Open sourcing Harmonic
Consumer and social
hacker news client
SHOW HN2023
Legend
Open sourcing Harmonic
Always good to hear from the day 1 OG:s :) I also went through the ritual of trying almost all available HN…
github.com305points
98comments
#142of 3,109 in 2023
Top 5%of 2023 by points
How HN took it
LovedMost comments that take a side are positive
39 positive, 11 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 0 critical, out of 54 comments about the project. Thread score +0.69.
Design: 14 for, 0 againstExecution: 1 for, 0 againstDocs: 1 for, 0 againstPerformance: 1 for, 0 againstIdea: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Beautiful, minimal UI and smooth experience
From 4 comments
Hey there Simon, thanks for writing this great app. Although you said that you wouldn't call the architecture of the app a beauty, I think the UI really stands out as a pretty…
Reubend on HNI absolutely love Harmonic! Great UI/UX and nice attention to details. Almost prefer browsing HN using it rather than the website :) Thank you for open sourcing!
kawemi on HNI love Harmonic! Browsing HN is so much more enjoyable with it than with the website. The UI is great too. Thanks for making and open sourcing the app!
lostin on HNThank you, can't express how beautiful the Harmonic client is.
rounakdatta on HN
Favourite HN client after trying many others
From 3 comments
Another daily Harmonic user of a few years standing here. I tried a good few HN clients until I clicked with Harmonic and never looked back. I find it to be one of those rare…
j_french on HNFirst of all, thank you for creating this app. A couple of years ago you've finally put an end to my decade of looking for a decent HN client for Android and I haven't looked…
MartinodF on HNThanks for developing, and now open sourcing, Harmonic. It has been my favorite HN client for a few years now, something to it that make you not want to leave!
vardhanw on HN
Thanks for open sourcing it
From 3 comments
Been using it for years, fantastic that it's going to be open-source now too!
rockemsockem on HNBeen using Harmonic daily for a few years now and I love it so much, it's an incredibly well made app. Thanks for making it, awesome that it's open source now as well!
ejj28 on HNI usually refrain from installing apps from Aurora Store instead of F-Droid, but Harmonic is the one app for which I oblige. Thanks a lot for open-sourcing it. I wait for the…
wantguns on HN
Objections
Occasional crashes, mostly WebView crashes per maker
From 2 comments
I've had Harmonic on my phone for maybe two years now. Best UI out of all the HN reader apps I've tried. Still I go through perioids of using the app to read HN and then…
cudder on HNHey thanks for the kind words! About the "tabbing" behavior; I know Sync for Reddit on tablets introduced a version of this a while back but as you say getting the UX of this…
swesnow on HN
No widget support
From 2 comments
I tried it for a few minutes, I really like it But the lack of widget support is a deal breaker for me I usually just unlock my phone, see top stories directly and then click on…
CuteDepravity on HNYeah a widget is something that would be nice - I don't use them heavily myself so I guess that's a big reason for why they are not there right now. I do remember Materialistic…
swesnow on HN
Bookmarks cannot be synced to desktop easily
From 2 comments
Big fan of the app. One thing that have bothered me a bit though are bookmarks. Is there any way to sync them with the built in HN functionality? I often bookmark threads with…
suddenclarity on HNYeah this is something that has been on my mind. It is possible because I know other apps do this but I haven't looked into details of the API. I totally get the appeal and have…
swesnow on HN
Requests
Sync bookmarks with desktop or automate export
From 3 comments
Big fan of the app. One thing that have bothered me a bit though are bookmarks. Is there any way to sync them with the built in HN functionality? I often bookmark threads with…
suddenclarity on HNIs there a way of automating the export of bookmarks in the app? I'm thinking of exporting bookmarks regularly to a network drive and then having a script check for new content…
pylbrecht on HNAlso a big fan here, who would love to have the ability to sync bookmarks to his desktop PC. I'm usually just bookmarking while commuting (or sitting on the toilet), but prefer…
pylbrecht on HN
Deep linking for news.ycombinator links
From 2 comments
Love love love Harmonic! I actually stopped using an iPhone because Harmonic was giving me a better experience than Octal on iOS. A couple feature requests! 1. Enable deep…
sagz on HNHaha wow that's actually crazy that you switched phone partly because of Harmonic! 1. Deep linking used to work a couple years back but I think there was some Android change…
swesnow on HN
Mark topics as visited on scroll
From 2 comments
Awesome! Been using it for about a year now. (I'm writing this from Harmonic) There's one functionality of another HN app that I really liked that Harmonic doesn't have - mark…
Mystery-Machine on HNI'm banned from github. These Reddit Sync features are also great if someone want to add them: - Mark as read on scroll - Title customization I don't like the font weight - On…
TomasBaneUK on HN
Publish on F-Droid
From 2 comments
Small suggestion: link to the play store (and fdroid?) From the readme for easier access.
raybb on HNGood that I could convince you :) I hope to get around to posting it on F-Droid soon, it doesn't seem like too much work
swesnow on HN
Questions
Best alternative app for iOS
From 1 comment
What’s the best alternative for iOS?
dagorenouf on HN
How to export bookmarks
From 2 comments
Love the app. How do i export my bookmarks?
bloqs on HNYeah this is something that has been on my mind. It is possible because I know other apps do this but I haven't looked into details of the API. I totally get the appeal and have…
swesnow on HN
Accent color with Material You light theme
From 2 comments
Awesome work! Just discovered this client and instantly fell in love with it! Used it for a couple of minutes and thought "hey, it would be cool to be able to click on the story…
t0rb3n_ on HNGlad you like it and thanks! There's been many feature requests over the years of that nature so I am glad they address the same pain points of multiple people. As can be found…
swesnow on HN
Alternatives named
Glider
From 2 comments
I do all my HN browsing on this "minimalist" mobile client called Glider. It's actually great, feels modern and you upvote and reply with swipe actions instead of buttons, which…
FireInsight on HNGlider is quite nice
levidos on HN
Materialistic
From 2 comments
Posting from Materialistic which I downloaded from F-Droid. On CalyxOS too
eastof on HNI tried it for a few minutes, I really like it But the lack of widget support is a deal breaker for me I usually just unlock my phone, see top stories directly and then click on…
CuteDepravity on HN
Hacki
From 2 comments
Others have mentioned Materialistic and Glider. Both are great options that I used for a few years. However, I've recently changed to Hacki. It's also in the core F-Droid repo…
darnir on HNI've tried glider for some time but it had a very unpleasant tendency to freeze my phone completely. I've since switched to Hacki which is really responsive and has similar swipe…
Ashymad on HN
Octal (iOS)
From 1 comment
Love love love Harmonic! I actually stopped using an iPhone because Harmonic was giving me a better experience than Octal on iOS. A couple feature requests! 1. Enable deep…
sagz on HN
Hermit
From 1 comment
Lately I've used the lite app with Hermit, but I'll give Harmonic a shot.
thereticent on HN