When it comes to falling in love, there are no shortage of apps or websites claiming to use algorithms – or simple looks-based finger swiping – to help you find the one. And now, when it comes to completely fabricating a digital one to pretend you have a girlfriend or boyfriend, there’s even an app for that too.

Invisible Girlfriend and Invisible Boyfriend are not the first apps promising to create a virtual significant other, but they might just be the perfect one for convincing your nagging parents or curious friends that you’re really in a relationship instead of reading Microwave Dinners for One.

You start by downloading the gender-specific app and then fork over some money to the developers to send you messages and selfies from someone posing as your other half.

"Our inaugural service is $24.99 and includes 100 texts, 10 voicemails, and 1 handwritten note," co-founder Kyle Tabor told Betabeat. "We're looking to create both less and more expensive packages as we learn what our users need."

[InvisibleBoyfriend]

The entire company started as a joke, when the app’s co-founder Matthew Homann bought ‘invisiblegirlfriend’ and ‘invisibleboyfriend’ as web domains almost a decade ago. In 2009, the duo devised the concept of the app for a local start-up competition in St Louis, winning outright.

Now, the pair claims they’ve finely tuned the algorithm to make all the communications seem genuine and appear like real human interaction.

While the app is currently only available as a beta testing version in the US and Canada, the creators hope to expand it all over the world – especially to countries it homosexuality is still a crime, and men and women might have feel compelled to maintain the ruse of a heterosexual relationship.