nowfound

Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to A simple Hackernews client for iOS and Android

We at Emerge Tools (YC W21) recently released open source Hacker News apps for both iOS and Android. The apps use the latest SwiftUI and Compose frameworks and are entirely native. Our goal is to help dogfood our products, but more importantly our team just enjoys reading HN every day and wanted an app to hack on and call our own. :) We are still missing some features but should otherwise be pretty solid. And open to any contributions. iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hacker-news-by-emerge/id674092... Android:…

Emerge Tools released open-source Hacker News apps for iOS and Android built with SwiftUI and Compose frameworks. The native applications allow users to browse Hacker News stories on mobile devices. The team created… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

  1. 1

    macOS HackerNews client that aims to be a Mac-assed Mac app. Written in Swift + AppKit. - goranmoomin/HackerNews

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Hey HN! I built a native macOS desktop client for Hacker News and I'm open-sourcing it under the MIT license. GitHub: https://github.com/IronsideXXVI/Hacker-News Download (signed & notarized DMG, macOS 14.0+): https://github.com/IronsideXXVI/Hacker-News/releases Screenshots: https://github.com/IronsideXXVI/Hacker-News#screenshots I spend a lot of time reading HN — I wanted something that felt like a proper Mac app: a sidebar for browsing stories, an integrated reader for articles, and comment threading — all in one window.…

    Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    I read HN on my phone every day and never really settled on a reader, so I wrote my own and finally tidied it up enough to put out there. It's plain SwiftUI with no third-party dependencies. A few things I spent the most time on: Comments are parsed and drawn as native text instead of being dumped into a web view. Links, italics, quotes and code blocks behave like the rest of the OS, text selection works, and threads collapse instantly. The whole comment tree comes back from the Algolia API in a single request, which felt a lot nicer than walking the Firebase API node by node. Accessibility.…

    Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    This is probably the first Hacker News client on AppStore that uses the newly introduced official Firebase HN API. One of the cool features of the new API are updates pushed in real time. There’s...

    2014 · hnclient.weebly.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5
    HackerWeb▲189

    A simply readable Hacker News app

    2017 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    I love HN but always felt the search with algolia is okay but does have some limitations. Since I work at Vectara I decided to try and create a better search for HN. It's based on data from roughly the last 6 months of HN stories and comments. Would love to hear feedback and how useful this is relative to the existing search.

    2024 · hackernews.demo.vectara.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    A Kotlin/Swing desktop application front-end for Hacker News - westoncb/HNDesktop

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Modern iOS app for reading Hacker News

    2019 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    A simple and readable Hacker News app

    2016 · hackerwebapp.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    We believe the best software is built when devs seriously use the thing they're building. We're a mobile dev tools company (emergetools.com), but we don't actually build & ship "apps"... until now. Excited to share our first open-source app: Hacker News for Android Any feedback/PRs very welcome on the repo. We also wrote about why we built and open-sourced this HN app here: https://www.emergetools.com/blog/posts/open-sourcing-emerge-...

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11HN
  12. 12

    Download HACK for Hacker News YC Reader by Pranoy Chowdhury on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more apps like HACK for…

    2019 · itunes.apple.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    HackerNews reader powered by Algolia's API

    2020 · play.google.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    Native mobile experience forged for Hacker News. Journey through stories, delve into comments, vote, post and more.

    Jul 2026 · hackernows.app · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    I actually started it June 2011 to learn iOS, launched it in September, and have been steadily adding features and making improvements. It's something I use every day and I hope other people find it useful. Enjoy!

    2012 · itunes.apple.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16MF

    I finally released my first iOS app following the excellent tips give on https://designcode.io/.I have open sourced the app https://github.com/NikantVohra/HackerNewsClient-iOS. I know there are lots of Hacker News Clients on App Store but I made this app just to learn something new and not with the motive of competing with anyone.I would love to get the feedback of the HN community on this app. The App store link for the app is https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hn-app/id983203003?ls=1&mt=8.

    2015 · its alternatives →

  17. 17AH
  18. 18AH

    This app and widget and related code is free to use for anyone. This was a side project to learn Android, Kotlin and the many libraries that came along with it. Screenshots in the Google Play link above. app code: https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-app backend api: https://github.com/ddxv/hackernews-api There are many Hacker News apps, but this one focused on two features: - Widgets: This app supports dynamic widgets using Compose Glance. The widgets can be themed and set up with one of the three main categories: "New", "Top" and "Best". - Themes: Both…

    2023 · play.google.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19
    hn.▲78

    Yet another client to browse Hacker News

    2016 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20MF
  21. 21ID
  22. 22

    Download HACK for Hacker News YC Reader by Pranoy Chowdhury on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips and more apps like HACK for Hacker…

    2020 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Alerts, AI summaries, and easy search for Hacker News

    2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24HN

    I was frustrated with current native HN Android apps so I created my own. Very clean. No ads or 'Hire Me' messages. Here's what it does: * Homepage news * Newest * Best * Ask HN * Comments * Home screen Widget * Saving news items for later reading Download here: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.glebpopov.hackernews

    2011 · market.android.com · its alternatives →

Also compare

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →