Welcome to Plain Hacker News
Hacker News is one of the best places on the internet to find out what’s actually happening in tech. It’s also a place that’s easy to fall into and hard to put down. Plain Hacker News is an attempt to fix that.
It’s an Android client built around a single idea: give you the parts of HN you actually use, and get out of the way.
What’s inside
- Top, New, Ask, Show and Jobs feeds. The standard HN lists, rendered fast.
- Search. Algolia full-text search as you type, with your words highlighted.
- Threaded comments. Tap any comment to open its replies on their own screen, without losing your place in the story.
- Keyword alerts. Add a keyword and the app checks the top stories in the background, notifying you only when something matches.
- Read history. Stories you’ve opened fade out so you can see what’s new.
- A home screen widget. The latest stories, one tap away.
What’s not inside
No account. No login. No endless settings maze. The app talks to the Hacker News API for stories and comments, and to Algolia for search.
Your lists stay on your device
Your read history and keyword list are stored locally with DataStore, and keyword matching runs on-device. The app does send anonymous usage analytics; the privacy policy covers exactly what.
We’re just getting started. If you have feedback, we’d love to hear it. Reach out through the contact page or email us at hey@itsjzt.com.