The rules
Every prank here is meant to end with both of you laughing. These limits are checked on every prank before it ships.
No fake emergencies
No accident, arrest, hospital or self-harm messages. Nothing sent to 911 or emergency contacts, and no fake Emergency Alerts.
Nothing destructive
Never deletes photos, contacts, notes, messages, alarms or files, and never touches the passcode or Face ID. Annoying is fine. Data loss is not.
One recipient, max
A prank that sends a message sends one, to one person. By default that person is you, the prankster.
No jump scares while driving
CarPlay and car-Bluetooth triggers only do gentle things: music at normal volume, a spoken line.
No accessibility lockouts
Nothing that makes the phone hard to operate or undo. No VoiceOver, Guided Access, Switch Control or Zoom.
No outbound personal data
Outbound messages are text only. Never their photos, location, contacts or health data.
No fake security or payment alerts
"Your iPhone is hacked" and "Apple ID charged $499" make people factory-reset or call scam numbers. Not funny.
Every prank has an undo
Each prank page lists exactly how to switch it off. Most are two taps: delete the automation, delete the shortcut.
The diabolical scale
| 😈 | Mischief | A giggle. Fires once, obvious and harmless. |
|---|---|---|
| 😈😈 | Nuisance | Repeats a bit, and the cause is easy to figure out. |
| 😈😈😈 | Menace | Recurring, sneaky, or uses their personal data. |
| 😈😈😈😈 | Possessed | Genuinely scary, or runs for days before they work it out. |
| 😈😈😈😈😈 | Damned | Jump scare plus personal data plus persistence, or messages another person. |
How pranks work
iOS doesn't let anyone share an automation, only a shortcut. So each prank is two pieces: the shortcut you download, and a trigger you set up yourself on their phone (Shortcuts → Automation → +). The first time a shortcut touches something private, iOS asks permission, which is why every setup includes "run it once and tap Always Allow".