inch less screen space? This is ridiculous.
Last update not great
Lost the option to never use the internal browser, dont know if its a bug or intended behavior
Response from developer
This has been fixed with 5.1.0. Thanks for the feedback!
Pretty good
The app works pretty well on both iphone and ipad, far better than the hacked news website. It's often pretty responsive, though sometimes there are delays when refreshing the home page or loading an article's comments.
Random crashes
The update released around June 16, 2026 randomly crashes when viewing an article's comments. This is an annoying regression for an app which has worked flawlessly for many years.
Just works
The reader that just works. Got the right set of features and is only a few MB large.
Excellent
Neat and does the job
Easily the best HN app
One of my most used apps daily because I’m addicted to HN. This is a well implemented version of it, worth the few dollars for the upgrade.
Clean Design
Octal has the clean design I expect from a dedicated app that allows me to consume Hacker News.
Best in class, with room to grow
Been using it since launch, and the app has only gotten better, clean design, fast performance…
It doesn’t do everything perfectly, and there’s room to grow, but it’s actively maintained and hits all the marks that matter. Four stars because there’s still upside… five will come.
It doesn’t do everything perfectly, and there’s room to grow, but it’s actively maintained and hits all the marks that matter. Four stars because there’s still upside… five will come.
Excellent native experience
Excellent native experience
Worth it
The most iPhone native HN app. I looked around at all others, and this one is just the best designed so it was an easy decision to make the one-off purchase and unlock all features. Though it lacks a few features compared to Hacki, and can run up against API throttling.
Great for iPhone, okay for iPad
Missing a way to collapse/expand the sidebar on iPad in portrait or landscape without going into Octal settings and turning off Split View entirely.
disappointed that basic functionality like swiping to dismiss a post I don’t want to read is missing
Title says it all
Love it
Great little app that makes using the site on mobile a delight. Thanks for keeping it simple.
Looks good but missing some basics
First impression it’s a much cleaner UI than the archaic HN website. However, there’s a couple of important and basic features in the web interface that are missing here: (1) dead/buried comments (those downvoted to zero or less) are not indicated, whereas the web interface fades them out (2) there’s no way to search inside a thread, something that’s easily done in the browser via ctrl-f.
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