The 8 best time-sucking apps to download now

Waiting is the worst.

You’ve been there. Sitting at the loud bar by yourself wondering if your Tinder date stood you up. Tapping your foot as you stand in line at FedEx on your lunch break, annoyed that you’re not spending your 30-55 minutes of corporate free time doing something more fun. Or the worst, that long dreaded wait that seems like eternity, after you text your crush something you probably shouldn’t have like, “you look handsome in your new profile pic.” You saw he was typing a second ago . . . and now . . . nothing?

My Italian grandma Antoinette once said, “If you stare at water, it will never boil.” Or was that Strega Nona? Unclear. Regardless, the same concept applies to your iPhone. If you keep starring at it, he’s not going to text you back.

You need a distraction, and a good one. Thankfully there are other things you can do on your phone beside sending texts you shouldn’t (why were you looking at your crush’s Facebook page in the first place, stalker?! Kidding, love you, mean it.)

So here are some time sucking apps you can use when you’re waiting. They’re free and great distractions.

All you need is a smart phone and a charger handy (most apps suck your battery life) and before you know it you’ll be all, “Oh wow, my table at P.F. Chang’s is ready already?! I thought you said an hour. It’s been . . . Wow. Thanks, Words With Friends.” Now, if you can just remember your iTunes password . . .

1. Paper Toss

You know at work when you’re too lazy to walk over to that waste paper basket so you crumble up that botched I-9 and shoot? And despite your traumatic experiences in P.E., you make it? Only problem. No one saw it.

Well now you can earn points for your waste basket-ball skills. Paper toss is just that, but with points, because nothing says validation like a scoreboard.

2. Pimple Popper Lite

According to that dermatologist I went to in Koreatown one time (because I don’t have health insurance), popping your pimples is like “really bad” for your skin. But how addicting is it? There’s no better feeling in the world than that rush of success and relief that fills your body once you pop that huge zit on your chin. But adult acne scars are not a good look, so try out this app. You’ll still feel that rush of success and your skin will thank you later.

3. Following Celebrities on Instagram

Following your real life friends on Instagram is great and all, but sometimes they go a whole day without posting anything exciting. And there you are refreshing your feed like some sad person, and all you see is your camp friend Samantha’s poodle from two hours ago.

You know who posts on Instagram a lot?

Celebrities.

Miley Cyrus, the whole Kardashian klan, even Barbra Streisand. What do these ladies have in common? They post on Instagram like all the time. You’ll never scroll alone, when you follow celebrities on Instagram.

4. Pretending Your Dating App of Choice Is A Game

Tinder and Instagram are basically the same thing. Scroll and like. Swipe and like (or dislike) . . . Same part of the brain. Here’s a fun game (you’ll need paper and a pen, or alcohol to play). Points if his name is Mike or Matt. More points if he has a selfie. Another point if he has a headshot. More points if he has one of those group pictures where you can’t tell which one he is. Make up your own rules and have fun. But please be kind.

5. Tap Fish

How fun would it be to own fish? It would add great ambiance to your dorm room/studio apartment. But then you think about the whole process of owning fish – feeding them, cleaning the tanks, flushing them down the toilet when you ultimately kill that goldfish you won at the Italian festival – and it’s not as exciting. Now you can have fish on your iPhone. Get all the tranquility of having fish without the whole responsibility thing. It’s like a modern day Tomagatichi, which is also a thing, but sadly, not as fun as those pink and purple ones you used to store in the back pocket of your Z Cavaricci jeans.

6. Solitaire

You used to play this to kill time between chatting with your crush on AIM. Now you can play this on your iPhone. Is this game even fun? I can’t remember.

7. Tetris 

The last time you played this might have been on your see-through purple Nintendo Gameboy. I bet you’re still good at it! Almost as fun as snake, which is also an app, but something about seeing snake in color instead of pixilated on my Nokia cellphone makes it less exciting.

8. Bag It

If you’re good at Tetris, then you’re probably great at bagging groceries. Find out with this game.

There you have it, apps that distract you. Any recommendations?

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