Mom & Dad Strike Back: Tech Tips for Parental Pranks on April Fools Day

April Fools! Yes, April Fools’ Day is finally here and what better way to prank someone than targeting the technology they love so much? And who better to prank that those lovely children of yours?

You know how focused on their tech tools your kids can be. In this case, their dependency on their devices (and the ease of changing settings on those devices), makes them the perfect target for April Fools’ Day Pranks.

Our Agents have compiled a list of amusing tips to maximize your pranking ability without causing any real harm. (Aside from a little bit of embarrassment when your targets realize they’ve been had.)

Change the background of your child’s computer, smartphone or tablet.

What better way to ensure you will always be on their minds than to change their background picture to a family portrait? (To make it more special, use a picture from when they were children and were dressed in a matching outfits.)

How To Do It: Find the photo you’d like to use. If you’re on a computer, right click on the photo. Select the option of setting the photo as a Desktop Background. If you’re on a tablet or smartphone, click on the photo. Select the option of using the photo as the Wallpaper, Home Screen or on the Lock Screen.  (To reverse this prank, follow the same steps and reset it to the original photo.)

Change the ringtone.

Want to expose them to your superior taste in music every time their phones ring?  Or maybe change their ringtone to a personal message from you, so they hear “Mommy loves you” every time their phones ring?

How To Do It: You can change ringtones on the smartphone by clicking on “Settings” and then “Sounds.” You can also create ringtone of your voice using apps such as QuickVoice® Recorder (iPhone, free) or AL Voice Recorder (Android, free).

(To reverse this prank, click on “Settings” and then “Sound”s to revert to the original ringtone.)

Change the autocorrect function on their cell phone.

Here’s a fun one – change the autocorrect feature on their phones so whenever he/she types LOL, it says “Lots of Love.”

How To Do It On an iPhone: Select “Settings,”  then ”Keyboard,” then  “Add New Shortcut.” At this point you can add in a phrase, such as “Lots of Love” and assign it to a frequently used shortcut, such as “LOL.”

How To Do It on an Android device: Select “Menu,” then “Settings,” then “ Language & Keyboard and Android Keyboard Settings.” There you can assign new autocorrect phrases that will appear whenever they type a certain word.

(You can reverse this prank by changing back the settings in the same menu.)

That should do it! As always, if you need any assistance in completing these pranks, or reversing them, Geek Squad Agents are standing by Online, on the phone at 1-800-GeekSquad or at a Geek Squad Precinct in a Best Buy store near you.