April Fools’ day is right around the corner and what better way to celebrate the most annoying “holiday” by being a nuisance to your buddies. Here are five tech pranks to pull on your friends or coworkers. Just a side note, make sure you know how to revert the changes you make unless you don’t care to have friends anymore.
Text Replacement on the iPhone
Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement
The key to this prank is to use words that would be used frequently in texts. As a millenial, words like “haha”, “lol”, and “omg” are littered in the majority of my texts. What I’ve done before is to replace “lol” with the first paragraph of Harry Potter. Anytime that person types “lol” they will send the Harry Potter text instead. Now do that with any word you think they’d say and watch chaos ensue.
Change computer keyboard to DVORAK (Windows 10)
DVORAK is a keyboard layout that is arranged based on how how often certain letters are used. Vowels are commonly used the most which is why they are located where your fingers normally rest. This is seen as a more efficient way of typing. I’ve watched my roommate try to learn DVORAK and watched his WPM go from 100 to 10.
Go to Settings > Time & language > Region and language > Additional date, time, & regional settings > Language > Change input methods > English > Options > Add an input method > Choose DVORAK.
Busy Mouse Pointer
This is an extremely easy but effective prank. I don’t know about you but the little spinning circle when something is loading is the bane of my existence.
Go to Settings > Mouse & touchpad > Additional mouse options > Pointers
Make sure to change normal select to the busy pointer.
Smart Outlet
This involves using a smart outlet that can be controlled from your phone. You can hook this up to your friend’s computer outlet or T.V. Anytime they go to use the computer or watch T.V., you can sporadically turn it off. My friend is addicted to League of Legends and I pulled this prank in the middle of every game. Can you imagine how much rage I brought upon my friend. I did a similar thing where I connected my friend’s lamp and turned it on every time he’d try to sleep. The possibilities are endless with a smart outlet.
Wireless keyboard or mouse prank
This prank will work better on desktops if you have a wireless receiver. This way you can plug the wireless receiver in the back of the desktop tower making it easier to hide. However, if you have a Bluetooth mouse you can pair it using the Bluetooth connection. I personally think that connecting a wireless keyboard is easier to get away with. Once paired, you can mess with your victim by moving their cursor anytime they go to click something. With a keyboard, you can sporadically type a letter or press backspace to mess up their typing. Make sure to be subtle otherwise your victim will catch on quickly.