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Show HN: Microwave – Native iOS app for videos on ATproto

25 points - yesterday at 5:14 PM


Hi HN — I built Microwave, a native iOS app for browsing and posting short-form videos, similar to TikTok, but implemented as a pure client on top of Bluesky / AT Protocol.

There’s no custom backend: the app reads from and publishes to existing ATproto infrastructure. The goal was to explore whether a TikTok-like experience can exist as a thin client over an open social protocol, rather than a vertically integrated platform.

Things I’d especially love feedback on:

  - Whether this kind of UX makes sense on top of ATproto

  - Client-only tradeoffs (ranking, discovery, moderation)

  - Protocol limitations I may be missing

  - Any architectural red flags
TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/cVxV1W3g

Source

  • podlp

    today at 2:05 PM

    Cool app! It’s quite polished and scrolling is smooth on a 13 Mini. Some quick thoughts:

    - I didn’t see any loading indicator, and some videos took multiple seconds to load - When I scroll up then back down, I get a white gradient at the bottom of the screen that goes away after a few seconds - I’d like to be able to expand the description text, but clicking it didn’t do anything - Without signing in, my initial feed was almost entirely ICE videos

    • frizlab

      today at 8:45 AM

      Looks very good! I don’t have feedbacks wrt what you asked, but I like the app.

      • mcny

        today at 3:33 AM

        Congratulations on launching.

        Also this is probably the most comprehensive what to test notes in a test flight I've ever seen iirc

          • thejazzman

            today at 9:52 AM

            get used to it with coding agents

        • zingplex

          today at 3:50 AM

          What are your thoughts on ATproto after implementing a client?

          • whiterock

            today at 1:51 AM

            yay, more brainrot =)