Launch On Hacker News

---
name: "launch-on-hacker-news"
description: "Post your iOS app launch on Hacker News (Show HN) for technical credibility and 1k-50k visit spikes. Use when the user says 'launch on hn', 'show hn', 'hacker news submission', 'post to hn', 'hn launch strategy'."
---

# Launch on Hacker News (Show HN)

HN can drive 1k-50k visits in a day. Different audience than PH — devs, founders, tech-curious. Higher quality, harder to game.

## When HN works for an iOS app
- Technical hook (uses Foundation Models, on-device AI, novel UI, open-source backend, etc.)
- Solo founder story
- Privacy-first positioning (HN loves this)
- Indie / non-VC narrative

## When HN won't work
- Generic productivity / fitness app with no technical angle
- Heavy paywall on first interaction
- Subscription with no free tier
- Marketing-language landing page

## Show HN format

Title: `Show HN: [App Name] – [What it does]`

Examples that worked:
- `Show HN: Cal AI – AI-powered calorie tracking using Apple's on-device LLM`
- `Show HN: Drafts – Plain-text capture for iOS that's been 13 years in the making`

## The submission

### Title (max 80 chars)
- "Show HN:" prefix mandatory
- Then: `[Name] - [interesting hook]`
- Avoid: "the best", "revolutionary", marketing words

### Text (the post body)
Format:
```
Hi HN! I'm the user, the solo founder of [Name].

[1-2 sentence problem statement]

[1 paragraph what it does + how it's different]

[1 short paragraph: technical interesting bits — what HN cares about. e.g., "The interesting bit: we run inference on-device using Apple's Foundation Models, so no data leaves your phone."]

App Store: [link]
Web: [landing page]

Happy to answer questions.
```

### Where to post
- hckrnews.com -> Show HN
- Or: news.ycombinator.com -> submit -> URL field empty, paste in text field

## Timing

- Post Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday, 8-10am PST (US-friendly hours)
- Avoid Mondays (TGIF lag), Fridays/weekends (low traffic)
- First 60 minutes determine if you hit front page

## Engagement

- Comment back to EVERY comment within 1 hour
- HN values substantive replies, not "thanks!"
- Defend technical choices with reasoning
- Acknowledge legitimate criticism — DON'T get defensive
- Update post text with corrections if pointed out

## What makes HN front page

- Title (above all else): clear, specific, technical
- Comment velocity in first 60 min
- Upvote/downvote ratio in first 60 min
- DON'T ask people to upvote (HN bans you)
- DO tell your network "I'm posting at X time"

## Edge cases

- If post flagged: email hn@ycombinator.com explaining who you are, why it's relevant
- Re-submit if no traction in 12 hours (different time, slight title tweak) — once
- Multiple Show HNs from same domain throttled — wait 60 days between

## What to expect

- Top 30 (front page): 5k-50k visits, 100-1000 signups
- Top 100: 500-2000 visits, 20-100 signups
- Below 100: <500 visits

## After traffic spike

- App Store ranking jumps temporarily — watch ASO impact
- Add HN traffic landing page version (devs/founders bounce off marketing-heavy pages)
- Capture emails BEFORE App Store redirect (HN traffic doesn't always convert immediately)

## Pair with
- `submit-product-hunt` (different audience, often launch on both within 48h)
- `position-pitch` (technical positioning matters for HN)
- `add-posthog-rn` to measure the traffic and conversion