We take a look back at all the hidden Android Easter Eggs, from Gingerbread to Android 10. Here’s a history of Android Easter Eggs!
Every Android Easter Egg and How to Find It
There are a ton of little twinks in the Android operating system for consumers and the developer community. One of the oldest jokes is Android’s venerable Easter Egg.
What is an Android Easter Egg? Simply put, this is a hidden feature of the Android operating system that you access by following certain steps in the Settings menu. There have been a lot of them over the years, from interactive imagery to simple games.
Here is a shortlist of all Android Easter Eggs and how to access each one. We’ll keep updating as Google adds new ones!
Before you start the list, you can basically experience all the Easter Eggs on your own with this Android Easter Egg app from the Google Play Store. It has almost perfect replicas of Android 2.3 Gingerbread to Android 10.
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Android had a pretty ghoulish first Easter egg. It featured the old Bugdroid logo next to a zombie gingerbread man in a scene that looks like Halloween. The story goes that the head of the Android framework team, Diane Hackborn, was friends with an artist named Jack Larson. Larson was taking portraits of zombies (like you), and Hackborn thought it would be fun to hide one in Android.
When you activate the Easter Egg, you will receive a toast message letting you know the art is by Jack Larsen so you know who is to blame. It’s scary, it’s beautiful, and it was Android’s first Easter Egg.
To access Android 2.3 Gingerbread Easter Egg:
Go to Settings> About phone, and then tap the Android version box repeatedly until the Easter egg appears.
Honeycomb Android 3.0
Honeycomb was Android’s transition to its Holo UI, a very dark UI with neon blue accents. It also brought Android back to the open source world after Honeycomb closed.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was also the first tiered Easter Egg on Android. Not all versions had two stages, but some of them would continue.
To access the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Easter Egg:
Go to Settings> About Phone and then tap the Android version box repeatedly until the Easter Egg appears.
Android 4.14.3 Jelly Bean
Jelly Bean was another two-tier Easter egg. The first step was to have a colorful jelly bean graphic overlaid on your background image. When you press the jelly bean, a cute smiley face is added. Press and hold the rubber to start the mini-game. There is no way to win the mini-game and it just doesn’t make sense. However, you can touch and interact with the floating rubbers by throwing them across the screen.
It was also the first Android Easter Egg accessible from the Android version box. The Beanflinger game was actually a daydream, which made sense since Jelly Bean was the first feature film.
It was remarkable for several reasons. It didn’t actually contain a bug droid, although Google’s Android Statue Jelly Bean did. It also featured a lot more interactive elements and that’s a trend we’re seeing in later versions of Android.
To access Android 4.14.3 Jelly Bean Easter Egg:
Go to Settings> About phone, and then tap the Android version box repeatedly until the Easter egg appears. Finally, hold down the gummy bear (this may take a few tries) to trigger the interactive gummy bear mini-game.