Why doesn't HN have a mobile app?

If a mobile app results in higher Reddit-esque behavior then I'm permanently opposed to a mobile app.

I just use the browser, it works well enough for me. There are apps people have made.

Without ads, the incentives aren’t such that they should want to drive excessive engagement.

If they created a simple webview app and framed the website would you use that or the website in your browser? I am just curious to what the OP classes as "convience and accessibility".

I find this an interesting topic. Since many users have requested my websites have an app, but I'm loathed to go through all the hoops of the app stores.

You can just add the site to your home screen on Android / iOS - that addresses the convenience point IMHO.

I’m also not sure how an HN app (buried among the trillions of other in the respective app store) would necessarily be any more "discoverable" than the site itself.

Octal is the best one. Typing this comment from it right now.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/octal-for-hacker-news/id130888...

I'm replying to this using Hacki. Glider has treated me well too. Both are available on F-Droid.

I use Octal which does everything I would need. Night mode, Pleasant UI, and lightweight

What’s wrong with reading HN in a browser? What problem are you trying to solve?

It doesn't need one?

The main problem with why mobile apps aren't very convenient is that even on Octal, in heated debates on HN it becomes extremely difficult to read nested comment threads. Personally, I lack focus when a parent comment generates a comment tree with deep nesting on the web, let alone on mobile clients.

What's really missing is a userscript like on imageboards where under each comment there's a link showing who replied to it, with auto expansion preview of in depth reply hierarchy. But honestly, it's not that hard to do now. Just give the task to Codex or Claude Code.

For those seeking ways to track replies to their messages, HNRSS[0] exists.

I don't even visit HN, I just pull the filtered RSS feed, and engage where I feel I'm interested or can provide value.

[0]: https://hnrss.github.io/#reply-feeds

> My reddit usage grew massively

and that's a good thing?

I'm halfway glad HN doesn't have a mobile app. You're not incentivized to maintain karma here like reddit does. HN's unsaid rules make it harder to gain karma and seem to improve the quality overall compared to /r/programming. Have you noticed you can't downvote yet?