Show HN: HacKit, a macOS app for reading Hacker News stories and polls (apps.apple.com)

8 points by anosidium 3y ago ↗ HN

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 management to organise stories and smart folders that track stories by certain attributes.

It also supports the Touch Bar with customisations.

I would love it, if you could try it out and let me know what you think of it! I welcome feedback and please do let me know if there are any bugs or crashes. I did all the testing myself to the best of my ability.

Oh and about the in-app purchases, it is just the tip jar and it is completely optional. The app and all its features are absolutely free to use.

If you like HacKit, please kindly leave feedback on the App Store. It really helps, no really!

Have a good week!

2 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 14.0 ms ] thread

ekinertac 3y ago ↗

love to see native apps in the era of web based desktop apps. the feel is amazing in the app. it's fast, easy to use and self explanatory. good job mate.

electron is fine but it's use of resources a bit annoying. and if you open 4-5 apps while working you start to hear fans are working.

i've tried many times to build something native for desktop but every time i couldn't find a good guide/course for developing a macOs desktop app. all the sources i've found based on iOS. please let me know if you have good sources for native development.

anosidium 3y ago ↗

Thanks! I personally dislike Electron apps but I understand the appeal of it which explains why many desktop apps are written with it.

It is not easy developing a well-crafted macOS app compared to iOS development as resources are limited. The obvious place is reading the AppKit documentation and the Human Interface Guidelines. Apple has some tutorials on their website using SwiftUI and Catalyst.

Ray Wenderlich and Hacking with Swift website has a book on macOS development.

If you do write a macOS app, do let me know, I look forward to it!