The phrase “Meeting someone the old-fashioned way” used to refer to starting a relationship at work, school, church or some other group gathering. These days, the “old-fashioned way” is probably Match.com, which has been around now since 1995. Over that 20 year period, there have been plenty of variations, many offering specialty meet-ups based on age, ethnicity or religious preference. There are also a few like “Down”, an app that works with Facebook to sort people based on their one-night intentions.

While the field of people-seeking-people would appear to be well-covered by contemporary technology, what about those lonely folks who don’t really care that much for people? Now there’s an app for that too.

Invisible Boyfriend/Girlfriend will gladly provide fuel for your fantasy life, including calls, text messages or even handwritten notes. Faking a significant other can have some advantages like keeping your relatives from pestering you about being single or generating a little jealousy if you already are in a relationship. The creators claim it also provides an opportunity to practice communicating with a real human, in case you’re a little rusty.

Like any relationship, it all starts with “tell me about yourself” – in this case, you get to write your own back-story, much like you might share with a new acquaintance over coffee. If this doesn’t completely creep you out, then $25/mo will get you started on a fake life. After all, real people are so overrated.