Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote "love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." That was true when he wrote it, but now we have Best Friend Forever tests and it may be the only tool you need to persuade your nemesis to become your best mate.
Maybe.
True friendship isn’t proven by support, loyalty or love when you most need it. It's identified by cold, hard stats. Or at least that's what the plethora of BFF test apps on the Google Play Store suggest.
If you want to know who your real friends are, you need to download the Best Friend Forever Test specifically so you can get a percentage and truly put the playground question of your best friend ever to rest.
I first noticed Best Friend Forever Test when it peaked at the heady heights of position 128 on the Google Play Store's chart; but it's not the only one out there.
A simple search of “BFF” on the Play Store not only shows just games which feature characters who are best friends, but there are also a number of quizzes for you to find your true best friend.
Rather than collating your likes, dislikes, political views, dietary requirements and blood type to then help you meet people like you, make friends and combat loneliness in 2017, the app instead just asks you 10 stupid questions about your relationship with a specific best friend.
The questions really are inane too. For example, one of the questions I was greeted with was “how often do you argue with Sam?” This seemed like a negative option, but there was no clear reflection in our friendship score. I still got the coveted 90% BFF rating, which is apparently more sought after than an Academy Award.
My first test may have brought a score of 90%, but what happens if you really don’t like someone and you want to test your friendship? Will this be able to figure out immediately that you’re lying?
I tried to go through the app again and answer with the most negative answers I could find. For that purpose, I invented an imaginary enemy called Graham just to be certain I didn't risk any of my close relationships.
Then for the question, “what’s your relationship like?” your answers are limited to:
- A) Best Friends Forever!!
- B) Great friends
- C) Good friends
There’s no mortal enemy option there. There’s no nuance here. I started to think this may not be an accurate friendship test...
Even though I only entered negative answers I still got a 34% BFF rating with my imaginary friend. Surely 34% is still a positive number? Plus considering every entry I put in was a lie, it hadn't worked me out.
It's not exactly the long-awaited lie detector app that William Moulton Marston would be proud of.
Appetite for Distraction
Would I play this on the toilet? 6/10. It may get a bit awkward if your play with your BFF while in a cubical though.
Ad'o'meter? 8/10 – you literally get half a second to read your results before an ad appears.
Who in the world would play this? Your insecure Facebook friend who is convinced you're actually best mates but you just accepted to because you felt sorry for them.
Did my phone get hacked after installing it? Nope - neither did my BFF's.
Should you download it? Only if you have an untouchable relationship with your BFF.
Appetite for Distraction is a new column where we highlight the weird and wonderful apps and games you can download to your phone or tablet. Want to submit an app? Hit James up on Twitter – @JamesRWP.
