Octal for Hacker News Reviews

by CHEEbigTOE

Great app, probably the best for HN but it messes up screen time.

Multiple times I've noticed that the story links opened through this app show up as constantly open on screen time and adds up total hours. I think it happens only when I close Octal through app switcher while the link is still open.

by Atlasom

It’s the best one to use. Latest version is missing the comments button though.

Now each story goes to comments instead of the story. Keeping them separate was better as most of the time I want to read the story first.

by Revisedadviser

While viewing the comments section of an article on iPhone in portrait, rotating the device to landscape, and then back to portrait kicks me back to the list feed. While viewing the article list, rotating to landscape, and then back to portrait scrolls the article list down and makes me lose my place. It’s very disorienting, and I don’t usually turn my orientation lock on so it always happens by accident. Other than that, fantastic work!

by Nilkn

One of the best iOS HN clients. Gladly paid a few bucks for the premium upgrade. The one issue I have is the interface for writing comments seems a little broken. If the comment I’m trying to reply to is long, that comment will occupy the screen and block/cover up the comment I’m composing (along with the on-screen keyboard). I’d like to see this fixed and then this will likely be my go-to HN app. In the meantime, I’ll probably stick to MiniHack or just the website if I intend to write comments. Either way thanks for all the work that clearly went into this.

by Jbwiv

I've really enjoyed my experience with this app so far and the author has done a great job. Two things would make it much better, though:

1. I often send articles (actually, links to HN discussions) to myself via Gmail, but when doing so this app doesn't populate the email subject with the name of the article. That means I have to manually type in the name of the article each time if I want to easily pull them up later. i’m hoping this will be a simple fix that the author will consider making happen.
2. The upper buttons could be a little easier to use. Half the times I end up clicking on the article instead.

Otherwise, great work. Keep it up and I appreciate it!

by Tri Minh Pham

Since you only support new iOS versions. I think system icons come with iOS might look better than the one you are using within Octal . Also the navigation bar animation is somewhat distracting. I would suggest that you consider using something more native to iOS.

by Bay-ish

I was having some issues with larger text sizes being out of place. Also, not sure if it’s intentional, but the scroll button on the bottom right jumps pretty unexpectedly. I would expect it to “go-to-bottom”, but it kind of does whatever it wants.

Seems like most issues, among others, were fixed – thank you, and best

by Unstatusthequo

Love Octal ! My only request is to make the upvote arrow bigger. It’s pretty tiny and often when trying to upvote, you end up clicking the story headline and being whisked to the thread instead of upvoting.

by Chompweenie

This is by far the best iOS HN client. I’ve been using it for years now. It would be nice if the downvoting functionality was supported. Occasionally there is a thread where incentivizing community guidelines via downvote is needed (:

Great job.

by James Glenos

I was previously using an older HN client with some issues. After recently moving to this one I am happy with the change and would recommend to others. Clean interface and well worth the IAP upgrade.

by Dfinninger

Does exactly what I need, and gets out of my way otherwise. The interface is easy to navigate and looks good. I never think about it, just like the actual HackerNews site.

by G17_____

The progress of features, stability and quality is clearly visible over time.
Way above average, include much better than many unprofessional apps by big names.
It is now my 2nd favorite HN reader, especially for new posts and paywalled links.
Very good readability mode.

by AnthOlei

Bought premium not because I like to comment but that Octal is so great I felt like not paying was a crime.

One feature request - please add a “swipe left to dismiss” when I click on a post. I click on a post and the post comes in from the right - after I am done reading my finger needs to go to the top of the screen to click the back button. I’d like to be able to just swipe LTR to go back to the posts list.

Thanks!

by Benjamin B. Bebberson

If you read HN or simply want to follow the latest tech news, Octal is a must-have. this app is Incredibly fast, well-designed, and has every feature you need - whether you’re a lurker or an active contributor.

by Hermetic-reverse

This is the best HN reader I have found, and I’ve tried quite a few. I paid for full/premium, which allows you to post/comment and offers more customization options. I haven’t encountered any bugs and overall it’s a solid interface to one of my favorite sites for a reasonable price.

by Nachosifter

This is my preferred HN reader on both iPhone and iPad. When this app stopped working for a little while, I tried out a number of other readers and seriously started missing this app’s features and smooth interface. Great to see this app updates once again!

by Rxsel

With the absolute BARGAIN 1 time premium purchase this app becomes the best way to consume HackerNews PERIOD.

Better than both the mobile and desktop sites with AMAZING, yet minimal and not feature crazy, ways to customize the experience (font size, tweaking how compact the lists are, dark mode, etc).

One of the best app downloads, if not THE BEST I’ve ever made.

by Connormulcahey

Tried all the other HN clients on Octal Store I can find and this is the only one that’s been good enough to not go back to bookmarking the website to my home screen. Was even thinking of making my own!

Essentially all I want the same behavior / UI / features as Apollo for Reddit. HN is a lot like a subreddit so I prefer not to have rewrite my brain to use it. The tap to collapse comments and true dark mode are the two biggest things thing that were missing on others.

Only thing I can think of adding: dark background or more-orange-less-white icon so it looks good in iOS 13 dark mode, and Apollo style swipe to upvote / downvote comments.

Worth the $2.99 for sure if the developer can continue to support it. 👍

by Joiedevivre099

This is the best app for HN, and love how the developer is responsive. The only suggestion I have is to somehow distinguish the quoted comment from the reply for better readability. Instead of the > symbol used now to indicate a quoted comment, maybe change the font color to more clearly distinguish. For instance, in Apollo for Reddit, the quoted comment is grey with a margin line to clearly differentiate between the quoted comment and the actual reply.

by BradKnowles

The developer has continued to support Octal and make enhancements, including a recent update to let me share either the original story URL or the HN link with the comments, and that correctly picks up the subject line when sending by e-mail.

I can’t wait to see how Octal continues to evolve!

by MC Hampster

Absolutely the best, most modern HN client I have used. Only complaint would be the animation of collapsing comments makes it a little hard to keep my context, especially if I have already scrolled into a comment.