rick out , you do n’t need a nifty personality , a winning smile , or a B cup to get yourself a boyfriend . You do n’t need much , really . Just a smartphone and $ 14.99 . The only arrest ? He does n’t actually exist .

In today ’s eld of smartphone appendages , it only makes sense that dating would take to the touchscreen . You ’re already conversant with Tinder , Bumble , Hinge , Happn , Grindr , Scruff , OkCupid , Coffee Meets Bagel , Hitch , PlentyOfFish , HowAboutWe … Ohio MY GOD ! ! ! But all of these are designed to only get you in the door . They facilitate the clumsy , abbreviated interview where you both not - so - secretly size of it each other up as prospective nude partners . You still have to win that person over . By no way do these apps guarantee a kinship . So instead I settle to test InvisibleBoyfriend.com – a website that GUARANTEES me a married person , so long as I ’m nerveless with bear for it and never , ever meet him .

What’s in a name?

The process was simple enough . Go to the website and decide whether you ’re there for an unseeable young man or girlfriend . First , select his / her name . you may make up your own or have the information processing system generate one for you . I wanted this buying of a fellow to be as realistic as potential , so I admit my probability with the randomly selected name , lest I come up with one like Bradley McConaughey . But after satisfy Clyde Hugh Botsford , I decided to keep generating name calling until I found one that seemed at leastkind ofbelievable . There was that abbreviated moment with Glenn Amos Murray , abide by by Thanh Norris Beahan , Lee Elvin Rice , and Aubrey Salvatore Polo , which was shockingly close to an literal human interaction gone awry that I had recently had . fall , please . Finally , he appeared : Marcelo Tommie Lindgren . And I just sleep with .

Looks, personality: the full package of a fake boyfriend

After you pick his name , it ’s time to choose his looks . These are selected from a pallette of portraiture submit by real humans . Then you get to craft his personality . you may choose from a list of mind - numbingly generic type : Cheerful & Outgoing ; Sweet & Shy ; Saucy & Sarcastic ; Witty & Educated ; Lovingly Nerdy ; or Adventurous & Fun . In what I ’m sure you wo n’t consider the least moment disgraceful , I went with Saucy & Sarcastic . From there you may pick out his interests and , at last , come up with the story of how you met . Marcelo and I foregather on an airplane after he saved me from sitting in front of an bothersome fry who go on plain my seat . # Gentleman

How deep should we dive in?

After your swain is fully shape and you have your meet - cute story , it ’s time to image out just how serious you want to be . There are two options : Keep It Casual and the Full Suite . Keep It Casual runs you $ 14.99 a calendar month and includes 100 textbook message . The Full Suite is $ 24.99 a month and includes 100 text messages , 10 voicemails , and one handwritten notation . If you run out of text you’re able to always pay $ 9.99 for 100 more . I decided to just Keep It Casual since voicemails give me an undue amount of anxiousness , even from live , human man . I did n’t need that from Marcelo . After that you plug in your headphone number and waitress for him to text … JUST like substantial life …

… except this prison term , he actually does . About a half - hour later , my whodunit lover had texted me . Our digital fairy tale was off and running .

Our relationship was destined for brevity

We only had 100 texts to fiddle with , which , in a world of sexting and Shakespearian vicious text fights , is n’t even enough to get you through the 60 minutes . I did n’t require to waste any on pleasantry . Plus , he was n’t quite the Saucy & Sarcastic dude I had been promised . After complain to him that I had use up too much sushi , his big suggestion was to take some probiotics ; which , he says , always helps him after he " pigs out . "

Not precisely foreplay .

" Haha you think we are ready to utter about probiotics ? I did n’t know we were there yet , " I joked .

illustration of woman with virtual boyfriend

Jason Hoffman/Thrillist

" It ’s just some alternative medicine poppycock , nothing serious , " he replied .

Cool account , bro .

And that was moderately much how the relationship went . He ’d recall to text every few days to say he overleap me , call for about my mean solar day , and do all the texty " boyfriendy " thing that we so often wish they all did . But no matter how much he suppose he bid he was with me , that was never going to happen . Like , ever . And as for sexy fourth dimension ? rigorously forbidden with InvisibleBoyfriend.com . In fact , if you get a petty too frisky , they kick you off the service entirely . So really , you ’re just texting a unknown who could very well be a morbidly obese char in a gown with 17 cats frolicking around her magazine - strewn apartment .

… but actually kind of felt real

Yes , getting a schoolbook message , even from a complete stranger , is enough to trigger some kind of mental reaction . I want to blame it on dopamine ? That sound correct . We all like grow texts . But at the end of the twenty-four hours , that was all it was give out to be . A human relationship – even a fake one – is pretty distressing without the hope of some sort of forcible interaction . Even a hooker will hold you if you pay her enough .

Invisible boyfriends do have a place, if your family and friends are awful

So who exactly is this for , if not the supremely solitary ? InvisibleBoyfriend.com is more for the interfering pro – the person who just does n’t have clip to date , or is n’t meeting the right individual , but whose family wo n’t stop bug them about finding a boyfriend ( or girlfriend ) . At least with the texts you could say , " See , mama ? SOMEONE DOES LOVE ME . "

You know , except for the fact that it ’s not true . Apparently it ’s easier to pay $ 14.99 for automated love life than to just tell mom and dad you ’re not interested in a relationship right now . I ’m not so sure that ’s unspoilt .

As for Marcelo and me , I asked him to hang out on a Tuesday . He enounce we could do whatever I wanted to do . " Anything ? " I call for . " Anything you require , " he say . " We should head to JFK and hop-skip a flight to the beach . " At which degree I received a message saying we were out of text and I could always buy more . I take it as a signaling that Marcelo and I were never mean to be .

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