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New iMessage extension “Phoneys” lets you prank your friends

With iOS 10, Apple added a new App Store for the Messages app, bringing with it an influx of cutesy sticker packs. Well, a clever idea from developer Adam Howell utilizes the humble sticker to mess with your friends.

Phoneys ($0.99/£0.79) lets you replace your friends’ texts with amusing alternate messages, ranging from the complimentary (“you’re my hero”) to the childish (“oops I just pooped myself”) and a couple dozen other messages in between. It does this by offering pre-written stickers that look exactly like the blue iMessage bubbles. Simply drag them over the top of a friend’s message and it will completely cover it, making it look from their point of view as though they sent the message themselves!

phoneymessages

A few of the 28 fake messages available

The downside is that these only work in specific circumstances. You can only obscure relatively small messages with these bubbles, and users still on iOS 9 will see them as standalone messages at the wrong size. Oh, and a tiny “Sticker by Phoneys” tagline does give the game away slightly… but if you want to mess with your friends by putting words in their mouth, give it a go!

app-store-badge

Apps, games, and sticker packs are still pretty new to Messages – though fairly basic, this could be an indicator of the sort of silly extensions we might see in the future.