Here's How To Find The Android 13 Hidden Easter Egg
Most people who have used a computer in the last 20 years know that the Internet belongs to cats. Long before Fortnite, when "meme" was an obscure sociological concept for niche academics to muse over (ask Science Friday), the web ran on silly jokes and cat pictures, as New Media Genres demonstrates. The New York Times confirms what digital humanity has always known: In the end, the Internet is for cats.
Never a company to languish behind the curve, Google has always flaunted its fondness for digital felines. One of the first tasks performed successfully by Google's in-house artificial brain was pillaging the Internet for cat videos (via Wired). The company celebrated Halloween 2016 with a full-scale Magic Cat Academy. Per the Times, Google employees have even gotten in hot water with conservationists for feeding cats to the detriment of the local owls.
In good news for cat lovers the world over (and bad news for owners of iPhones) Google has coded its love of cats into the Android 13 upgrade. Here's how to check out the Easter egg for yourself.
Ring around the touchscreen
In fact, as TechRadar reports, Google has broadened its animal horizons — the Android 13 Easter egg reps 14 different critters, symbols and themes. Fundamentally a riff off the Android 12 Easter egg that filled the phone screen with emojis, the 13 variant changes the relevant faces to astrological symbols, aliens, and, yes, cats. Here's how.
- Go to your Android device's settings (look for the gear-shaped icon). Once you're there, select "About Phone." Choose "Android Version." If it says "13", you're in business.
- Tap the "13" several times. Eventually, it will kick you out of Settings and back to the home screen, but with said screen occupied by a giant clock. Drag the minute hand until the clock shows 1 o'clock. 1300 hours, see? You'll know you're done when the clock becomes an Android 13 logo and the screen fills with emoji.
- By itself, that shower of emoji would simply be a rerun of the Android 12 Easter egg. The trick is to trace a circle around the "13" now in the middle of your screen. Each complete circle will change the emoji to something fun — aliens, stars, smiling faces.
But let's be real. This is the Internet. You're probably gonna go for the cats.