Technologies

April Fools’ Day 2026: The Good, the Bad and the Bizarre of This Year’s Corporate Jokes

T-Mobile releases a cologne that smells like a phone (not really), Fortnite allows llama riding (yes, really), Warhammer: The Musical and more.

If you’re online at all in 2026, you know it can feel like April Fools’ Day every day. You’ve almost certainly come across videos and content, often created with AI, and had to stop and ask yourself if what you’re looking at is true or made up.

Some are obvious. You mean, there aren’t really beds made of kittens, cotton candy and rubies? And I wasn’t really offered a job guarding a spooky funeral home where I might hear tapping coming from the morgue freezer at 3 a.m.? (Both of these are TikTok videos, and the AI is scarily good — and also just scary.)

As brands roll out their April Fools’ Day jokes for this year, I keep thinking that in an AI-heavy world, the jokes seem less surprising, the faked-up art less novel. Here are some highlights from this year’s list of April 1 corporate and tech jokes.

Dyson beauty tools for pets

PSA: Do not use a styling tool, especially a heated one, on your poor pets. That said, this April Fools’ Day prank promoting a fictional Dyson Air Wrap for pets is pretty cute. That horse, cat and dog look pretty elegant with their new curls. There’s a fun YouTube Short, too.

PlayStation Project Playmo

Why have your own fun when you can outsource it? IGN created an April Fools’ Day prank involving a fake PlayStation controller dubbed Project Playmo with Al Copilot. The joke is that it can not only play games for you, but will override your wishes and do a lot of embarrassing or dumb things, like change your online ID to something humiliating or play back your Voice Chat recordings at the worst possible times.

Snap gets Real

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, poked fun at Instagram Reels and TikTok with a joke video announcing that it is renaming Snapchat’s Spotlight feed to «Reals.» Co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel pops up in a social-media video where he describes «Reals» as a place where «real people share real moments. Really.» It’s a pointed reference to the fact that Snap originally popularized vertical short-form content with Stories long before many of its competitors copied the format.

Fortnite: Big heads and llama riding

Here’s an April Fools’ prank that’s more than a joke, it’s real — but only temporary. Fortnite players can try out a 24-hour-only April Fools’ Day game update that throws some truly wacky changes into the popular game. Players get enormous heads, can ride on other players’ shoulders, can use finger guns that go «pew, pew,» make a splat sound when landing after a fall, and, perhaps best of all, rideable llamas have appeared.

Warhammer: The Musical

Hey, if Broadway can make a musical about Alexander Hamilton, or a bunch of cats, surely they can make one about the Warhammer universe? That’s the joke behind this trailer for The Emperor Protects: A Warhammer 40,000 Musical, the April 1 joke from Games Workshop, creator of the popular game world. The 2.5-minute trailer, with impressive costumes and music, really sells it.

Traeger: AI-powered grilling glasses

This April 1 joke seems like it could maybe be a practical, real thing. Traeger makes wood-pellet grills, and this year’s joke is their claim to offer AI-powered grilling eyeglasses. «With smart guidance, thermal imaging, night‑vision, and hands‑free photo and video capture, MEAT‑AI lets you command every cook like never before,» the site touts. Hmm, I wouldn’t actually mind a pair of glasses that could look down at my grill and tell me whether my steak is done or how much more time it needs to cook. Get on that, Traeger.

T-Mobile cologne

Want to smell like your cellphone? What does that even mean? Wireless tech giant T-Mobile’s prank is Metro by T-Mobile CALLoGNE, combining call, as in phone call, with cologne. The company touts its April 1 joke as «the world’s first luxury fragrance inspired by the unmistakable scent of a brand-new phone.» Metro is T-Mobile’s prepaid brand, formerly known as MetroPCS.

Timekettle British translation

They say the US and UK are two nations separated by a common language. You may already know some British phrases, including «boot» for what Americans call a car trunk, and «bonnet» for what we call the hood of a car. Timekettle makes AI-powered translation products, and its April 1 prank is a British-to-American language translation update for its translation devices. Cheerio, old chap.

Whisker cat hair clothing

If you own a cat, cat hair is already on everything in your closet. So Cataire (like couture, I guess), a line of designer clothing made out of real cat hair, doesn’t seem that far off. Whisker, the company behind the Litter-Robot litter box, is taking this April 1 prank to the meowy max. They’ve actually used real cat hair from adoptable cats at a Michigan animal shelter to adorn three sweaters that will later be sold on eBay. Each eBay listing doubles as an adoption profile for a real shelter cat.

Yahoo’s Scrōll Stoppr

Those who spend too much time on their phones might appreciate the idea behind Yahoo’s prank, Scrōll Stoppr. It’s described as «a delightfully absurd finger accessory that physically blocks your thumb from touching your phone screen.» I hate to break it to Yahoo, but I discovered this myself years ago when I cut my thumb slicing onions for Thanksgiving and had to wrap it in a Band-Aid. Yahoo says you can actually buy this — it will be available for $5 on Yahoo TikTok Shop on April 1 and will be delivered in a box that sounds off with the Yahoo signature yodel. If it sells out, just put on a Band-Aid for the same results. BYO yodel.

Omaha Steaks pocket steak

Need a spot of protein on the go? Omaha Steaks is best known for sending giant crates of beef as gifts, but the company’s April 1 product is «the world’s first pocket-sized steak.» It gets beefier: The company jokes that the steak is cooked by motion-activated technology. A rare deal indeed, if well done.

Baskin-Robbins ice cream soup

Baskin-Robbins has always had creative ice cream flavors, but for April 1, the company is hyping… ice cream soup. Not real, of course, but they’re promoting the faux frozen dessert in hopes that people will be inspired to take advantage of a buy-one-get-one 50% off deal on pre-packed quarts April 1-2 for Baskin-Robbins Rewards Members. Slurp ’em if you got ’em.

Baby Bottle Pop, supplement style

Grown-ups don’t get any of the fun kid candy, but instead are stuck taking vitamins and supplements. Baby Bottle Pop Candy, which is exactly what it sounds like, candy in a baby-bottle container, is pretending for April 1 that it now comes in adult flavors. Is protein a flavor? Is fiber? Salmon is, but candy salmon is too much, even for this Seattleite. Thankfully, it’s just for April Fools’ Day.

Technologies

Verum Finance: A Super App for Private Finance Integrated Into a Messenger

Verum Finance has announced the launch of a new financial application that allows users to manage their money directly within the secure Verum Messenger ecosystem.

The project has already attracted attention from major media outlets. A dedicated feature was published by Forbes Türkiye, while one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, MEXC, covered the launch. Yahoo Finance had previously reported on the evolution of Verum Messenger into a comprehensive financial ecosystem.

What Verum Finance Offers

Verum Finance transforms a messenger into a complete financial platform. Users can:

• Manage their balance and top up using bank cards or USDT
• Send money instantly to other Verum users
• Issue and use debit cards, including Apple Pay support
• Exchange assets and withdraw funds
• Access all these services without installing separate banking applications

A strong emphasis is placed on privacy. The platform offers registration without a phone number or email address, end-to-end encryption, and full user control over personal data.

Recognition from Forbes Türkiye

In a dedicated article, Forbes Türkiye highlighted Verum Finance as a notable example of modern privacy-driven fintech. The publication emphasized the growing trend of financial services moving from standalone banking applications into unified messaging ecosystems — a model that has proven successful in Asia through platforms such as WeChat and Alipay and is now expanding globally.

Support from the Crypto Community

Alongside the Forbes Türkiye coverage, news about the launch of Verum Finance was also featured by MEXC, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges. This reflects growing interest in the project from both traditional business media and the cryptocurrency community.

A Strategic Vision

“We are building more than a payments application and more than a messenger. Verum is a unified secure ecosystem where communication, finance, and privacy tools work together,” the company stated.

Verum Finance is now available for iPhone and iPad users. The application complements Verum Messenger, which offers anonymous chats, voice and video calls, VPN services, eSIM connectivity, and other tools designed to enhance digital freedom.

Verum Finance: https://finance.verum.im

Verum Messenger: https://verum.im

Technologies

Forbes Türkiye Highlights Verum Finance and the Rise of Integrated Financial Ecosystems

Forbes Türkiye has published an article examining the launch of Verum Finance and its approach to integrating financial services directly into a messaging ecosystem.

In the article, Forbes Türkiye notes that the fintech industry is undergoing a transformation as financial services increasingly move beyond traditional banking applications and become part of broader digital ecosystems. Verum Finance is presented as an example of this trend, combining payments, digital cards, money transfers, and balance management within a single environment connected to Verum Messenger.

According to the publication, Verum Finance follows a model similar to the “super app” concept that has gained significant traction in Asian markets, where communication and financial services operate together on one platform. Unlike many Western platforms that continue to separate messaging and banking services, Verum Finance is integrated directly into the Verum ecosystem, allowing users to manage financial activities without relying on multiple third-party applications.

The article highlights several core features of the platform, including virtual debit cards, user-to-user transfers, online payments, digital asset operations, Apple Pay integration, and in-app balance management.

Forbes Türkiye also points to the growing importance of embedded finance and changing user expectations. The publication suggests that lengthy account-opening procedures, physical card delivery times, and constant switching between applications are becoming increasingly outdated in a mobile-first world.

Another major focus of the article is privacy and security. Forbes Türkiye describes Verum Finance as part of a broader trend toward “privacy-driven fintech,” where financial services are built on privacy-oriented infrastructure. The publication notes that the platform incorporates features such as phone-number-free registration, end-to-end encryption, user-controlled access management, and privacy-focused tools designed to enhance data protection.

The article concludes that one of the key challenges for companies operating at the intersection of secure communications, digital payments, and embedded finance will be maintaining both usability and security within a single integrated ecosystem.

The coverage by Forbes Türkiye reflects growing media interest in platforms that combine communication and financial services, as the industry continues moving toward more unified digital experiences.

Website: https://finance.verum.im
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/verum-finance/id6774245148
Verum Messenger: https://verum.im

Technologies

Verum Launched “Verum Finance” App for iPhone and iPad, Expanding Its Digital Ecosystem Into Financial Services

Verum has announced the official launch of Verum Finance, a standalone financial application now available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, marking a further expansion of the company’s growing digital ecosystem.

The new application is designed to centralize core financial functions in a single mobile interface, allowing users to manage balances, send and receive funds, use debit cards, and exchange supported balance types without relying on traditional banking workflows.

According to Verum, the platform enables users to view account activity in real time, top up balances using supported payment methods including Apple Pay, and transfer funds to other users within the Verum ecosystem using a unique Verum ID. The system also supports multi-balance management, including specialized balance categories such as precious metals.

Debit card functionality is integrated directly into the app, allowing users to issue and manage cards linked to their balances, monitor transactions, and top up cards when needed. The company also emphasizes built-in exchange tools that allow users to convert between supported balance types within the application.

Security features include Face ID authentication, passcode protection, Sign in with Apple, and privacy-oriented account controls aimed at maintaining user confidentiality and data protection.

The launch of Verum Finance follows the company’s broader strategy of building an interconnected ecosystem of digital products. Alongside Verum Messenger, which combines secure communication tools, encrypted messaging, voice and video calls, VPN services, eSIM connectivity, AI features, anonymous email, and crypto-related functionality, the new financial app extends Verum’s positioning from communication technology into financial infrastructure.

Industry trends increasingly show demand for “all-in-one” digital environments that reduce dependency on multiple standalone apps. Verum’s approach reflects this shift by integrating communication and financial services within a unified ecosystem.

Verum Finance is now available globally for download on iPhone and iPad via the App Store.

Website: https://finance.verum.im
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/verum-finance/id6774245148
Verum Messenger: https://verum.im