# Alan.app

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Alan.app and 7 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Adds a border to the active macOS window, with polished visual effects people like. Critics say the border lags behind the window when moved.

## Why people recommend it

- Polished look and visual effects (3 comments): "dimming the background of the page in sync with the effects in the video is very clever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46063192)) "this actually looks amazing as well, feels very vaguely a bit like classic macos" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076895)) "I love how the site reflects the darkness of the screen" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46063199))

## What people warn about

- Border lags behind moving window (4 comments): "the tracking of the border with the target window feels quite sluggish" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46063383)) "border made by JankyBorders moves smoothly together with window, unlike with this app." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46066340)) "the window border lags the position of the window quite a lot if you drag it around" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46063565))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [JankyBorders](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jankyborders.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Alan.app", https://hackerapproved.com/p/alan-app/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).