Ask HN: Review my lockscreen newsreader startup

7 points by camdykeman 13y ago ↗ HN

Frontpage launched last week and is very much a minimum viable product at the moment - it only has minimal functionality and there is still lots to do. Its bootstrapped by myself building the frontend and my cofounder developing the backend.

Frontpage allows you to browse your favourite news and social feeds right from your lock screen without having to enter any passwords or fumble through multiple apps.

Once installed, simple activate Frontpage from Frontpage's settings tab, turn the screen off, and when you turn it back on you can begin browsing content.

Frontpage currently only supports the New York Times (remember, its a MVP). Frontpage is also only available on Android due to the fact that iOS does not allow lock screen augmentation.

We'd love to hear your thoughts!

http://www.frontpageapp.com

5 comments

[ 48.9 ms ] story [ 127 ms ] thread

camdykeman 13y ago ↗

The app is free! Give it a try and let me know what you think, any feedback is appreciated.

http://www.frontpageapp.com

volkk 13y ago ↗

looks like any other aggregating content website, how is yours different?

mflindell 13y ago ↗

Cool idea, I really like it. Too bad I have an iPhone. Your website seems kind of laggy on my computer, maybe go a bit easy on the graphics next time.

camdykeman 13y ago ↗

Hi mflindell, what browser were you using to visit the site? This issue was occurring in Chrome for 2 reasons: the first was to do with image scaling and has now been resolved thanks to your comments. The second is due to Chrome's DNS Pre-fetching feature which causes many sites to lag. To disable this feature, look for "Predict network actions to improve page load performance" under the 'Show advanced settings' section of Chrome's settings tab.

Thanks for your input, and sorry we havent been able to put together an iOS version for you. Maybe if we get enough users, one day Apple will reconsider.

In the meantime, please tweet about us @thefrontpageapp. The sooner we succeed on Android, the sooner we can set our sights elsewhere. Cheers!

mflindell 13y ago ↗

Much better now, but that DNS stuff is pretty confusing. Probably don't tell anyone that because its just babble.

Keep up the good work!