Things to Do with Pocket Whip for iOS

 Since discovering that my iPod can run games relatively successfully, I’ve been on a downloading rampage, combing through all the free apps in the App Store.  Since discovering that my iPod can run games relatively successfully, I’ve been on a downloading rampage, combing through all the free apps in the App Store. Hey, it’s cheaper than buying a console or Mass Effect 3 (if I ever get ME3, you can probably successfully assume you won’t be hearing from me again).

Pocket Whip isn’t exactly a game, though that’s what I found it under in the app store. I didn’t know what to expect from it; would you get points for each crack of the whip? Did something exciting happen when you did? Well, not really. Pocket Whip is pretty much what it sounds like: you open the application and flick your wrist around, and your iPod, iPhone, or whatever you’ve got makes a noise like a whip cracking. You can vary the sound effects by how you move your wrist; if you just flick it lightly back and forth, it sounds like you’re just swinging the whip around. A good, hard flick will make it sound like you mean business. Boring, right? Hardly! Pocket Whip’s greatest feature is that you can confuse the hell out of anyone around you. In the last few days alone, I have used it to:

• Puzzle my friend’s toddler. She cannot figure out where the sound is coming from or what it is, but she smiles each time and then goes back to chewing on the furniture.
• Startle the family dog. Ever tease your mutt by pretending to throw something for her? My dog is pretty smart, and can usually tell when we’re just faking tossing something, but the sound effect convinces her we really did chuck a ball. Watching her scour the living room provides moments of great amusement.
• Terrorize minions without getting reported to HR. If you want an underling to get cracking on a task, just snap the whip to let him know it’s time to work.
• Scare yourself silly. If you keep your iPod in your pocket and it occasionally unlocks itself (as these devices are wont to do) and the whip starts cracking…you’ll have a few seconds of confusion and terror as you wonder who the heck is cracking the whip at you.
• Flick it back and forth while lying on the couch, hopefully convincing my noisy next door neighbors that I am doing…well, I’m not sure what I’m hoping to accomplish there, but they’re loud and I want to be louder.

Will I get tired of it? Most likely. Pocket Whip is fun in its way, and I bet it’s great for busting out at parties to make a point, but it probably won’t stay on my iPod all that long. Pocket Whip is made by App City and is available for pretty much anything running the iOS—the iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone. Smaller is probably better in this case, particularly if you don’t want to look silly while thrashing around with your iPad.