{"slug": "hack", "name": "HACK", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 10, "warners": 0, "score": 6.471, "rising": -1.96, "first": "2026-01-28", "latest": "2026-09-22", "why": "It's probably the most extensive HN client for iOS.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 4, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "It's probably the most extensive HN client for iOS.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["HACK", "Hack"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 785702720, "item_id": 49106420, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49106420", "by": "phatskat", "date": "2026-07-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "shoutout to HACK for iOS, it\u2019s a great HN reader", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve said it in a few other places here before, but axing Apollo is the reason I\u2019m on HN at all. I used to use Reddit daily to follow a few games and news subs, and was fairly active in a couple of those communities as a contributor. But I don\u2019t know that I miss Reddit all that much, save for a few small corners of the community. The discourse here is a lot more thoughtful, generally, and the community aspect is what", "context": "iOS user", "use_case": "reading Hacker News on iOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The coolest use for the Vision Pro"}, {"id": 779937169, "item_id": 48746073, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48746073", "by": "atombender", "date": "2026-07-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Personally I prefer HACK", "excerpt": "Always interesting to see new HN apps, and this one seems OK. Personally I prefer HACK [1], which is probably the most extensive HN client for iOS. The amount of options for controlling the look of the app means you can influence the reading experience quite a bit, which isn't true for this new app. My biggest complaint with HACK is search. Instead of a real UI, it uses its own kludgy search syntax to control what to", "context": "", "use_case": "Reading Hacker News on iOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client"}, {"id": 779936192, "item_id": 48746012, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48746012", "by": "atombender", "date": "2026-07-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's probably the most extensive HN client for iOS.", "excerpt": "You might like HACK [1], then. It has a large set of options (maybe too many!) to change fonts, styles, colors, and spacing. It's probably the most extensive HN client for iOS. [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-hacker-news-yc-reader/id1464477788", "context": "", "use_case": "Reading Hacker News on iOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client"}, {"id": 779930960, "item_id": 48745685, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48745685", "by": "_thisdot", "date": "2026-07-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The content is way more readable with the app.", "excerpt": "I have been using an app on my phone (HACK) for a while. The content is way more readable with the app. And the interactions (voting and replying) are much more native. Navigating the comments (collapsing and expanding) are way easier Also on the iPad, the two column view is nice too", "context": "", "use_case": "reading Hacker News on phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client"}, {"id": 759510240, "item_id": 47469390, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47469390", "by": "Obscurity4340", "date": "2026-03-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "HACK is a fantastic reader, highly recommended", "excerpt": "HACK is a fantastic reader, highly recommended", "context": "", "use_case": "Hacker News reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "The worst volume control UI in the world"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "Trung0246", "context": "Android user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809630", "date": "2026-09-22"}, {"by": "phatskat", "context": "iOS user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49106420", "date": "2026-07-29"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["reading hacker news on ios", "reading hacker news on phone", "reading hacker news on mobile", "coding font", "hacker news reader", "hn reader with keyword filter"], "compared": [], "makers": [{"id": 796996176, "item_id": 49812261, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49812261", "by": "busymom0", "date": "2026-09-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The update for the built-in browser issue got approved by Google and is now available on the Play Store.", "excerpt": "The update for the built-in browser issue got approved by Google and is now available on the Play Store. Please give it a try and let me know if you have any issues!", "context": "", "use_case": "Hacker News mobile client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Hack \u2013 my Hacker News mobile client now lets you block AI posts"}, {"id": 782559696, "item_id": 48909981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48909981", "by": "busymom0", "date": "2026-07-14", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If anyone is interested, it's called HACK and I am writing this comment from it.", "excerpt": "I have been publishing apps as a solo developer for a long time and every app I've published has been something I wanted for myself. For example, I spent so much time here on hacker news. So I wanted an app for a better experience. So I built my app almost a decade ago. Then people requested me build one for Android, so I built that too. I've similarly built various macOS apps which I use daily for myself. If anyone ", "context": "solo app developer", "use_case": "Hacker News client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Your 'App' Could Have Been a Webpage (so I fixed it for you)"}, {"id": 780108432, "item_id": 48756777, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48756777", "by": "busymom0", "date": "2026-07-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I am the developer of HACK, one of the top mobile apps for hacker news on iOS and Android, and Mac.", "excerpt": "I am the developer of HACK, one of the top mobile apps for hacker news on iOS and Android, and Mac. Location: based in Ottawa, Canada Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No Technologies: I am primarily an app developer for 16 years with lots of experience in iOS and macOS development specifically. So well experienced in swift, objective c, kotlin, Postgres, SQLite, Backend in rust and nodejs. I have done web development", "context": "app developer", "use_case": "Hacker News reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (July 2026)"}, {"id": 778675633, "item_id": 48667227, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48667227", "by": "busymom0", "date": "2026-06-24", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I am the developer of Hack, hacker news app on iOS and android", "excerpt": "I am primarily a mobile developer (I am the developer of Hack, hacker news app on iOS and android). While I have developed backends in rust and nodejs, I wanted to give swift a shot to see how it was. I used Vapor for the web server in swift. It was surprisingly pretty good experience and I am considering using it for my next project too.", "context": "mobile developer", "use_case": "Hacker News client", "switched_from": "", "story": "PostgreSQL Is Enough"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744778", "title": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49802005", "title": "Show HN: Hack \u2013 my Hacker News mobile client now lets you block AI posts", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49596629", "title": "Tiny $70 Xteink X3 e-reader", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49102774", "title": "The coolest use for the Vision Pro", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48869989", "title": "Your 'App' Could Have Been a Webpage (so I fixed it for you)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48747975", "title": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (July 2026)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 796954080, "item_id": 49809630, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809630", "by": "Trung0246", "date": "2026-09-22", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used HACK frequently on Android", "excerpt": "I used HACK frequently on Android, and recently there has been more sites started blocking built-in browser due to being old version. Is there any plan to upgrade it?", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "reading Hacker News on mobile", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Hack \u2013 my Hacker News mobile client now lets you block AI posts"}, {"id": 793591200, "item_id": 49599450, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49599450", "by": "darreninthenet", "date": "2026-09-07", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "except \"Hack\" for HN", "excerpt": "None, I use a Kobo for ebooks and mostly buy \"real\" paper books. But I was thinking this sounded like a great (and cheap) use case but then I thought why not just use my phone... I don't have any social media apps on my phone anymore except \"Hack\" for HN... as you imply, too much temptation to distraction. I haven't missed them at all.", "context": "", "use_case": "reading Hacker News on phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tiny $70 Xteink X3 e-reader"}, {"id": 785702720, "item_id": 49106420, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49106420", "by": "phatskat", "date": "2026-07-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "shoutout to HACK for iOS, it\u2019s a great HN reader", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve said it in a few other places here before, but axing Apollo is the reason I\u2019m on HN at all. I used to use Reddit daily to follow a few games and news subs, and was fairly active in a couple of those communities as a contributor. But I don\u2019t know that I miss Reddit all that much, save for a few small corners of the community. The discourse here is a lot more thoughtful, generally, and the community aspect is what", "context": "iOS user", "use_case": "reading Hacker News on iOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The coolest use for the Vision Pro"}, {"id": 779937169, "item_id": 48746073, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48746073", "by": "atombender", "date": "2026-07-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Personally I prefer HACK", "excerpt": "Always interesting to see new HN apps, and this one seems OK. Personally I prefer HACK [1], which is probably the most extensive HN client for iOS. The amount of options for controlling the look of the app means you can influence the reading experience quite a bit, which isn't true for this new app. My biggest complaint with HACK is search. Instead of a real UI, it uses its own kludgy search syntax to control what to", "context": "", "use_case": "Reading Hacker News on iOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client"}, {"id": 779936192, "item_id": 48746012, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48746012", "by": "atombender", "date": "2026-07-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's probably the most extensive HN client for iOS.", "excerpt": "You might like HACK [1], then. It has a large set of options (maybe too many!) to change fonts, styles, colors, and spacing. It's probably the most extensive HN client for iOS. [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hack-for-hacker-news-yc-reader/id1464477788", "context": "", "use_case": "Reading Hacker News on iOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client"}, {"id": 779930960, "item_id": 48745685, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48745685", "by": "_thisdot", "date": "2026-07-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The content is way more readable with the app.", "excerpt": "I have been using an app on my phone (HACK) for a while. The content is way more readable with the app. And the interactions (voting and replying) are much more native. Navigating the comments (collapsing and expanding) are way easier Also on the iPad, the two column view is nice too", "context": "", "use_case": "reading Hacker News on phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client"}, {"id": 761312112, "item_id": 47582007, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47582007", "by": "aidenn0", "date": "2026-03-30", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Ended up with Hack", "excerpt": "Ended up with Hack, but it is missing the font I use[1]. I think I could live with hack. It's amazing to me how many of the fonts in this bracket have lower-case ell and one as nearly identical (both with a line at the base and some protrusion to the left at the top). On improvement would be to allow scalling different fonts to different sizes. With them all at (e.g.) 16pt, there is a wildly different amount of text ", "context": "", "use_case": "coding font", "switched_from": "", "story": "CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font"}, {"id": 759510240, "item_id": 47469390, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47469390", "by": "Obscurity4340", "date": "2026-03-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "HACK is a fantastic reader, highly recommended", "excerpt": "HACK is a fantastic reader, highly recommended", "context": "", "use_case": "Hacker News reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "The worst volume control UI in the world"}, {"id": 759107104, "item_id": 47444194, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47444194", "by": "fragmede", "date": "2026-03-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "or use an app like Hack.", "excerpt": "Sign up to https://www.hnreplies.com/ or just have AI build your own in whatever shape you want it to be. or use an app like Hack.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How do you keep up with replies to your posts/comments?"}, {"id": 756546768, "item_id": 47284173, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47284173", "by": "gjohnhazel", "date": "2026-03-06", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the Hack iOS app I use for Hacker News automatically opens articles in Safari\u2019s Reader view", "excerpt": "The hilarious thing is that the Hack iOS app I use for Hacker News automatically opens articles in Safari\u2019s Reader view, which ignores the CSS, so everything was normal looking until I finished reading and took it out of Reader mode, e.g. all of the text was normal init caps, the double hyphens were em dashes, etc", "context": "", "use_case": "reading Hacker News on iOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "CSS Proves Me Human"}, {"id": 748734592, "item_id": 46795912, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795912", "by": "wappieslurkz", "date": "2026-01-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the amazing HN-reader app called Hack", "excerpt": "This might be an open door, but I use the amazing HN-reader app called Hack which offers a filter that hides posts via a list of keywords you can manage. Of course some false negatives happen this way, but I don't mind about that.", "context": "", "use_case": "HN reader with keyword filter", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Stopped Following the News"}]}