[pbronez]

Well, I suppose the app could offer a proxy service. Funnel everything through a VPS, apply ad and tracker blocking there.

That opens the door to lots of additional features… Cache responses so you can still read stuff when it gets the HN hug of death. Do a full-text index and offer a secondary search capability over article contents. Maybe build an API for all that so you can have AI Agents ground themselves on articles that got strong quality signals on HN. Maybe sign agreements with publishers like LWN, The Information, or whoever else shows up on HN behind a paywall frequently.

Obviously that would need to be a paid feature.

[soulofmischief]

These are possible solutions, but offering a VPS/VPN won't convince anyone who is already on the fence over privacy or security issues. They probably have their own already and don't want their browsing data running through someone's servers. HN clients should interact directly with HN as another normal client, and not proxy incoming traffic.

Even if it enables lots of other features, that's not why I come to Hacker News and such a feature would be an immediate pass. Maybe others feel differently, but the fact that HN's design and featureset have not followed other trends over the years is part of why many of us still come here.

Maybe there is a market for what you're thinking, but I'd continue to do more market research to make sure you understand your user demographics before making the wrong move early on.