Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 2026
Nocturne for Hacker News ("Nocturne", "the app") is built so that reading Hacker News leaves your device for nothing else. This page describes, plainly, everything the app does and does not do with your data.
What Nocturne collects
Nothing. Nocturne has no accounts, no login, no analytics, no crash reporting, and no third-party SDKs beyond Apple's own StoreKit (used only to process the optional Pro purchase — see below). There is no server operated by Nocturne's developer that the app talks to.
What the app stores on your device
Everything Nocturne saves — bookmarked threads, automatically downloaded comments, saved comments, offline article copies, and your settings (theme, font size, haptics, content filter, blocked users) — is stored as plain files in the app's own local storage on your device. None of it is uploaded anywhere, synced to a server, or shared with the developer or any third party.
What the app reads over the network
- The public, read-only
Hacker News Firebase API
— story lists, story details, and comments. Nocturne only ever
issues
GETrequests; there is no way to post, vote, or otherwise write to Hacker News from within the app. - The public
HN Search API by Algolia
(
hn.algolia.com) — used to download a story's whole comment thread in a single request. It receives the story's numeric ID and, as with any web request, your IP address; Nocturne sends it nothing else and requires no account or key. If it is unavailable, the app falls back to the Firebase API above. - The article a story links to, but only when you explicitly open it — either in the in-app web view or, for Pro users, when you choose to save it for offline reading. That site sees the request like any other visitor's.
Sharing
The Share button on a comments screen opens Apple's standard share sheet with a link to that story's Hacker News discussion page. What happens next is up to the app or contact you choose in that sheet; Nocturne itself sends nothing.
The Pro unlock (in-app purchase)
Nocturne Pro is a single $1.99 non-consumable purchase processed entirely through Apple's StoreKit. Nocturne's developer never receives your payment details — Apple handles the transaction, and the app only learns whether the purchase succeeded. No account, email address, or other personal information is required to buy or use Pro.
Children's privacy
Nocturne displays unmoderated, publicly available discussion from Hacker News and is not directed at children. It is rated for a mature audience on the App Store.
Changes to this policy
If this policy ever changes, the update will be reflected on this page with a new "last updated" date. Given the app's design — no accounts, no data collection — meaningful changes are unlikely.
Contact
Questions about this policy or the app's data handling: