Fidget spinners are everywhere these days. Classrooms. Subways. Broadway audiences. (Shout-out to the teenager in the audience of a performance of Dear Evan Hansen on April 15. I saw you, dude.) And … the app store. Which seems a little odd, given that the whole point of a fidget spinner — allegedly backed by some questionable science — is to offer a tactile diversion that can help focus and calm you. But, hey, it’s 2017, so at the same time, it seems like a natural progression that the hottest trend around has gone digital, too. To save you some time, Select All rounded up some of the top free apps — type in “fidget spinner” and watch as dozens of options populate — from the Apple App Store and ranked them, using a scale of one to five golden fidget spinners.
Fidget Spinner — Hand Spinner Focus Game
Upon opening this app, all seems right … at first. The spinner requires a thumb on the center button — the same way you hold a physical fidget spinner — before it’ll let you spin. Except, after you spin it 20 or so times, the app congratulates you on completing your goal, and bumps you to the next challenge, which is not spinner related. Twenty spins is certainly not enough time to reap those (probably bogus) mind-soothing benefits.
Rating: one out of five spinners, for being a fidget fraud.
Fidget Spinner
Now this, this is a spinner as the trend lords intended. Easy to use. No annoying ads. Two options with vaping spring stiffness and damping. Feels good in hand. If you’re gonna go digital fidget, this is the app to download. There are a few other spinner models available as paid upgrades, but I was perfectly content with the free models. Though, if you want to drop some of your hard-earned dollars on a lime-green spinner, I — a woman who spent more money that she’s proud to admit in Candy Crush — will not judge you.
Rating: five out of five spinners, for being simple and good.
Fidget Spinner — the Best One Ever
This app’s name is a bit of an oversell. It is just okay, certainly not “the best one ever.” The app gets points for being simple; it has a few spinner selections and no setup. You open it and immediately get to spinning. But if you want to place a thumb in the center and use another finger to spin, the app freaks out a little. Plus, the spins aren’t consistent. You seem to get a few dozen before the spinner will slow to a stop or start spinning the other way. Which isn’t particularly Zen.
Rating: two out of five spinners, for technical difficulties.
Fidget Hand Spinner
If you only want to use one hand to spin, this is the app for you. The basic, elliptical spinner works fine with a single finger flicking it. The effect is more like if you opened Tinder and just swiped right endlessly. Still, the spins are consistent, and it’s easy enough to find yourself zoning out and staring at the screen. Also, the app keeps a record of your spins and shows you your “Global Ranking.” Which, admittedly, sounds made-up, but makes me feel special for having “surpassed 45% of players all over the world.”
Rating: four out of five spinners, for limited spinner options but appealing to my millennial sensibilities.
Fidget Spin
This is not a spinner, so much as it is a game of keepie-ups, where the object you’re trying to keep up is a green fidget spinner. There’s a bit of a lag on the game itself, which makes it kind of a pain to play.
Rating: two out of five spinners, for false advertising.
Fidget Spinner Feel
This spinner — as an IRL spinner does — requires two hands to operate. One to hold the center button, and the other to spin. A time at the top of the app keeps track of how long your spin lasts, and resets with each new spin. (It’s a little distracting, but if you want a more gamified spinning experience, this one’s for you.) Choose from eight different color options to customize your spinner.
Rating: four out of five spinners, for realism.
