nowfound

Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to HacKit, a macOS app for reading Hacker News stories and polls

I wrote a macOS app for reading Hacker News stories and polls and recently released version 3.0 with new features. It is written in Swift and uses AppKit framework. It is a Mac-first app which is built for the macOS design language. It looks and feels and works like a proper macOS app made with love and care. It is not a port of an iOS nor an iPadOS app nor anything else. I am quite proud of it and I hope you can appreciate it too. So, I recently updated it to version 3.0 with new features such as tracking stories by marking it as (un)read, (un)favourite and (un)hidden. There is also folder…

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. HacKit, a macOS app for reading Hacker News stories and polls launched in 2022; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  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

    Download HacKit by Ammad Ur Rehman on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips and more games like HacKit.

    2021 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    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 →

  4. 4

    Modern iOS app for reading Hacker News

    2019 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5HH
  6. 6

    The latest macOS offers the world’s best way to play — and add to — your collection of music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks, and more.

    2014 · itunes.apple.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

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

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Hacker News client for macOS. Contribute to mattrighetti/HNReaderApp development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9HF

    2013 · whimsyapps.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    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 →

  11. 11

    A minimal Hacker News reader for Apple Watch built with SwiftUI. - wieslawsoltes/HackerNewsWatch

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  12. 12HN

    I made a Hacker News reader for iOS with React Native and Redux. It was mostly for me to learn more about React Native, but I'm really happy with the result. Let me know what you think! I'm hoping to add a lot more features, the first being a settings page with some color settings and dark mode. App: https://appsto.re/us/czg7hb.i Code: https://github.com/seanyesmunt/hackernews

    2017 · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    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 →

  14. 14

    A simple and readable Hacker News app

    2016 · hackerwebapp.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15AH
  16. 16

    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:…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17
    Hackero▲148

    An unbiased reader for Hacker News

    2019 · its alternatives →

  18. 18HN

    Since I got an iPad I was looking for a better Hacker News reading experience than the one you can get using the web version. On the iPhone I use the ihackernews.com web app (and soon going to try news.yc). It's decent for the iPhone, but it doesn't scale good on the iPad. To my surprise, when I checked there was no decent iPad app for HN (i.e. lacking ability to comment or vote, no readability support and more). I anyway wanted to give a try to iPad development, and was looking for an interesting project to work on. Making HN reader app seemed as a good candidate. Over the last weekend I…

    2011 · bit.ly · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    The iPhone version of News/YC, a Hacker News reader and interactive iOS application. - bennyguitar/News-YC---iPhone

    2013 · github.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20EM

    Yesterday I decided I wanted to experiment with different ways of reading HN. After considering a few options, I settled on a Mac app and spent a couple of hours planning/sketching on paper. This morning I fired up Xcode and spent 4 hours hacking away and I must say I'm liking how it's looking. Since the project is in its very early stages, I though that it could be a very good time to get some feedback. I've posted a few screenshots at http://imgur.com/a/rCbVN and uploaded a binary at http://abra.rm-fr.net/~fiam/HackerNews.zip If you have some free time, give a try and let me know what you…

    2011 · imgur.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21
    Boreal▲165

    A Hacker News iOS app

    2015 · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    I create a free HackerNews reader App for iPhone/iPod touch. I have worked really hard 2 months. You can vote / reply the news. I appreciate any feedback, any reviews to me. Thanks very very much. You can download it from: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hackernews+-free/id490595576?mt=8 You can download it from: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hackernews+-free/id490595576?mt=8

    2012 · itunes.apple.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23
    HackerWeb▲189

    A simply readable Hacker News app

    2017 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24HA

    Hey everyone! I built HackLens, a modern Android/IOS app for browsing Hacker News with a cleaner and smoother reading experience. Why I built it I love Hacker News, but wanted: a cleaner reading experience better topic discovery modern UI lightweight performance So I built HackLens. Key features 1. Clean, modern UI inspired by minimal reading apps 2. Fast browsing of Hacker News stories 3. AI-powered summaries to quickly grasp key points 4. Read full articles directly from the source 5. Trending stories (last 1h, 6h, or 24h) 6. Built-in search to find stories and topics 7. Topic…

    Jan 2026 · 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 →