Hark News

Hark News

Listen to any article on the go

3 followers

Hark News is an iOS app that takes the links to articles you're reading and converts them into audio files you can play on the go. You can listen to the latest news or stories offline and while you're doing chores around the house instead of having to sit down and actually read them.
Hark News gallery image
Hark News gallery image
Hark News gallery image
Launch tags:iOSProductivityNews
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What do you think? …

Sara Du
Hey PH Community! This is Sara, 17 y/o dev from California. I made Hark News after I realized how much easier it would be to listen to my articles instead of reading them on my tiny phone screen. Here's just a bit more info: Why should you use Hark News? - Car radio only provides you with basic news, but you want to hear more on a specific topic - You have a ton of open tabs because you haven’t been able to finish, or even start reading, certain articles - Your vision is deteriorating from spending too much time reading on your phone - You’re learning a new language. Being able to listen to articles will help improve listening skills. - Your 2018 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION was: Read more! What will you see in the next update? - Show the entire article so you can read along while listening (for those learning languages) - Language support (currently only English) - Nicer-sounding TTS voice - UX Improvements & more Hark News is $0.99 on the app store, but this cost will cover all future updates (you're paying less than a dollar to start reading more/keeping up with the news in 2018!). Currently the app is in its most basic state, but there will be a lot more features coming shortly :D Subscribe here (http://eepurl.com/dgvxGX) for updates on features.
Abadesi
@sierra This is neat, can't wait to try it - does it work for all types of articles browsed online?
Saleh Kayyali
@sierra Nice one! What TTS does it use? Is it the default Siri voice?
Gary Tokman
@sierra Congrats on the launch! Any download codes for product hunters?
Sara Du
@abadesi Yes! CNN, NYTimes, HuffPost, BBC, most of these are supported :)
Sara Du
@garytokman Setting up right now, will get back to you!
Henk

I was shocked to see how many upvotes this unoriginal product hunt submission received. I use pocket daily to listen to my articles, and it's the easiest tool ever to use, you can add any article or document to pocket seamlessly by using the share button on your iPhone, on top of instantly tagging the articles as well. This seems like a really crappy way to make money by stealing someone else's product. If the voice was an actual person

or potentially ANY OTHER voice but Siri integration why in the hell would ANYONE pay for this?!

Pros:

Nice interface

Cons:

Overpriced, and unoriginal

Sara Du
Hi Henk, sorry you feel this way. It's understandable if you don't feel like Hark is any different from competitors, because at this point it's true that there's nothing mind-blowing about the app. As someone who's been looking for an alternative myself, I'm dedicated to the goal of making Hark News sound better than any other article reader out there. What's out right now works with minimum functionality, but it won't be like that forever. As to how this got so many votes, I'm not quite sure either
Cesar Zeppini
Well, Sara is a 17yo dev that has already a product on the portfolio. I mean, it’s an MVP and we can all see that. I believe the upvotes are for the effort and the potential. And if she even manage to sell it on an MVP phase, well, more power to her, innit? :)
Anirudh Mathad
I think Pocket integration would be great. Just podcastify every article in my pocket.
bbinder
Nick Neuman
Awesome! Been wanting something like this for a while. I've tried a few products like this that unfortunately sounded super robotic when reading articles, and I couldn't get over it. Any way you could provide a youtube snippet here of what the voice sounds like, so people can listen before paying on the App Store? I would totally pay the $0.99 for this if it does a good job.
Sara Du
@nneuman Hey Nick! It's been difficult to find a TTS service that isn't super expensive or just completely outdated. Right now I'm using Apple's TTS (which unfortunately has the voice we all dislike), but I'm working hard to get an update that'll make the voice behind Hark News unlike any other! If you're unsure about purchasing now, feel free to subscribe for updates (http://eepurl.com/dgvxGX)
Hanry
Bought and Downloaded. recommend develop an browser extension in ios and macos to add websites faster and easier.
Sara Du
@zihancheng For sure! I think that's been the most popular request, so I'll be prioritizing its development :)
Kirsten Lambertsen
I've been saying this needs to exist for a long time and have thought about it a bit. So glad to see someone implement it (and implement it well)! I downloaded it and tried it. Very nice :) Have a couple suggestions (that you've probably already thought of): - As a mobile app, having the user input a url is pretty awkward—I don't know what's possible, but of course it would be great to find a way to integrate with Safari (and eventually Apple News --> it didn't recognize an Apple News url); how does Pocket save stuff, for example? You could do similar. - Totally get that using the standard voice is the quickest way to get to an MVP—I see that you plan to have a unique voice eventually :) I also think a DuoLingo type approach could be interesting, where people could contribute by recording themselves reading the hottest stories of the day. Users could choose who they'd prefer to listen to and maybe even subscribe to certain voices. I'm not sure if copyright or anything starts to become an issue then... Keep going! This is a needed thing in the world, and I will keep it on my phone to watch for updates :)
Kirsten Lambertsen
PS - Maybe you can sync it to the native Reading List? Or add Hark to the options when press/holding on a url. One bug report: I started playing an article, paused it, opened up Slack, then came back to Hark. It started playing the article again automatically and wouldn't pause even when tapping the pause button. I had to close the app to get it to stop talking :P
Sara Du
@mspseudolus Wow, all of these suggestions are great! I especially like the DuoLingo idea (never thought about that). And got it, bug fixes will be done soon :)
Sara D

For an MVP this app is great, from a design and development standpoint, and you can tell that it has the foundations to become much more.

Pros:

Clean, simple interface, easy to use, well-made app

Cons:

None, looking forward to future updates

Sara Du
Thank you Angela for trying out Hark News! I look forward to hearing your opinions later on down the line.
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