Animate Your Jack-O’-Lantern with an App

This must be one of the most basic and dirty hack-togethers I’ve done! By giving my phone a place to perch within my cyclops pumpkin, all I need to do is turn on an app to get an easy animated pumpkin.

To start, carve out an eye socket (measure up the screen of whatever device you’re using, it’s worth checking out the app beforehand to get the spacing correct) and any old mouth you like. You’ll need to make sure the inside of the pumpkin is carved out enough to fit the device close enough to be effective, but careful not to go through the pumpkin.

The inside of a pumpkin can get a little messy, so use a bit of cling film to keep your device clean! The touch screen still works this way.

The app I used is called Morph DigitalDudz. It’s designed for use with various costumes, so is perfect for this, and there’s a few different versions of eyes and other things that could work for all sorts of other Halloween japes. It’s also free.

To hold the screen in place inside the pumpkin, I found the best and easiest solution was lots of cocktail sticks stuck inside at an angle to wedge it in place. Easy to move, easy to adjust!