This Friday is April Fools’ Day – the one day of the year when misbehaving and cheekiness is actually applauded. If you’re a keen prankster trying to think up something special for the big day then look no further than your iPhone as your tool for tomfoolery.
The App Store is full of practical joke applications to help you trick your friends and family. I’ve rounded up some of my favorites in the list below. Please be aware that I won’t be held accountable for any backlash you get for playing these jokes!
FatBooth
This hugely popular iOS app lets you pile a few pounds onto your pals. Simply snap a photo of them with your phone and FatBooth will inflate their face to make them look like they’ve spent a year locked in a McDonalds. You can then share the results with the world on Facebook, Twitter, or via email. Also available from the same developer are AgingBooth and BaldBooth.
Price: 99 cents
PhoneTracker Spy
Here’s a good one to play on your paranoid friends. Tell them that you have an app that uses CIA technology to track every phone in the world. When they don’t believe you, enter their phone number into PhoneTracker and watch in amusement as their exact location is shown on a map. Note that this trick will only work if the person is standing next to you. The app is actually displaying your location – obviously this CIA technology doesn’t really exist. Or does it?
Price: 99 cents (Free version available)
Voice Changer Plus
A prank call is a classic April Fools’ attack. Using this voice changing app for iPhone, you can really kid on that you’re someone else. Simply record your voice, then play it back with one of a number of effects applied. Why not phone your boss as an alien and tell him you’ve been abducted and can’t come to work? Or call a cheese shop as a mouse and place a fake order?
Price: Free
Fake-A-Call
This app lets you trigger a bogus call to come through on your phone at a given time. It’s great for getting out of a conversation you don’t want to be in, but it’s also perfect for pranking. Fake-A-Call includes real voice samples and videos to simulate calls and FaceTime conferences. Get out of work by pretending to get a call that your aunt is sick, or fool your partner to thinking you’re having an affair by getting a mysterious stranger to FaceTime you.
Price: 99 cents (Free version available)
Lie Detector…Free!
There’s great fun to be had with this ‘lie detector’ app. Get your victim to hold your phone and press their thumbs down on the pads. Then ask them an embarrassing question and watch them sweat as the detector flickers into action. Afterwards, a lie-ometer will flash up on screen saying the percentage of possibility that they were telling the truth. Of course, we know that this is all fake but the app is convincing enough to fool your friend otherwise.
Price: Free
Pranks
If you’re still stuck for practical joke ideas after all of my suggestions, then download Pranks. This provides some ideas of ‘offline’ japes you can play on people. Every time you shake your phone a new prank idea will be displayed. There are some classic Candid Camera-style tricks here, including supergluing coins to the floor, swapping contact names in your friend’s cellphone, or drawing a mustache on your friend while they sleep
Price: Free
18,000 Cool Jokes
April 2nd can sometimes feel like a bit of a comedown after the hilarity of the day before. Install 18,000 Cool Jokes on your iPhone and the fun will carry on well into May, or even June. The jokes are organized into a broad range of categories, and the app is packed with one-liners and long set-ups. If you’ve got kids around, make sure you set up the adult joke filter, because some of them can be a bit blue.
Price: 99 cents (Free version available)
