> Does the Algolia hackernews api ( the specific API this client uses ) still require you to query in a tree like fashion, every comment item id if you want an entire page of comments?

I’m using two different APIs — the inefficient API that requires you querying in a tree fashion is the HN official API[0], but there’s also the Algolia API[1], which is much faster and gives a much sensible data shape. I also do actually fetch the HN website as well — it’s needed for account/voting features. With these sources, it’s much faster than a usual client that gets it’s data from the official API.

> The HN website I think is pretty ideal for the type of content its displaying, a native app doesn't give you much over having a HN tab open.

I guess it’s a bit of difference on how one uses HN? I didn’t like HN tabs being mixed with other work—related tabs. I felt that having an app would be a perfect solution to me, but YMMV I guess.

> The only benefit I see from a native app is the ability to save articles and comments for offline reading

I guess that’s one more feature that I should add to my backlog :)

[0]: https://github.com/HackerNews/API

[1]: https://hn.algolia.com/api